Fish time

Today I got my fish.   I am starting off with a small number to test the system.  I got 32 4"-6" Channle catfish.  They were $1.50 each  I also stoped at the local feed store and got a 50# bag of feed for $23.

      I am using Channel cats because they are common in aquaculture and live well in most water conditions and tempratures.   I also like to eat catfish yum, yum.   I figure that my system could hold 100 to 150 fish total but I dont want to stock that many before I know that it will work.   This way I can test the system without the large investment for that many fish.   The plants I started will need the nutrents from the fish very soon or they wont grow.

growing setup

I have made a floating grow system.  It is a 2'x4'x2" sheet of insulation foam.  I went to a local Hydroponics store and bought some mesh pots for it.  Being the first time I have tried  this setup I am not sure about the spacing of the pots or the size  that is best to use.  I have 15  three inch pots, 5 four inch pots, and 3 five inch pots. I filled the pots with washed pea gravel.  So far I have planted chard, spinach, basil, brockaly, and chives in the floating system.  I planted watercress in the top of my bio filter where it is doing very well even with so few fish in the system.   I also made a grow tub out of a cement mixing tub from the hardware store.  I filled it with pea gravel and put a timed pump on it so that the water would rise and fall in the tub to let air down to the roots of the plants growing there.  I am going to try tomatoes also but I don't know how well they will do in the system.  I am starting out with mostly green leafy plants because I have a green house over this whole setup and it will keep out most of the polinators that would be needed for flowering plants. I will try to hand polinate but I dont know how well that will work.