More Than 1 Type Of Fish?

[Chi Ma]

I'm thinking of mixing my fish. Catfish, Large Mouth Bass, Bluegill, and Minnows. Anyone see a problem?

[Sahib Punjabi]

Agree with Kobus's comments minnows. For other fish, depends on whether they are the same size. Further I am not sure of their growth rates. I believe that catfish grow faster than the others. Remember, smaller fish become food for the larger fish.

[Chi Ma]

I'm not worried about losing fish. I figure if nature can do it, I can. The minnows are there to feed the fish when they get bigger. I'll be stocking them all at roughly the same size. If some get eaten then that is the way of nature. The only immediate problem I see is disease. But since I don't eat fish it will be fun to see what happens. I'm choosing these fish for their cold tolerance. I don't see raising tilapia through the winter as a cost effective thing. Maybe through the summer months.

[Sahib Punjabi]

For cold tolerance, use goldfish ingerlings (cost effective) and/ or Koi fingerlings (little more pricey but worth every bit).

Chi Ma said:

I'm not worried about losing fish. I figure if nature can do it, I can. The minnows are there to feed the fish when they get bigger. I'll be stocking them all at roughly the same size. If some get eaten then that is the way of nature. The only immediate problem I see is disease. But since I don't eat fish it will be fun to see what happens. I'm choosing these fish for their cold tolerance. I don't see raising tilapia through the winter as a cost effective thing. Maybe through the summer months.

[Chi Ma]

I have some right now cycling the tank. But I hate goldfish and koi. I like predators. LOL.



Sahib Punjabi said:

For cold tolerance, use goldfish ingerlings (cost effective) and/ or Koi fingerlings (little more pricey but worth every bit).

Chi Ma said:

I'm not worried about losing fish. I figure if nature can do it, I can. The minnows are there to feed the fish when they get bigger. I'll be stocking them all at roughly the same size. If some get eaten then that is the way of nature. The only immediate problem I see is disease. But since I don't eat fish it will be fun to see what happens. I'm choosing these fish for their cold tolerance. I don't see raising tilapia through the winter as a cost effective thing. Maybe through the summer months.

[Sylvia Bernstein]

Chi, I think you could sell the video rights to what is going to happen in your tank as a reality TV show titled "Predator Aquaponics: Only the Strong Survive". Each week the audience gets to vote on who they think will get eaten next. What do you think?

[Paul Letby]

Oh man, don't make me laugh like that. It hurts!

[TCLynx]

Now in Farm pond culture I know they talk about the whole bass/bluegill culture thing but I seem to recall some one telling me that blue gill in tank culture will gang up and kill bass. I don't know if it's true and at what stocking rates the balance of nature changes but I'm interested in see what happens.

It will depend on how big you system is as to how easy things will be to balance, you might need to keep a separate aquarium for breeding the minnows to keep adding them to the system as food for the others.

[Chi Ma]

Hmmm good idea:)



Sylvia Bernstein said:

Chi, I think you could sell the video rights to what is going to happen in your tank as a reality TV show titled "Predator Aquaponics: Only the Strong Survive". Each week the audience gets to vote on who they think will get eaten next. What do you think?

[k edmonds]

We started out with 5 feeder goldfish and 5 minnows to start our system in the spring. After about a month we added approximately a dozen bluegill and one small catfish to the mix. One of the bluegill was 6-7 inches long and the rest were 3-4" long. The large one earned the nickname of "Big Bully" because of his penchant for nipping at all the other fish when they were being fed, my four-year old daughter kept saying "Daddy we need to fry him up". What we learned is that the large bluegill was very territorial with just the other bluegill, he did not seem bothered with the smaller feeder fish. All of the goldfish lived and are now almost as large as the large bluegill. None of the minnows made it, I watched as they slowly vanished over the summer. I chalked it up to them enjoying hanging out near the catfish tube and becoming a late night snack.

[Margo Searls-Begy]

I have some feeder goldfish that are in my tank to get it up and running, and I am growing up my Tilapia from frys in an aquarium.  Do I have to get rid of the gold fish before I put the Tilapia in the big tank?  Will they all "play nice", provided they are of a similar size?  The Tilapia frys grow at such a different rate from one another; some are 2.5", and some are still 1/2" long.  Any thots?  -Margo

[Sylvia Bernstein]

Hi Margo.  My experience is that they will play nice if they are the same size, and no one gets too hungry .  You should be fine

[Chi Ma]

Just plop them in Margo. They'll figure things out. You have two non aggressive species of fish. That's what is in my tank now.

Margo Searls-Begy said:

I have some feeder goldfish that are in my tank to get it up and running, and I am growing up my tilapia from frys in an aquarium.  Do I have to get rid of the gold fish before I put the Tilapia in the beg tank?  Will they all "play nice", provided they are of a similar size?  The Tilapia frys grow at such a different rate from one another; some are 2.5", and some are still 1/2" long.  Any thots?  -Margo