Aquaponics and Fish

But who wants to eat goldfish when they can have, tilapia, bluegill, trout, basa or bass?  You can use any fresh water fish for aquaponics.  The most popular are tilapia because they breed easily and quickly and young fry are easily maintained. 

You aren't going to grow plants if you don't have fish poo.  You aren't going to have fish poo without fish.
So what fish do you use?

If this weren't about survival you could use gold fish or koi.


Our very first experiment with aquaponics was on such a small scale we used the goldfish and plecostomus that were already in our small garden pond to grow herbs on a floating raft.  It worked!

Tilapia

You can buy tilapia here http://www.tilapiafarmingathome.com/Pages/OurProducts.aspx
or here http://carolinaaquaponics.com/Our_Fish.html
or here http://tilapiasource.com/

If you live in a state where tilapia are regulated (like Florida) the variety of tilapia you may be able to purchase might be limited by law.  You can check with your supplier or your local agricultural office for more information.

Bluegill is another popular fish.  They are also called bream, brim, and sun perch.  They are bonier than tilapia but also have a mild tasting flesh and mature quickly.

bluegill

You can buy bluegill here http://www.alpinefishery.net/
or here http://www.suttlefish.com/pricelist.html
or here http://www.theaquaponicstore.com/Aquaponics-Bluegill-s/136.htm

No matter what type of fish you pick, the fish will have the bacteria in their guts that will result in their poo being exactly what you need to break down the ammonia in the water that is into nitrites and then the nitrites into nitrates.  The plant portion of the aquaponics system will use these nitrates as food and grow your veggies very large very fast.