What plants do the fish like to eat

[Kimberly Irene Lewis]

I was wondering what kind of green stuff the fish like to eat besides duck weed? I'm supper excited! We should have our first system up and cycling in a few weeks. WE have all the stuff but it needs to assembled and that is my hubby job. I do fish and plants. I what do you have to feed the fish to make them certified organic, or can you certify them organic? On a different note Black Granite is not neutral PH. I dropped some for a local quarry in vinegar yesterday and it fizzed like crazy for a couple hours. That was after it had set out in a pile in the yard for a year and I washed it off before I dropped it in the vinegar. I will probably add some to my grow bed to increase the PH since the well water is testing out at 6 or below.

Kim In Virginia

[Leo White Bear]

Kim-

What species of fish do you have??  Feeding carnivorus fish vegetable matter is mostly a futile event.  I live in central Wisconsin so someone like TCLinx will be able to help in this matter.

[Kimberly Irene Lewis]

I planed on using tilapia and Kioi might throw in a couple catfish to keep the bottom clean but I'm not sure about the catfish yet. They may eat my other fish. Also the vinegar dissolve my black granite rock I had soaking in it. I would not recommend using straight black granite for your grow medium. this is a bummer because I have a quarry right down the road and can get it for $14 a pickup truck load. I am going to use a little to buffer my well water. it a little bit acidic not bad. Who is TLCLinx?

Kim

[Leo White Bear]

Sorry bout the black granet, would be a great buffer though.  TC Linx is an aquaponicist that is very knowledgable in this field.  I believe she is out of Florida and has quite a few various systems going.  I know she does the IBC systems along with grow towers or what is called "Zip Towers".  If anyone has a question pertaining to the set up and running of a system, she is the go to girl that has the answers.  I'm quite curious why she didn't respond to your post, Oh well, she must be busy.

  IMHO, catfish may not be the best fish for your application.  They are quite voratious eaters and according to "Finke (1964), items taken from channel catfish stomachs include insects, frogs, crayfish, snails, fish, clams, worms, algae, pondweeds, elm seeds, wild grapes, “cotton” from cottonwood trees, pieces of dressed rabbit, chicken necks, canned corn, shrimp, beef bones, and much more.  Carlander (1969) listed such unusual items from catfish stomachs as a snakeskin, an adult bobwhite, and hydroids.

  In food preference studies (Lewis et. al. 1965), channel catfish showed a pronounced preference for crayfish of the right size over fathead minnows, and a preference for fathead minnows over fingerling bluegills, green sunfish, and golden shiners.  Fingerling carp and bullheads were poorly utilized, and tadpoles were killed but not eaten.

  Dead fish and other animals are sometimes included in the channel catfish diet (Davis 1959).  The occurrence of grasshoppers and other terrestrial insects in stomachs indicates that channel catfish take some food from the surface of the water, although they usually feed near the bottom.  They have been known to eat refuse discarded by people, and to congregate near places where garbage is dumped into streams and lakes.

  Adult channel catfish usually feed on the bottom in a random manner, detecting food by touch and smell.  The eyes of the channel catfish, which are proportionally larger than those of other species of catfish, seem to be adapted to sight feeding to some degree (Davis 1959).  This is consistent with its use of minnows as food when the water is the clearest (Bailey and Harrison 1948)".

Now I must confess that this is taken from catfish out of Wisconsin waters, this is where I am located.  The catfish may feed on other items in your area.

[Kimberly Irene Lewis]

WE are just establishing our first barrel ponics system. So we are running many scenarios in our heads. trying to figure out which is best for our climate and situation. I am full of questions. I think I have found my niche here. Thank you for all the help, I think Tilapia and Kioi. He thinks Catfish and Trout. We may have to have more that one system running. So far as catfish, yes they will eat anything. I grew up fishing for them in the Mississippi River. I grew up just North of Moline and Davenport on the Illinois side. You should know where that is if your from Wisconsin. Thank you for your help.

Kim In Virginia

[Kimberly Irene Lewis]

On a lighter note I left a mason jar with enough black granite in it to cover the bottom filled with my well water for a week and the PH is now 7. So a little bit of black granite is good to buffer mildly acidic water.
 
Leo White Bear said:

Sorry bout the black granet, would be a great buffer though.  TC Linx is an aquaponicist that is very knowledgable in this field.  I believe she is out of Florida and has quite a few various systems going.  I know she does the IBC systems along with grow towers or what is called "Zip Towers".  If anyone has a question pertaining to the set up and running of a system, she is the go to girl that has the answers.  I'm quite curious why she didn't respond to your post, Oh well, she must be busy.

