Basic Aquaponics - Cuttings As Fish Feed

Sambung Nyawa plant cuttings can be use to feed Tilapia. Other than this they will eat Cassava or Tapioca leaves too.

Using cuttings from the Aquaponics will reduce dependency on fish feed and leaving decomposed vegetation in the fish tank will help in lowering ph if it is high.

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Pacu

Pacu fish has grown big, this fish requires lots of dissolve oxygen otherwise they will go crazy.

Lack of oxygen they will jump out of the tank.

Palm size pacu, still long way to go.

Wonder how it taste like ?

Fresh Tilapia Batch

Another batch bought from nearby nurseries fresh stocking, they are red tilapia fingerlings about 2" in length and I paid RM 20.00 (US $ 4.50) for a hundred.

As usual for any new fish going into the tank, let them float in the bag for 15 to 30 minutes, for the water temperature matching and then they can be let loose in the new place.

One hundred tilapia running around in the new surrounding, and will only feed them tomorrow after they stabilized.

Aquaponics Tips - Easiest Way To Catch A Tilapia

Just to share, not sure if anyone aware of this or not. Use a white colour net, they just swim into it... :)

Maybe Tilapia not intimidated by the colour white.

Short video on it.. :)

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Up Close with Lampam & Pacu

In-tank video of the Tinfoil & Redtail barb with guess appearance of the Pacu fish occasionally in the background.

 

This video is to do fish observation, checking their aggressive behaviour and eating style of different type of fish.

Fresh Fish For Ornamental Set

After a redo of the Ornamental set, it's time for some fish. Bought few Pacu and Barb for the two set and the third already has few tilapias.

Pacu above are at about 2 inches, they can grow big. Later I'll move them if needed.

 Barb

Leaving the fish to adjust to water temperature.

The water due to smaller space are warmer as compared to my larger sets.

Crawfish Update

Cooling off for Larry & Moe

They like to have water pouring on their head. There are five left out of the initial seven, the two just disappear. I will need to get two males to replace those that is missing.

It's Tilapia Time Again, This Time Deep Fried

This current batch of Tilapia a little slow to grow, maybe not enough feed. If it is fed too much then it will form more fat in the fish. So give it a lean diet to reduce this fat, fish in the wild don't get fed twice daily, they forage for food and eat what they find.

 Catch few Tilapia today and have it deep fried as a simple dinner.

Each of these are palm size and just nice for Malay cooking.

 It's easy to catch since my fish tank is only 4 feet in length and about 12 inches of water.

 Five Tilapia in the pail and next to get them clean and prepared.

 Fresh fish, once cleaned next step is to marinate them.

I use a simple old traditional way of marinating with salt, turmeric and a bit or tamarind to flavor the fish and get rid of the fishy smell.

  Let it stand for few minutes, like half an hour.

Deep fried the fish in oil until golden brown, it will give good aroma since the fish is fresh of the tank.

 While it's being fried, I prepare the final flavoring. Onion slice, Chili and some garlic these for the final fried together with the last piece. It doesn't matter with which, but I normally do it with the last fish.

 Last fish in..

 Those onion, chili and garlic (whole) ready for your turn.

 Turn over the fish, only then add the above to fried with the side needs cooking.

 Once fish cooked, remove it and switch off the flame and scoop up the garnishes to add on top of the cooked fish.

Walla.. it's ready.

Simple and fresh, take it with hot rice and some fresh vegetable salad.. it priceless.

Crawfish Feeding Time Lapse

These Crayfish is very elusive and will hide the moment they saw me coming. I use the Samsung Galaxy S5 with Framelapse apps and leave the phone shooting for about 45 minutes at 1 frame per second.

Next time I will try not to feed them and get the camera ready before feeding, it may give better footage.

Anyway here is the timelapse footage.

Crawfish Tank & A 15mm StrainerBell Siphon

It has been sometime since I last tried Crawfish, that time I was not ready and don't know what to expect of this crustasean . With some time to spare this afternoon and many surplus tanks and pipes, I decide to make a tank for it and at the same time making a small 15 mm siphon to test. Killing two birds with a stone.. as they said it.

I am using existing water source to water the new addition and right return tank as support. Surplus Dickson bars or angle irons make a rack using return tank as support. This arrangement make the distance for water return to be very small. It will be difficult to make a siphon.

Using one of the surplus smaller tub which already has holes in it for water inlet and previous 25mm siphon. The 25 mm siphon I use a tank adapter and pvc piping to make a stand pipe since I am not using this siphon, it is just to close the hole.

The other hole was for 15 mm pvc piping, this is just right for the smaller siphon I am  testing. I made this siphon same as the 20 mm StrainerBell just that it is using smaller parts.

The shorter return creates problem with existing fittings, I had to cut it to length so that siphon outlet just above water line in the return tank.

For now I'm setting the siphon to operates at water height of 11 cm, no extender use. I do not want to use too much water since there is no hydroton in this tank. I think Crawfish don't need that much water, and having a flood and drain can keep them continuously supply with fresh water.

This siphon will drain water to about 2 cm, it is preset that way due to the vent on the inverted vent cowl used. BTW it is a 2 inches vent cowl and uPVC pipes, the 20 mm Siphon make use of 3 inches uPVC.

That's the 11 cm water mark, hope Crawfish will not manage to escape.

Water inflow is a trickle, and I "tee" from existing feed to the right growbeds on my CRAFTS set.

That's the completed 15 mm StrainerBell siphon and water feed.

Outlet flushing, I will need to test these. Since it is smaller the operating margin is much less. Water required is also very much less, making this siphon a good candidate for a gutter growbed system.

The completed crawfish tank with smallest siphon I made to test.

Next I will need a few Crawfish... :)

Getting Few More Fish - Lampam & Patin

Need few more fish to get system balance since I have more Strawberry plants in the growbed in the front. Since the tank already has some Jelawat or Hoven's Carp in it, I need to get some hardy fish that can tolerate it.

For the Jelawat tank I bought these Patin or Red Tail Catfish, they are very hardy and able to survive if placed with the Jelawat aggressive behavior.

Another tank I need to stock up already has Lampam, so got few more of these Lampam or Tin Foil Barb. This fish can't survive if I put it with the Jelawat.

They Are Always Hungry, These Tilapia

No matter how you feed them, they are always hungry. Tilapia has short digestive track they eat a little bit at a time but most of the time.

These are in my CRAFTS set, and they are getting bigger. I use fish pellets to feed them.

Never over feed fish, especially in Aquaponics. Water will get murky and Ammonia will shoot up. If you see foam or bubbles in the fish tank just stop feeding them for at least one day and continue after water had cleared.

It's okay for them to go hungry, they will start to feed on the algae making water and tank cleaner.

Surplus greens is good, above is the Sambung Nyawa plants that I cut and throw it to give them something to bite.

Tilapia will eat greens, one of the best is Kangkung these they will nibble in no time at all. However before feeding them greens make sure they are really hungry.

There are loads of green from my Aquaponics growbeds and it's fish food.

After 1 day in the fish tanks, this is what left of the plants. Those stems can still be use as cuttings.