# Anyone here raise tropical fish with aquaponics?



## SilverFlame819 (Aug 24, 2010)

Hi.  So I've been breeding tropical fish since I was a kid. I have no interest in breeding fish for food, so I've not have much interest in aquaponics in the past... But today I saw koi and fancy goldfish listed on another site as possible types to breed using aquaponics, and now my interest is piqued. I love both koi and fancy goldfish, and could easily make those work for me. But now my brain is running on high, thinking of the possibilities of breeding tropical fish in an aquaponics setup... That would allow me to raise awesome food alongside a (somewhat dorky) passion of mine... 

So has anyone here tried either - the coldwater fancy fish, or the tropicals? If so, I'd love to see setups and hear ideas!!


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

I've thought the same thing but here but our winters would
Require a shutdown if using tropicals. I had a quarentine tank with a couple mollies that started reproducing with no effort. I think the variety
Of
Fish wouldn't matter to the vegies


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## SilverFlame819 (Aug 24, 2010)

I was thinking about the possibility of keeping all the tanks indoors in a greenhouse-type setup. I'm hoping to move back to the PNW soon, and their winters aren't too extreme... I'd definitely have to keep a heated building during the winter. 

I'm not really concerned about what the plants will tolerate. Plants like sunshine, water, and nutrients. Not too hard... I'm mostly wondering about more sensitive species of fish... How hard it would be to keep water acidity and such correct for say, like, Cardinal Tetras (just a random example) when the water is constantly being recycled through different types of plants? 

I could keep the building set to a constant temp, and only house fish that do well in that range. I could have my breeder racks of fish, and transfer fry to the aquaponics setup for the grow-out stage.

I absolutely love planning stuff, so thinking about this as a possibility is exciting! (Yes, I'm a dork). 

If all else fails, there are several kinds of fancy goldfish that I love that I'll go with instead...


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I've often thought that the real money is in raising aquarium fish instead of food fish in indoor systems whether it's aquaponics or a standard recirc system.

Even bait fish makes more sense than food fish because of the short growout time and the value of the fish.


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## SilverFlame819 (Aug 24, 2010)

My brain also skimmed over the minnow/feeder fish idea. You don't have to grow them out for very long. Then again, I could grow a pile of Rummy Nose Tetra or something similar in the same amount of time I could grow a pile of comet goldfish, and one's worth a quarter and the other's worth 4 bucks, so... maybe not. Could be a way to get people through the door though, so to speak?


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I've thought about setting up a small well insulated building and racks of tanks for breeding aquarium fish. I think the hardest part would be the marketing. 

I've raised and sold thousands of fish in outdoor ponds and stayed away from indoor systems but they would be a lot less labor intensive then pulling a 200' seine by hand and carrying 5 gallon buckets full of fish and water.


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## SilverFlame819 (Aug 24, 2010)

I know we have LFS here that will buy from breeders... You just have to talk to them beforehand. Mine is used to having people dump their fry on them, so if you ask if they'll take your fish, they usually say no. But if you have a real conversation with the owner, they usually work with you. All the times I've taken my fish in, after being told they'd only give me chump change, they look at what I've got and go - WOW, we didn't think you were bringing us such high quality! (and then pay me actual money for them)... 

There are tons of benefits of locally-raised fish. #1 being that they last a lot longer than imported wild-caught fish do, so other fanciers will appreciate that they're "natives". 

Part of me wonders if keeping the enterprises separate would be better... Garden in the garden, fish in the fish room. I could always just take all the water I'm draining from the tanks as I clean out to the garden to use on the plants. 

But I just keep thinking there's gotta be an easy way to combine the two and have relatively-simple maintenance. Maybe I'm wishful thinking...


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

One of our professors raised black angels in his basement. He had it down to a schedule and got a spawn each week. I think he raised them for 2-3 months and then sold them.


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## KsSunflower (Jul 12, 2015)

It has been many, many years since I have had tropical fish and have never had an aquaponic set up, just have read about it and wished. I did have a small tropical fish store in the early '70's so, for what it is worth......

It sounds like SilverFlame knows warm water fish. Water chemestry is as important as temps. That should be easy for you to work out.

Plants will need proper lighting as well as water temps and chemestry. Study and asking questions of people working with aquaponics will take you a long way doown that road.

Starting with hardy fish and hardy plants makes a lot of sence. My neighbors have an above ground koi *pond* (wood frame w/plastic pond liner) here in eastern ks, no heat I am aware of and they have baby koi. Keep movement in the water to keep it from freezing solid.

I think aquponics is a great idea and the plants don't care what kind of fish are producing their food.

And you don't have to start big. Unless you want to.


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## KsSunflower (Jul 12, 2015)

fishhead said:


> One of our professors raised black angels in his basement. He had it down to a schedule and got a spawn each week. I think he raised them for 2-3 months and then sold them.


I have heard of people raising fish in just about anything that would hold water in their basement or spare room. The rubbermaid stock tank gives a lot of gallon space for a reasonable price and they don't break. A lady I know says her sister raises tropical fish.

Talipia is a member of the same family as angel fish and are raised for food. They are mouth brooders. A few pair in a proper size aquarium, take the fry out when they are free swimming and put them in their grow out tank. A chef might be tickled to get fresh raised local fish as well as some of the lettuce or herbs you grew also. Well worth looking into


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## SilverFlame819 (Aug 24, 2010)

I had no idea Tilapia were Cichlids. That just seems all sorts of weird.

I'm very familiar with warm water fish as well as cool water fish. Fancy goldfish have always been a love of mine. I think raising koi could be cool, but there's just not that huge of a market for them, and you need tons of space for grow-out. 

For me personally, raising things just to sell to other people is not something I'm interested in. All my projects need to be multi-purpose. So, say, the rabbits are good for showing, selling as pets, processing for dog food, making fertilizer, growing worms, etc. I also really enjoy rabbit genetics and playing with colors, so they give me emotional/mental satisfaction. (And if someone wants to buy some for dinner, all the power to them... I just personally am a vegetarian, so won't be butchering them for my own plate). So fish for food purposes is not high on my list, because I won't be eating them, they seem like too much of a pain to process for dog food, they're a singular purpose, and there are other fish out there that I WOULD really get excited about raising instead. They just seem... well, kind of boring.

So for me, I'm only raising things that I personally like/enjoy. If it's not an animal I really enjoy, I'm not going to bother putting effort into raising it. There's only so much time in a day, and I want to spend it on projects that not only put cash in my pocket, but are inherently satisfying.


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## SilverFlame819 (Aug 24, 2010)

KsSunflower said:


> I have heard of people raising fish in just about anything that would hold water in their basement or spare room.


Have you seen the guy who raises crawdads all in those flimsy-sided baby pools? Let me see if I can find a pic.


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## SilverFlame819 (Aug 24, 2010)

The photo is from Stick Fins Red Claw farm.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

One thing to keep in mind is the increased humidity in the house when you get large surface areas of water.

I had several stock tanks in the basement maybe 10 years ago and didn't really notice the humidity or water loss but one day I noticed that my siding was bowing out and there were icicles on the bottoms of the siding. I closed the door to my storage room and that seemed to help stop the moisture from finding a cold surface. The siding is still bowed.


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