A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

Aquaponic Systems and Kits

Have you purchased a turn-key aquaponic system kit? How has that worked out for you?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Don Goddard on March 15, 2012 at 10:34am

Thanks, TCLynx. I was mulling some of those same ideas around, but lack the experience to get it clear in my mind. Thanks for making it so understandable. Perfectly logical, when I think about what you've said.

What part of the world are you in? We're thinking of setting up in the Okanagon in BC, near Vernon, so we'll be heating water. We're not big fans of trout, which may be a better local option, but we'll be going with Tilapia, and maybe a few Large Mouth Bass to control population. Never tasted bass, but I understand it's pretty good eating. Trout are too muddy tasting for us, although catfish is a bottom feeder that I've found (in the limited number of times I've eaten it) to be not so strong or earthy as trout.

Don

Permalink Reply by TCLynx on March 15, 2012 at 3:55pm

I've never through of the fish we grew in aquaponics as muddy. They are in clean water and we never even purge them. I think the biggest part is that we net them from the tank and immediately kill and process them so there is no sitting in a holding tank stressing out in a boat which I think probably causes off tastes far more than the fish being "bottom feeders"

Heck my catfish happily come to the surface to eat food.

Permalink Reply by Don Goddard on March 15, 2012 at 5:13pm

I keep learning... I reckon what you're saying makes sense, and if restaurant trout tastes 'muddy', it's likely got that flavour somewhere in its environment. So, if it's a clean aquaponics environment, with no mud, then it's reasonable that it likely won't taste of mud. I've never tasted aquaponic fish, so I can't do a comparison - I assumed the flavour would be universal, and inherent to the species. Maybe I just went to the wrong restaurant to eat trout.

TCLynx said:

I've never through of the fish we grew in aquaponics as muddy. They are in clean water and we never even purge them. I think the biggest part is that we net them from the tank and immediately kill and process them so there is no sitting in a holding tank stressing out in a boat which I think probably causes off tastes far more than the fish being "bottom feeders"

Heck my catfish happily come to the surface to eat food.

Permalink Reply by TCLynx on March 15, 2012 at 5:44pm

The muddy flavor in many fish is actually often found in fish from clear water and it can often be traced to algae instead of muddy water. Trout naturally has a stronger fishy flavor, some people like, some don't.

Tilapia and channel catfish have such a mild flavor that whatever you cook them with will overshadow whatever flavor they have. Bluegill are also very mild. Seems to me that most of the "warm water fish" have a more mild flavor and the cold water fish like trout are going to have a stronger flavor.

I think having the fish very fresh or at least frozen very quickly after kill/processing is important. I know many commercially processed fish are going to have more time from pond to processing to freezing since it takes time to truck the pond full of fish to the processing plant and time to process a whole truck load of fish so there will be more stress hormones and time to go "off" in that process than at home from an aquaponics system.