  IMHO, catfish may not be the best fish for your application.  They are quite voratious eaters and according to "Finke (1964), items taken from channel catfish stomachs include insects, frogs, crayfish, snails, fish, clams, worms, algae, pondweeds, elm seeds, wild grapes, “cotton” from cottonwood trees, pieces of dressed rabbit, chicken necks, canned corn, shrimp, beef bones, and much more.  Carlander (1969) listed such unusual items from catfish stomachs as a snakeskin, an adult bobwhite, and hydroids.

  In food preference studies (Lewis et. al. 1965), channel catfish showed a pronounced preference for crayfish of the right size over fathead minnows, and a preference for fathead minnows over fingerling bluegills, green sunfish, and golden shiners.  Fingerling carp and bullheads were poorly utilized, and tadpoles were killed but not eaten.

  Dead fish and other animals are sometimes included in the channel catfish diet (Davis 1959).  The occurrence of grasshoppers and other terrestrial insects in stomachs indicates that channel catfish take some food from the surface of the water, although they usually feed near the bottom.  They have been known to eat refuse discarded by people, and to congregate near places where garbage is dumped into streams and lakes.

  Adult channel catfish usually feed on the bottom in a random manner, detecting food by touch and smell.  The eyes of the channel catfish, which are proportionally larger than those of other species of catfish, seem to be adapted to sight feeding to some degree (Davis 1959).  This is consistent with its use of minnows as food when the water is the clearest (Bailey and Harrison 1948)".

Now I must confess that this is taken from catfish out of Wisconsin waters, this is where I am located.  The catfish may feed on other items in your area.

[TCLynx]

Hi There,

   Yes I've been busy and I've had to restrict my internet time so I can try to keep up with everything else.

The sad truth is, most fish you will find you need to buy at least some commercial fish feed if you want good growth and also to grow veggies in the system.  There is no single plant or home grown item (worms, BSF larva) you can use as a complete feed for fish.  Well unless you do a green water or algae based expansive aquaculture but if you do that you probably won't be doing any veggies from your system.

I don't think there are any "organic standards" yet for fish and I definitely don't see why anyone growing backyard for themselves would even consider the costs of organic certification.  (Probably only worthwhile if you are a commercial operation big enough to be selling wholesale and unable to interact with your end customers directly.)  The size of such production is likely much larger than you are thinking at this point. 

Back to home grown feeds, (there are probably one or two certified organic fish feeds out there but they cost a lot.)  Anyway, setting up an operation to replace the commercial fish feed with home grown fish feed would probably take almost as many resources a the aquaponics system itself to set up and run.  There is quite a lot of research already put into formulating good fish feeds and trying to re-create that in your backyard without a lab at your disposal may take far more effort than it is worth.

That said, I think I have a tank full of catfish that are choosing to eat the tadpoles and scuds and perhaps the mosquito fish instead of the pellet feed.  The tadpoles, scuds and mosquito fish eat bugs bug larva, algae and detritus as well as probably trying to eat the pellet feed.  That is my best guess since the catfish in that tank are not eating the pellets but they are growing and not dieing on me.

Also  Catfish happily eat floating feed, don't worry.

I personally like native and climate appropriate fish.  Channel Catfish and Bluegill are good choices for warm but not tropical climates if you want to eat your fish.  If you don't want to eat your fish, Koi and goldfish are great pets and they provide ample poop for your ponics as well as being adaptable to a very wide range of temperatures and water quality parameters.  If you are in a situation where your water temperature will never get up to 70 F so the other fish would be too slow for you, then Trout may be the way to go.  Of these listed fish, only the Koi and goldfish are likely to eat much vegetation.  Catfish might eat some but that I suspect is more by accident when they happen to eat some other thing that happens to be clinging to the vegetation.  Trout require the highest protein feed and the best water quality, filtration, aeration and circulation as well as being the cooler water fish, but they grow fast.

as to your pH issue.  Granite not being pH stable?! that is a new one on me I thought granite was mostly a quartz type rock?  Drawback of granite is usually listed as it being HEAVY and crushed granite is hard on the hands for digging in.  I've used brown river rock and expanded slate with good results.  In VA you can probably get Stalite at a pretty good price, it will initially cause an elevated pH but that is only because of the hydrated lime used in the kiln process, the pH will stabilize and come down over time or you could give it an acid soak before use.

A tip about your tap water Tap water and pH readings

[Kimberly Irene Lewis]

Thank you for all advice. I guess I should have stipulated that I don't want to feed my fish only stuff I grow. I planned of feeding them commercial food. I was just wondering what i could toss in for a small treat now and then that was green.

Kim