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AZ Red

Exodon
MFK Member
Aug 8, 2016
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Howdy, MFK!

My name's Preston, but I usually just go by Red. I'm an aquarium guy that has converted to aquaponics, but I'm having a lot more luck with my fish than with my garden.

So I did have an indoor and an outdoor AP system until a few days ago, when an aquarium leak forced me to partially break down my indoor system. Now, the indoor is just a 40gal sump and a single (empty) grow bed. My outdoor system is centered around a pair of 330gal IBCs that I plumbed together and buried in the side of a hill as a pond under a couple trees. Currently, it is stocked with about a dozen tilapia and a pleco on one side, and a mix of about 10dz. rosy reds and feeder comets.

For filtration, I'm running a DIY swirl filter feeding a pond filter w/ UV sterilizer. Simple, effective, and the swirl filter solids compost easily into fish manure for soil gardening and my hybrid gardening (still using the water from the AP system to irrigate my planters, but without losing water back into the ground).

So my tilapia... They are a mix of whites and Mozambiques, I believe. They aren't quite monsters, yet. I stocked them in my 30gal display tank in my indoor system in mid-April, and they were somewhere between 1/2"-3/4" long. 4mos. later, they are all 6"+, and with continued luck, will hit the 1Lb. mark before the end of the year. I was planning on harvesting once they hit 12", but now I'm 2nd guessing myself, just to see how big I can actually get them.

So my thought was originally to stock my pond with game fish, but I'm having difficulties finding the fish to stock legally, and tilapia are available and usually (much) cheaper. That said, I have 2 42"x48" tanks, and I would like to reserve one of them for my "monsters," which brings me to why I'm here: figuring out what species I can stock with, and how big I can go. I know my options are limited until I can heat the pond, but I would like to find some fish that will grow into monsters, without outgrowing the IBCs, and preferably something that I could have something of a relationship with (or at least interact with).

Also, throughout the last 2yrs that I have done AP, I've had plenty of successes and failures to learn from, and I have learned a fair bit about system design/engineering, and I'm more than willing to share what I've learned.

Thanks for the add,
AZR
 
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AZ Red

Exodon
MFK Member
Aug 8, 2016
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i've figured out how to clear it with Fish & Game, that's the easiest part, but my problem is still sourcing the fish themselves.

There's a guy based out of I believe it's Marana, AZ (nearby) that supposedly has all kinds of stuff, including sturgeon the last I saw (I need to see it to believe it though), but he used to do business with the owners of Tropical Kingdom (a local pet store, and one of the owners also does AP, and is the one I blame for my obsession), and they have warned me away from doing business with him. I guess he still owes a relatively small sum of money some 20yrs later.

Other than him, I think there is one hatchery that breeds gamefish other than trout, and it happens to be the closest, but still a 2hr drive (i'm guessing, it's kinda backwoods), and the other hatcheries are all upstate. Outside of this, I'm left with mail order, which I'm hesitant about. Buying things unseen sketches me out.

The logistics of transporting the fish myself worries me, too. I don't mind finding the excuse to drive around the state on my days off, but I'm concerned that I'm going to drop a few bills and have them not even survive the trip home, let alone acclimating them. Also, there's the basics of what container am I going to put them in for transport, etc.

TIA for any and all advice,
AZR
 
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Deadliestviper7

The Necromancer
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A AZ Red : I would visit the hatchery first, see if they will sell to you, get some sunfish, channel cats etc, then get the stuff they don't carry online such as bowfin,gar,various cichlids etc
 
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predatorkeeper87

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how many fish are you looking to stock? You'd be better off hitting a native fish seller online and having them ship you what you want. You aren't fitting lake-size amounts of fish so it wouldn't be unreasonable to have a seller like Jonahsaquarium.com ship you the fish you want. Great guys, I've bought a lot of natives off them.

in a 3.5x4 you have a few options, but only once you heat it unless you stick to natives only. As for having a relationship with the fish, they'll probably only see you as a friend...I'm sorry.
 
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AZ Red

Exodon
MFK Member
Aug 8, 2016
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how many fish are you looking to stock? You'd be better off hitting a native fish seller online and having them ship you what you want. You aren't fitting lake-size amounts of fish so it wouldn't be unreasonable to have a seller like Jonahsaquarium.com ship you the fish you want. Great guys, I've bought a lot of natives off them.

in a 3.5x4 you have a few options, but only once you heat it unless you stick to natives only. As for having a relationship with the fish, they'll probably only see you as a friend...I'm sorry.
I have been looking at pretty heavy stocking density, but my current tilapia stock has grown much faster than anticipated (10" at 6mos old...), so that's thrown a kink in my planning. I was looking at stocking 100 fingerlings quarterly with the thought that a little under half would reach maturity (I plan to harvest as well).

My trophy/monster side though, I'm not sure. Maybe a dozen cats, and a dozen panfish in addition to this first group of tilapia (currently about a dozen of them). I need to put some sort of structure in the tank for them, though.

I do know my lack of a heater is an issue, but I may build a greenhouse for the fish tanks as I expand, in addition to heating what I already have. (I have a hypothesis about the relationship of water temp to plant growth in AP to experiment with...)

Honestly, if I was their friend, that would be great. I'm pretty sure they recognize me, and that they recognize I am the food source (they were inside in an aquarium for the first 3mos), but since I moved them outside, they drop to the bottom as soon as they notice me.
 

predatorkeeper87

Potamotrygon
MFK Member
Sep 8, 2014
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I have been looking at pretty heavy stocking density, but my current tilapia stock has grown much faster than anticipated (10" at 6mos old...), so that's thrown a kink in my planning. I was looking at stocking 100 fingerlings quarterly with the thought that a little under half would reach maturity (I plan to harvest as well).

My trophy/monster side though, I'm not sure. Maybe a dozen cats, and a dozen panfish in addition to this first group of tilapia (currently about a dozen of them). I need to put some sort of structure in the tank for them, though.

I do know my lack of a heater is an issue, but I may build a greenhouse for the fish tanks as I expand, in addition to heating what I already have. (I have a hypothesis about the relationship of water temp to plant growth in AP to experiment with...)

Honestly, if I was their friend, that would be great. I'm pretty sure they recognize me, and that they recognize I am the food source (they were inside in an aquarium for the first 3mos), but since I moved them outside, they drop to the bottom as soon as they notice me.
ok so harvesting side you want to raise 100 game fish in a what I'm estimating to be a 260-320 or so gallon tub? That's going to get ugly fast lol. But I'm not AP guru so if that can work I'm sure the guys I mentioned can order you the amount you want at a fair price, I know they have 100+ fish price discounts

As for the monster side, a dozen cats is probably a bad idea depending on species, that's not a lot of room, 12 panfish would be fine though. The heater is no real big issue in your state I'm guessing but for anything other than the game fish or tilapia I wouldn't risk the fish surviving a cold night or two.
 

Deadliestviper7

The Necromancer
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I would expand if possible, if u can get a 20 intex pool setup, with a greenhouse film and air heater over it in winter u could have about 20 channel cats, tons of tilapia, and 1 example of each type of sunfish species( so u get faster growing hybrids), u could also get 1 mean mouth bass.
 
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