Aquaponic Gardening

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These are a native (I think) minnow that I netted in a local pond and then planted in my pond about 6 yrs ago.  They have multiplied rapidly without any help from me.  Now I have been raising them in a tank recently to see how well they will reproduce there. 

 They are very tolerant of poor water conditions and low oxygen levels.  They only grow to about 3" max. (largest I've seen.)

But I believe these would be a good food source for predatory fish like the Blugill, Crappie, Perch, and possibly trout.

I have also planted some yellow Perch into my pond over the last couple of years... I havent seen them nor have I tried to catch them. Unless they have been fished out by the local Herons, I am hoping they still exist and will try reproducing as well.  I think this may be a good combination for local AP systems as Perch will tolerate our winters, taste good, and should be readily available or at least importable to WA state.

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How big is your pond?  I'm guessing this isn't a backyard water feature.

I have 3 ponds, two that would be considered ornamental 500 gal. and 2000 gal., the largest is about 20,000 gallons. All three support populations of these minnows.  I put them in to take care of mosquito larvae.

Are these with pond liners?

The two smaller ponds have liners, the large pond is a mud pond.  We have a high water table for groundwater. Winter you can hit water at 4 feet or so. Where I dug the pond it is a bit lower so we hit water at about 2 feet then ran a pump as we dug about another 6 feet.  End of summer it will get down to about 3 feet deep.

How cold does it get in your ponds? I might want to look into this.

Winter they freeze over.  For the purposes of Aquaponics, you have to keep the water above 60 degrees to be of any use.  Fish wont eat when it is cold because their metabolism is controlled by the temperature of their environment.

Does anyone have a source in the Western WA area for catfish or perch?

Anyone got a source in Western WA for catfish?  Michael in Seattle

You can get several tropical varieties of catfish at Petsmart, Petco, etc.  Some Koi suppliers sell catfish as well.  Perch, I have caught in local lakes and brought them home...

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