Do You Have This Problem?

If you have a DIY aquaponic system at home, you can host a nasty little creature. Not only looks ugly, but is responsible for thousands of deaths every year; not to mention itches and annoyance. I’m talking about the cheerful mosquito. This insect has been around for millions of years and, despite our best efforts, remains as one of the top annoying insects, maybe just a little below the cockroach.

In commercial aquaponic facilities there are some measures to stop mosquitoes from breeding in the tanks, but in your backyard there is a good chance that you don’t have any of these. Maybe you haven’t even thought about it.


Well, that’s not a problem everywhere, but I do have it. Since there is a chance that those mosquitoes can provide you with a nasty bug, better to get rid of them. When the fish in the aquaponic system are small enough, they will take care of anything on the tank, but when they are bigger, they tend to forget about little critters and grow fat with supplied food.

My solution for this is to use a pest to get rid of another pest. And this pest is the Gambusia fish, also called the “Mosquito fish”. These guys are small and stay small for their whole life, so there they will never outgrow your “good” fish or the tank itself. Of course they can compete with the other fish for food, but I don’t think anyone will notice.

The Gambusias are very prolific and, since their young are born alive instead of hatching from an egg, the survival rate is very high, so they have colonized almost every place where it has been introduced. By the way, it was introduced as bait fish and to control mosquitoes. As always, they have joined the list of invasive species, but that's human nature for you.


They are not exactly handsome, but they do the job and, if you have a few in another tank, you can breed them to control mosquitoes and to give some fresh food to your fish. Although I’m sure that you are feeding your fish correctly, giving them some live bait will make them a little happier and its fun to watch.

These Gambusia fellows live almost everywhere, even sewers, so you will not have any trouble finding them. I always have some in hand and you should, specially if you are breeding predator fish.

They are also great for starting a biological filter for an aquaponic system, since they are more sturdy than other species used in aquaponics. I always try not to do this, since the water can get toxic if the filter is not already working, but it’s an option if you don’t have too many fish.

Aquaponics is fun, so try to spice it up a little.

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Something Important About Crayfish

Yesterday I wrote about my fishing trip and the new crayfish living in my tank. Well that was nice, but I forgot to mention an important fact about this guys and I also forgot to put my “countermeasures” in place last night. Well, I was a little tired… I hate getting old… Anyway, one of the crayfish “had a good one”.

One thing about crayfish is that they are very resourceful creatures that can escape from a lot tight places. If you add the ability to survive for short periods of time out of the water, then you have a little Houdini in your tank.

After the crayfish’s demise, I put in place a piece of wood to stop them from climbing. Well, not much for opportunity, but we humans tend to be like this. Anyway, if you have crayfish, they can climb your air hose and the cable for the pump. In a regular tank, you can just place a cover and that will be it, but here you need to have an entrance for the clean water that comes from the hydroponic part of your aquaponic system, so you will need a “do it yourself” solution, like making an additional hole to your tank’s cover.

This will depend a lot on your aquaponic system and it’s layout, but it shouldn’t be a problem. If you plan to have crayfish, you should be careful about this. By the way, the one I have is a Procambarus Clarikii, a nice little pest that has invaded almost everyplace where humans (again us…) has taken them.

Although is not exactly a problem in Florida, Illinois and Ohio, it has colonized a lot of territory in Europe, Africa and Asia, at the expense of indigenous crayfish. Not a pretty sight, but getting back to the ones you can rear, this “pesty” capability of the crayfish can be used to your advantage.

They grow and breed quickly, so you can have enough of them in a few months. In Louisiana, there is a millionaire industry with this crayfish, so you can take a part of it too. They are really delicious and you should not miss the chance to taste your own.

After all, if you feed them right and take the proper care, you can have your own source of a delicacy that can be quite expensive in a good restaurant.

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Catch Your Own Fish!

Nice, isn’t it? Maybe not as fancy as other places, but with a lot of crayfish. Reaching the place wasn’t easy, by the way, but if you want to get one of this guys without too mucho trouble, it’s best if you can reach a place where there is a little trouble involved. After all, most people will mind the bruises and itches you bet for getting into this kind of places.

Well, the point is that you can get local water creatures if you have a creek, lake, river or water nearby. Besides being a nice ride for a Sunday with the family, doing local fishing has a great advantage for your aquaponic adventures.

When you get local fauna, at least you know that the weather will not be a problem. Local critters are used to live in your own region, so you will not have a lot of trouble making a comfortable place for them. Trout is a very tasty fish but requires cold water. Unless you live in a cold place, you can only rear them on the winter.

