Just stocked today!

[Jeffrey Ihara]

I had to drive a ways to get my kitties, but I now have a stocked AP system! 

Fish Tank: 275 gal IBC tote, with 12 channel cat, 24 fathead minnows.

Grow Beds: two plywood boxes with pond liner, with gravel/lava rock and bell siphons.

Sump Tank: about 125 gal capacity cut-off IBC tote under the grow beds, with 14 weather loaches, 9 crayfish, and a water hyacinth.
The guy who sold me the fish said I shouldn't try to feed them for the first couple of days, but I tossed in some redworms from my composter, and the cats took them happily. I was also suspicious of the blueish meds that were in the water from the suppler. He said they'd be safe for my biofilter, but seeing the blue my thoughts turned immediately to copper. Yeah it might have been something safe, but I transferred them into the tank by net instead of dumping them in with their water.

I must have watched them for an hour this evening.

[Sahib Punjabi]

Nice:-)

[TCLynx]

Jeffery, YOU DID EXACTLY RIGHT by netting the fish into your system and NOT dumping the transport water in.  GOOD JOB.  And it really isn't the blue stuff that is the main reason for this.  While what ever drug/chemical it is they are using to lock up ammonia so it doesn't kill the fish in the holding tank is probably not something you really want to be adding to your AP system, the main reason you shouldn't dump the transport water into your system along with your fish is that greatly increases your chances to introducing something not good to your system in general and the transport water is usually quite polluted by the time you get the fish home anyway.

Now fish right after transport are likely to be a bit stressed and probably won't eat much, it is ok to offer them a little bit to see if they eat it.  Just be sure not to over feed or cause your system water to become polluted since that would only increase the stress.  I have found that with small catfish fingerlings, they are sometimes quite quick to settle in and be ready to eat.  Just keep a close eye on water quality and don't let the ammonia spike on them because warming spring weather and the urge to feed em up can sometimes lead to over feeding, ammonia spikes and disease outbreak.

[Jeffrey Ihara]

Thanks, Sahib and TCL!

They seem to want to hide all day--under the SLO intake pipe (slits small enough to keep out the cats, though one of the fatheads got drawn onto my beds) and in the drainpipe hole of the IBC. At night, however, they're out and swimming pretty much the entire time. I can see why catfish anglers fish the night shift.

Right now, I'm actually trying to get a bit more nitrogen going in my system--a small spike would be welcome, because I've got ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate all reading at zero. Twelve tiny catfish, minnows, some loaches and crayfish (in the sump) just aren't cutting it as far as my plants are concerned--I've got about 400 gallons circulating between the two tanks and 32 square feet of growbed (about 10 inches deep). It looks like my first attempt to overfeed failed as they cleaned up all the sinking wafers that I put on the bottom yesterday evening. These same wafers will sit there all day if I feed in the morning. I think I'll go a bit heavier with this evening's feeding.

[TCLynx]

Yep my primary feeding for catfish is in the evenings, especially during cooler weather.  If the weather is warm and they are not feeding very well, you may want to add some additional aeration if you don't already have it.  Just work your way up slowly while keeping an eye on water quality and in a bit you will probably see a sudden perk up of plant growth.  With the smaller fish, you may be able to get away with a higher protein feed that should give an extra boost of nitrogen for your plants if that is what you are lacking most of.