Can ornamental fish be used in aquaponics?
This is what we're going to see together in this video.
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So in aquaponics, most of the time, we grow food, we grow vegetables, and fish.
Also bacteria but the aim of aquaponics is very often to harvest some vegetables to be
able to consume them, to feed your family with something that is tasty and healthy but also
to grow some fish, right?
And in the fish, we can grow some fish because you want to eat them or because you like to
see them or both.
Some people are vegans or vegetarians so they don't consume the fish and it's very respectable,
very good actually to just use the fish as a part of the ecosystem but you don't consume
them.
You keep them in the system, keep them in the loop.
You enjoy watching them.
It's like having an ornamental pond outside but the whole aim is to have something that
looks nice and at the end to harvest the plants, the vegetables.
So you can definitely do that and then in terms of fish, you can either grow some fish
such as I don't know, tilapia and silver perch in Australia, trout, whatever.
You can grow them and not harvest them.
You can keep them growing you know.
As they are pets, they become your pet you know.
Or you can also grow some fish that are called ornamental, or which means that they have
some really nice color and that's the type of fish that you can generally see in aquariums
or just ponds outside.
So in terms of fish we have a big variety of fish.
If you have been -- if you are living in a tropical country, you can grow most of the fish
that you can see in aquariums in aquaponics.
If you are in a cold country, then you would probably grow goldfish, that are ornamental
fish, look amazing, very hardy, able to grow in aquaponics.
Or you can grow some koi as well, koi carps.
You know, they are such type of fish that can grow quite big and be very, very nice
with very nice patterns and very nice colors.
So that's what I can recommend you but be very careful where you live.
You may have some specific regulations.
For example, here in Australia in Melbourne, we are not allowed to grow koi carps because
carp is a fish that can grow very fast and if you release into the environment it can
just reproduce itself and just take the place, take the bio type of other fish.
So in this case, it's considered as a pest in Australia and that's why we are not allowed
to have it at home, to keep this type of fish alive.
So obviously, in this case, we can grow the type of fish such as goldfish.
So there are different options and I really encourage you to do some research and see
what type of ornamental fish you can grow wherever you live.
But if you live in a tropical country where the temperature of the water is always above
23-24 degrees Celsius, most of the fish that can be grown in an aquarium can be grown
in this temperature; generally 25-27 degrees is good.
So yeah in this case, you have a very wide panel of fish that you can use in aquaponics and
that's going to be great.
There is one thing that you need to be very careful.
It's the way you feed them.
So you know if you grow some fish in aquariums, you're going to give them some fish food that
is adapted to aquarium fish and in this fish food very often there are some colorants to
enhance the color of the fish.
There are also some other chemicals, possible chemicals that could be kind of good for the
fish but not good for you if you consume the fish in the long term.
Even if you don't consume the fish, putting in some aquarium fish food in the tank, at the
end in the long term, it's going to finish in the plants and you're going to consume
the plants.
So I don't recommend if you grow aquarium fish, I don't recommend to use aquarium fish
food.
I would recommend to use aquaculture fish food.
So you just need to find a fish food that is adapted to the size of the fish and obviously,
if you have a fish that is carnivorous, give them some fish food that is adapted for trout.
For example, if you have a fish that is more vegetarian, try to adapt the fish food to
the type of alimentation that your fish require but try to stay away from aquarium fish food
because as I said there may be some things inside this fish food that you don't want
to find in your aquaponics system at the end.
Also if your fish falls sick, don't use some chemicals that they sell in the aquarium store.
Once you start to grow some food in the system, you need to make sure you know exactly what
you are putting in the system.
So don't put anything against algae.
Don't put any chemicals to try to remove the parasites because those chemicals even if
they kill the parasites and they keep the fish safe, they're going to finish in your
system and therefore, they may kill your bacteria or they may accumulate into the vegetables
and you're going to consume them.
So that's not what you want, right?
You grow some food at home because you want to grow some sustainable food.
So you want it sustainable.
You want to be healthy as well.
So don't put any chemicals in the system.
So if you keep ornamental fish, don't use the medicines, the chemicals, or the fish
food that is supplied with the fish when you buy them.
Just get something that is developed for aquaculture and in this case, it's going to be much better
for your aquaponics system.
If you want to know more about aquaponics, you can get the free aquaponics training to
build your own aquaponics system in the description of the video just below.
It’s a free step-by-step training to help you to build but also to manage your aquaponics
system in the best way possible. In this training, you have access to six steps, which are going
to give you the limits of aquaponics, the ratio to respect, some very technical information
that you really need to understand before putting your aquaponics system together.
So I hope you're going to use it.
It's completely free so it would be a shame to design an aquaponics system without using
this free training.
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I'll see you in the next video.
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I really hope to see you soon and I wish you a fantastic success with aquaponics.
Have a good crop!