Anyway, if you have a little time left, turn off the TV, get a couple of fishing nets and go fish something. After some bruises, insect bites and falling in the water (luckily, only once), you can get some fish that will grow healthy in your home. After all, living in the wild is, most of the time, a losing game for fish so they have a better chance with you.

In this case, I went to get some crayfish. These guys are fun to catch. You just need a fish net (I use two; makes it easier) and just watch closely. If you have a nearby creek like this one, a lot of crayfish should be living on the river banks, under the roots of plants or bunches of algae.

You can also use a trap, but these things have to be left in advance the night before. Of course you can always buy some on your local pet store, but where is the fun in that?


Anyway, having your aquaponic system is really easy and very cheap, if you are willing to do thing by yourself. Local fish can always be there to get you started, before you jump to more difficult (but tastier) creatures, so take advantage of that. Doing aquaponics is easy, just takes a little practice.

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Only Fish?

Just as aquaculture can take care of anything that lives in fresh water, aquaponics can do the same. As a matter of fact, there are a lot of people that use salt water creatures to grow special algae, the organic way. Most people consider aquaponics as a fancy way to grow tomatoes, lettuce and things like that, but you can use the fertilized water anyway you like.

Fish are fun to watch, but there are other things you can use to feed your plants. For example, those cute little turtles you buy at the pet store can grow very large and get a little aggressive, but they give a lot of material for your plants, if your biological filter can handle it. Aquaponics can be a little mild to fruit plants like tomatoes, but believe me, turtles have so mucho to give to your plants that you should use them in your aquaponic system.

Other creatures that can be a lot of fun are crayfish. This guys are a little messy in a tank, thanks to this crave they have to dig, move gravel and destroy plants, but they are really delicious and, if you have the proper conditions, they grow pretty fast.

I’m not saying that you should rear other creatures, just that there are other options, if you care to look. Since I like variety, I’m always trying something new, so, in a fishing trip, my daughter found one of this little critters and I gave them a try. Fortunately, there is a lot of information in the WEB about almost anything, so, if you do your homework, you can have almost anything you want.

Rearing fish (or anything else), is just a matter of finding out what they want and giving it to them. Fish are simple creatures. They need food, clean water and shelter from predators. You can give them all that by getting information and simple planning.

You should also read about their behavior. Once I got some nice Perchs (the Texas variety) and took some of them to one of my tanks. They were healthy and thriving until two of them got along well and decided to have their own children. Since they can get a little testy when they have their young, I lost all the big fish due to fighting. Not exactly nice, but that’s nature for you.

So, you can have anything you want if you take the time to learn about it. There is no magic on this, is just applied nature; using what has been working for millions of years and using it to your advantage. It is not that hard and, with a little practice, you can handle everything in no time.

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It's Really That Easy?

Well, it is and it is not. Obviously, if you try something you have never done, you will have a little trouble, but not something to die for. Of course, death is a little involved if you are not careful with your fish, but if you can follow simple instructions and take the time to get the basics, everyone will be alright.

I mean, aquaponics is simply a little ecosystem contained in your backyard. If you understand what is involved, then it will be like having a garden. There’s a little of work involved, but with practice, everything gets easier.

When I started this aquaponic thing, I really was not very scared… after all, I found out about this with an aquaponic system that consisted in a plastic bucket and a couple of PVC tubes, so, how hard could it be?

A few weeks later I had my first aquaponic system with some fish, a couple of plants and clean water. Of course I had to do my homework, but it took only a couple of hours reading material. My tomatoes were not exactly a charm… I had hydroponic tomatoes that did much better, even when I was a newbie. So, why so much buzz about aquaponics? The thing is that maybe you can be a little disappointed with your first results, but that is to be expected. Aquaponics takes a little time to get everything going.

Don get me wrong, I love aquaponics. I think is the best thing I have learned since I discovered reading. I’m not trying to scare you; I just want to motivate you to get things right from the beginning.

If you are considering aquaponics as your new hobby, great news: there is a lot more information available now than when I started, several years ago. Buying a ready to go system can make things a little easier, but I have always been a DIY kind of guy. Besides, making your own system can teach you much more about aquaponics in a couple of weeks than several months of investigation.

You have to consider that many studies are considered gospel, even if they only apply on a certain region and time of year. I’m not saying that studies are wrong, it’s just that there are unique circumstances in your aquaponic installation that can make that study completely irrelevant, at least for you.

