Tilapia,catfish or ?

[SoCal_to_Hawaii]

My husband and I are considering installing a pond to raise edible fish. I've searched and perused PW for "tilapia' and found some useful tidbits and links, as well as tons of information on the Web.

Our thought is something small (say 15 x 4 x 3.5) with solar power aeration and filter systems. Maybe expand to an aquaculture system in the future.

My questions for the good folks in Puna are:
1) Any do's, don'ts, or suggestions that are specific to this area that may not be covered in other general web sites, etc.?
2) Has anyone successfully grown something other than tilapia or catfish?
3) Decent places for supplies (liners, pumps, what-not)?

[ElysianWort]

I had a friend who successfully did wide-mouth bass in an old water tank. He went and collected them from green lake in kapoho back in the day.
Currently I have a 150 gallon horse trough as a fish tank. I jack-hammered and sunk it into the ground for a natural look. The tilapia and mosquito fish I have are quite happy.
I also see koi and comet goldfish ponds from time to time but don't think those are eaten.

[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

[Lee M-S]

There are a lot of options for tanks:

We built a 10' diameter round tank (about 2500 gallons) from old roofing, and lined it with 6mm plastic from Home Depot. It's just below our catchment and we put an extension on the overflow to fill the new tank. We added several tilapia and a variety of water plants. The liner has lasted 4 or 5 years so far, and the fish are fully populated. They eat plants, occasionally catfish food, and sometimes stale catfood. We siphon the (fertilized!) water downhill to soaker hoses in the greenhouse.

We also have an above-ground swimming pool (4000 gallons) from Walmart about the same age (5 years) with fish and water plants.
And a 150 gallon stock tank that used to have goldfish but we just converted to bog garden. Seems too small for edible fish.
Um, then there's the decorative pond from HD with just plants and mosquito fish, and a big ceramic pot with lotus (I plugged the drain hole with silicone caulk and a cork).
Oh, and the low spot we lined with 6mm plastic; it gets overflow from the tilapia tank and has swordtails, goldfish, and water plants. Yeah, we like water gardens!

Friendly Aquaponics, on the Hamakua, has supplies and offers training. They used to give free tours, don't know if they still do. Website has helpful info, too http://www.friendlyaquaponics.com/

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[SoCal_to_Hawaii]

Thanks all for the information.

ElysianWort - Bass had not occurred to me. I'm fairly new to the area; I have notice Green Pond on a map, but have never been there. Do you have any idea if it is still accessible and if there are still bass to 'collect?

Ronni - You make catfish seems like a good option for a beginner - if they can survive pretty much on their own for 18 months that may be the fish for me!

Lee M-S - We are thinking about building up with some rocks in an existing shallow valley between two pahoehoe mounds. It is close to our catchment overflow and we did plan on taking advantage of that. The thought is to install a valve at the bottom for drainage and probably divert it to a couple of nearby raised beds. Good to know that the HD 6mm liner can hold up that long - it gives us a basis for reference. I've been to friendlyaquaponics site and didn't see anything about tours, but did download their 60+ page guide (which I've yet to read).

[ElysianWort]

There's a lady named Smiley I think. She owns the land where green-lake resides. She does a farmers market not far from four corners in Kapoho. I'm not sure what day she does it, I want to say Saturday? She has it set up right there at the gate of her place and she might let you hike up there if you buy some produce. I'm sure her lake still has fish.

[MarkP]

One thing about tilapia is that they like it warm. Up here in Eden Roc it might be a little cool for them although I have never tried it. I do recall talking to an old timer here who was working at the volunteer fire station on rd 8 who excused himself as dusk approached because he had to feed his fish. Apparently they are very sensitive about food and missing a meal will set them back several days in growth. I think he said he was growing tilapia so maybe the temperature is no big deal.

[leilaniguy]

quote:

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Originally posted by ElysianWort

There's a lady named Smiley I think. She owns the land where green-lake resides. She does a farmers market not far from four corners in Kapoho. I'm not sure what day she does it, I want to say Saturday? She has it set up right there at the gate of her place and she might let you hike up there if you buy some produce. I'm sure her lake still has fish.

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Smiley is the caretaker of Green Lake, she does not own it, it still belongs to the "Bird Man". She has a farmers market there every Friday, but I never heard of Tilipia in Green lake. If you give her $5, I'm sure she will let you look for yourself, and even swim, if you dare.

[ElysianWort]

Ah, there it is, I'm sure someone would know. Thanks leilani guy. It's Friday. Also if you read back carefully nobody ever said there were tilapia in green lake. Wide mouth bass were the topic of discussion there.

[SoCal_to_Hawaii]

Fish or not, Green Lake sounds like a nice way to spend some time.