Comment

Comment by Tyler Knight on May 4, 2011 at 9:46am

Alright friends, To help regulate temperature, and add another growbed, I am now considering a chift pist system. This would allow me to keep my fishies constantly in around 260 gallons of water, and would also add a sump tank that roughly holds 120 gallons. This might help regulate the temperature of my greenhouse a little more since it takes great deals of  energy to raise and lower the temp. of water. I think it gives me the added benefit of being able to lower my growbeds below my fish tank allowing for eaiser access to harvesting. My greenhouse is also a dome, which doesn't provide much head room should plants grow very tall. Anyone have any experience with this type of system?

Comment by Sylvia Bernstein on May 3, 2011 at 11:13am

Yes!  It's not so much about building up nitrogen levels as it is building up the bacteria that will convert your ammonia into usable nitrates.  Check out this post on cycling with fish, or this one for cycling without fish.  Very important to have this complete before you introduce your more prized fish that you plan to grow for a long time.

Comment by Tyler Knight on May 3, 2011 at 11:07am

Before I get either catfish or perch, would it be wise to put five or so koi in the tank to build up nitrogen levels, and also serve as a larger portion of nutrients while the other fish are growing?

Comment by Sylvia Bernstein on May 3, 2011 at 9:48am

Tyler, I think you and Tawnya are talking about two different types of cycling.  I'm betting you are talking about running the water through your system to check for leaks.  She is talking about initiating the Nitrogen Cycle to establish your biofilter.

 

Also, IMO, since it can be a pain and expensive to pick up 5 separate batches of fish in small quantities I think you can accomplish roughly the same thing by thinking in terms of "eaches" instead of mature weight with a young system and stock for 1 fish to every 5 - 10 gallons of water.  If it were me I'd just get 50 fish to start with.  You are going to lose a few, and they will grow at different rates so in the end you will probably come close to the suggested target of 33 mature fish not all maturing at the same time.  But that's just me...I"m lazy 

Comment by Tyler Knight on May 3, 2011 at 9:31am

Thanks Tawnya. I plan to cycle my system a couple times before adding fish (to check for glitches) before I add fish. You information was great.

Comment by Tawnya Sawyer on May 3, 2011 at 9:17am

Two things should be considered for the amount of fish in your system.

First - has the system cycled or is it a completely new tank?

Second - how big are the fish you have access to and how big will they be when you harvest them?

The general concensus for happy fish is a minimum of 5 gallons to 1 lb of fish, but most of us are thinking more along the lines of 10-15 gallons per 1lb of fish. Catfish can get very large over time unless you have a specific harvest schedule at say 1.5lbs.

For starting up a new tank, you should populate only about 20% of the full stocking density of fish and then add about 20% every 4-6 weeks until the final stocking density is reached.

So if you use the 5 gallon ratio and a 250 gallon tank, with a harvest weight of 1.5 , here is the math 250/5=50, 50/1.5 = 33 total harvestable fish, and you should startup the system with 8 fish (unless it was fishless cycled)

Comment by Tyler Knight on May 3, 2011 at 9:04am

Well, I may be leaning toward channel catfish now. There is a fishery about 40 miles from here with them and from my reading they seem to handle to temperature flucuations pretty well. Any ideas and how many I should get for about 250 gallons of water?

 

Comment by Tawnya Sawyer on May 3, 2011 at 8:59am

I just called Liley Fisheries in Boulder yesterday and spoke with KC to ask about pricing on fish and here is what I have:

3-5" bluegill $1.60 each less than 50, $1.45 each more than 50

3-5" crappy same price as bluegill

8-11" channel catfish $3.00 each less than 50, $2.5 each more than 50

6-8" trout $1.45 each

3/4 - 1lb trout 9-14" 4.75/lb for orders less than $500

KC and Liley are very helpful and raise great fish, but don't have any tilapia. Hope this helps.

Comment by Sylvia Bernstein on May 3, 2011 at 6:55am

Oops...I meant $.50 for the trout (that decimal makes a big difference!)

Comment by Sylvia Bernstein on May 3, 2011 at 6:55am

Just to chime in here, I've spent everything from $50 each for trout at the hatchery to spending close to $7 each for tilapia that I've purchased in very small quantities and needed shipping.  I would add to JD's list of cost drivers Quantity (you are going to usually pay significantly less per fish for larger quantities) and Shipping (overnight shipping of water, plus all the specialized packaging is very expensive).

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• …
• 15
• Next ›
• Page