Tilapia,catfish or ?

[SoCal_to_Hawaii]

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Originally posted by EightFingers

Catfish are also a junk fish - bottom feeders.
Both taste pretty good tho'!

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Understood. My thought being, if I control the environment the bottom is not that much different than the top.

[MarkP]

I am acquainted with the guy who farms fish in the old quarry up at Mokuleia (Kaena pt, Oahu). He was in the Hawaiian Airlines in-flight magazine. My info is years old but at that time he used commercially available swimming pool liners when building small breeding tanks. The bulk of the fish were in cages in the lake but he did have several of these small tanks/pools. He expressed no concern whatsoever about chemical leaching. I think that the waste load from the fish is such that he changes the water often enough that it is not an issue. These tanks had water pumped in and out continuously.

Someone told me a story, pretty sure it was him, about when they were in Viet Nam. When working in the fields if the farmer saw a rat they would drop everything to catch it. Then they ate it. The teller didn't say but it was implied that it was well cleaned, cooked, seasoned, etc as with any other food source, the lesson being that these were naturally raised rats and would have been no worse than a rabbit or squirrel. We associate rats with garbage and sewers but that is just because we tend to live in large cities with concentrations of such waste. Anyway a cleanly raised catfish is I am sure as good as any other fish.

[Lee M-S]

When I did the tour at Friendly Aquaponics, they were growing lettuce in the tilapia tanks. They said in cooler places, you get more lettuce; in warmer areas, you get more fish. We're at 1500' elevation, and the tilapia don't seem to mind. But maybe they grow more slowly.

><(((*< ... ><(("< ... ><('< ... >o>

[SoCal_to_Hawaii]

I've seen references to tours at Friendly Aquaponics a few times on PW, but their site doesn't mention it (not that I can find anyway). I've emailed them to see if they still offer tours.

[Ronni]

friendly aquaponics used to have 1st sat. a month info tours mile marker 40ish hwy 19, they have pink house with pink stripe around the corner telephone pole the house has big star held by a crane (machine). If you want some catfish I will give you some. Since I didn't feed them for 1 1/2 yrs they just ate the plants I had on top I think It's a cheap way to go. I plan on buying a smaller pool and move the location of the tank (pool) the swimming pool that it's in now isn't food grade so does it really matter, it must be at least 10 yrs old. Just go for it. You can't really do wrong.

veronica moore

[SoCal_to_Hawaii]

Thanks Ronni. Maybe we will try Friendly the first Saturday in August. As for your kind offer of catfish - we are no where near the point of getting fish yet (unless I plop them in our bathtub!).

[laurarice]

quote:

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Originally posted by Ronni

3 years ago i bought 10 tilapia and 2 catfish and threw them into my back greenhouse catchment then someone gave me 4 little water hyison plants that have pretty purple flowers that soon took over the catchmet so much so that we couldn't get any water surface to feed the fish. Well 1 1/2 yrs later when workers were able to remove all the plants we found out that we only have catfish left AND BOY DO WE HAVE CATFISH. We now feed them since we took the plants away. We never filtered or airrated the water. I plan on buying a new tank to transfer the fish to a new location. I would recommend the catfish. Being from the south it's also what I like.

veronica moore

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Laura

[SoCal_to_Hawaii]

Thank you Laura. Given the comment below it looks like catfish may be the way to go! However, with terracore's info on $$$ and what seems like an endless list of other projects the fish pond has been put on the back burner. ( A burner that is not frying fish [] )

quote:

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Originally posted by laurarice

quote:

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Originally posted by Ronni

3 years ago i bought 10 tilapia and 2 catfish and threw them into my back greenhouse catchment then someone gave me 4 little water hyison plants that have pretty purple flowers that soon took over the catchmet so much so that we couldn't get any water surface to feed the fish. Well 1 1/2 yrs later when workers were able to remove all the plants we found out that we only have catfish left AND BOY DO WE HAVE CATFISH. We now feed them since we took the plants away. We never filtered or airrated the water. I plan on buying a new tank to transfer the fish to a new location. I would recommend the catfish. Being from the south it's also what I like.

veronica moore

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Laura

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[randomq]

Fish are usually the best FCR (feed conversion ratio) but grains are not widely grown here so have to be shipped in. Rabbits are some of the most efficient mammals, and can be fed weeds and vegetable waste.

[Radiopeg]

quote:

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Originally posted by Ronni

If you want some catfish I will give you some.

veronica moore

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If you have catfish still, I'd love to try a few of them in our pond. I miss fried catfish and hush puppies.

Peace and long life