When to introduce fish

[Allen Jiang]

Hi,

I have just got interested in aquaponics again and I have rescued my system. (don't worry i didn't have fish luckily). I have a question, When should I introduce fish?(My tank is under my family's deck, under the stairs so provides some sunlight and some shade)

[RupertofOZ]

What do you mean by "rescued my system"... what happened.. and what did you do...

 

And what are your current water parameters??

[Allen Jiang]

Well it kind of dried up and my plants were shrivelling up.... What do you mean by water parameters?

[TCLynx]

Water parameter would be things like

pH

Temperature

ammonia

Nitrite

Nitrate

How big is the fish tank (how many liters or gallons)

How much grow bed (in liters or gallons)

How much water are you pumping per hour.

[Allen Jiang]

I haven't tested the ph, ammonia, nitrite or nitrates yet. Fish tank is about 50L. Growbed is 25L. Water pumping an hour? Not sure.

[TCLynx]

So I would say don't add fish till after you test for pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate (that way you will have a baseline)

Then you could do a bit of fishless cycling

or you might simply add a goldfish

cycling with fish

it's a tiny system so you probably don't want to use more than a very small number of small fish.  Choose something that is very hearty and might have a chance of surviving the temperature swings of such a small system.

[Allen Jiang]

Hi,

thanks for replying. Are goldfish tolerant of temperature swings?

[TCLynx]

They are more tolerant than tilapia, bluegill or channel catfish which are the only ones I have personal experience with.

[Allen Jiang]

Ok well then, I will probably use goldfish then.

TCLynx said:

They are more tolerant than tilapia, bluegill or channel catfish which are the only ones I have personal experience with.

[TCLynx]

mosquito fish might be good too but I'm not sure how easy they would be to get there.