Anyway, if you want to do aquaponics, go ahead. Start as soon as possible. Take a couple of hour to read how to do it and then get busy. Having fish is much more fun than plants and, eventually, you can get tasty meat with almost no fat and a los of other cool properties.

By the way, everything will be as natural as you can get for a fair price; and, you will learn a lot of things. Aquaponics is not as easy as hydroponics, but it isn’t that hard. Besides, if you are still reading this, it means that you have what it gets, at least to get started.

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How Much Is Too Much?

Since fish can take a while to grow into an edible size, one question that people keep asking is “how much fish can I have in a single tank?” Well, this can be a tricky question and it depends on your acuaponic system.

Too many fish can lead to a lot of trouble if your are not careful

The first thing is stress. Having a lot of fish crowded in a single tank can be stressful for them and that can affect their growth and their health. This can cause your fish to stay small, even if they are well fed. This is a survival technique in a lot of species that compete for space.

As always, the biological filter (or any other filtering system you use) will have a lot more work to clean the additional ammonia generated by your fish and the pump will need to move more fluid than before. Did I already mention feces? The bottom of your tank will have to be cleaned more often, in case you don’t have a “pre-filter” to get rid of the sludge.

Even if everything you have in place is enough to handle all your fish and solids, there is the possibility of a pump or power failure, which can lead to a massive death. And getting rid of many death fish is not exactly fun.

With proper care, you can have a lot of fish in a single tank

So… with all this problems, why will somebody have more than a few fish? In aquaponics (well, is more an aquaculture thing), more is better. Having more fish in the same space can lead to a higher yield in fish and vegetables, since the fertilizer will be more than enough to grow more plants.

Also, having more fish crowded in a single tank disrupts reproductive behavior, which can be really troublesome with some species. Dealing with a horny fish roughing up everybody else is not easy, and having a lot of younglings competing for food can make things more complicated.

About the stress, well, living in the wild is a very stressful thing, so I wouldn’t worry too much about that.

Well then, how much is too much? I will have 1 fish in every 3 gallons of water. That gives them space to be a little comfortable and will give you several fish per season. This is not a recommendation; is an option. You can always scale your filter up to deal with the additional ammonia and the aquaponic system to handle more plants.

As always, testing is a must. If you are a newbie, start with a few fish and let it grow slowly. After all, you are dealing with living creatures and, even if they don’t kick and scream, they are alive and feel pain. Don’t be so mean.

Of course, this is for home acuaponic systems. Commercial installations may need the additional fish to make some profit, so is a different point of view.

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Your Biological Filter

The biological filter is one of the most important parts of your aquaponic system. No matter how many fish you have, these will make the water a toxic trap in no time. Since you don’t have the space and amount of water you will need to keep your fish safe (unless of course, you own several acres with a lake in the middle), you will have to tweak nature a little so you can keep everything working.

Although there are a lot of commercial filter systems available, most of them require a certain amount of space, accessories and have an interesting price tag, if you know what I mean.

Making a biological filter is very simple, and costs a little fraction of a commercial one. Most important, this diy filter is very effective. As an example, take a look at this photo. You might think that I’m a lousy photographer, but the fact is that the pump decided that it was a little dirty and stopped working.

Since I was away for vacation, I found out a couple of days later. The water in my aquaponic system was completely dirty and very (very) stinky. After taking the fish out and putting them in a provisional tank (luckily, none of them died), I decided to put the aquaponic filter to a little test. After all, since I made everything myself, why not find out if it really works? Testing it in “normal” conditions is easy, but it is always better to have a “stress test”, even if it came as a random “gift” from nature.

Anyway, I cleaned and started the pump again and let it run for a couple of hours. The change was remarkable. In under 4 hours, the water was completely clear and the foul smell almost gone. I put a couple of fish as a test and they stayed well for the entire night, so I send everybody in the next day.

That showed me that this kind of filter is really effective, not to mention cheap. Also, you can make them out of several materials and adapt it to your acuaponic system in any space you have available at your home.

Another great advantage is that they are completely natural and you don’t have to tamper with them to keep them working. As a matter of fact, you just have to feed them and they will take care of themselves. That’s good news for backyard aquaponics.

There are several kinds of biological filters and the choice depends on the type of aquaponic system you have. The type I use is effective on everything I have tried, so I stand for it. However, testing is fun and you should do it every time you can, if it is safe for you and your fish.

After all, testing is what makes progress.

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