Anyone else raising fish for food??? Now with pictures of the Harvest!
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OP
OP
made it through that cold front moving through ( the wind really chilled the tanks down ) it was 46 degrees this morning, with no wind, & the tanks were back to 84 degrees... got a couple more weeks of summer like temps ahead.. but the next cold front, might be harvest time??? want them to get as big as they can, but if it gets too cold, that they die, that wouldn't be good
OP
OP
28 degrees F this morning... 1st frost... tanks were down to 80 degrees... which is pretty good... no wind this morning fortunately... I think this cold spell breaks today... I think 80 degrees by this afternoon...
OP
OP
Well it's about harvest time... leaves are falling from the trees, & we are starting to come out of our drought... rain is a good thing... on purpose placement, under the eves of my garage, the rain runs off the roof, filling to the overflow the Tilapia tanks & filter reservoir... more rain over flow, means free water changes... fish were active this morning, & water a little clearer than normal, thanks to the rains...
I think a good part of the suppliers "grading" system, is early sexing... a random sample netted out of my tanks a few weeks ago shows a higher than normal percentage of female fish, which run smaller than the males... males right now are running 8 to 9 inches long... females are 6 to 7 inches long... we'll begin harvesting next week, on Saturday, & there should be right around 100 harvested, minus the 4 to 6 I pull aside for breeding...
I found a problem with the falling leaves, enough have been getting into the system, even though 2 out of 3 tanks are covered ( the hydroponic plant tank is open on the top ) my pump was not pumping water this morning, when I fed fish, before heading off to work... I didn't have much time, but I pulled the pump, & the bottom was full of leaves... pulled them out, & slid the pump back in, but still wouldn't pump... I would suspect my hose from the pump to the highest tank, is plugged with leaves... the fish will be fine while I'm at work, with the influx of new rain water, & I'll have to look at it more in depth when I get home tonight... everything is pretty serviceable, so it should be fine... may have to take my air compressor to blow a plug out of the hose???
so far I still have one very large Tilapia living in the plant hydroponic tank ( suspect he ate all my duckweed, to get so big )( thinking he jumped out, before I covered the tanks & landed in the tank next to it, that was full of duckweed, earlier this summer ) & I have been seeing one of the Bichirs quite often lately, both the Tilapia, & the Bichir are easy 10 inches long right now... there is supposed to be 3 Bichirs in that tank, but I only ever see one at a time... & never saw any dead, so unless a bigger Bichir would eat a smaller Bichir, I probably still have 3 in there... they were all put in at 3 inches... so it's quite possible that I'm seeing different fish, 1 at a time, & they are all close to the same size??? the one (s) I'm seeing are eating pellets, that I'm putting in for the single Tilapia, now that the mosquito fish have all been consumed... which will make things easier next week, when they are moved into aquariums in the house for the winter...
I think a good part of the suppliers "grading" system, is early sexing... a random sample netted out of my tanks a few weeks ago shows a higher than normal percentage of female fish, which run smaller than the males... males right now are running 8 to 9 inches long... females are 6 to 7 inches long... we'll begin harvesting next week, on Saturday, & there should be right around 100 harvested, minus the 4 to 6 I pull aside for breeding...
I found a problem with the falling leaves, enough have been getting into the system, even though 2 out of 3 tanks are covered ( the hydroponic plant tank is open on the top ) my pump was not pumping water this morning, when I fed fish, before heading off to work... I didn't have much time, but I pulled the pump, & the bottom was full of leaves... pulled them out, & slid the pump back in, but still wouldn't pump... I would suspect my hose from the pump to the highest tank, is plugged with leaves... the fish will be fine while I'm at work, with the influx of new rain water, & I'll have to look at it more in depth when I get home tonight... everything is pretty serviceable, so it should be fine... may have to take my air compressor to blow a plug out of the hose???
so far I still have one very large Tilapia living in the plant hydroponic tank ( suspect he ate all my duckweed, to get so big )( thinking he jumped out, before I covered the tanks & landed in the tank next to it, that was full of duckweed, earlier this summer ) & I have been seeing one of the Bichirs quite often lately, both the Tilapia, & the Bichir are easy 10 inches long right now... there is supposed to be 3 Bichirs in that tank, but I only ever see one at a time... & never saw any dead, so unless a bigger Bichir would eat a smaller Bichir, I probably still have 3 in there... they were all put in at 3 inches... so it's quite possible that I'm seeing different fish, 1 at a time, & they are all close to the same size??? the one (s) I'm seeing are eating pellets, that I'm putting in for the single Tilapia, now that the mosquito fish have all been consumed... which will make things easier next week, when they are moved into aquariums in the house for the winter...
OP
OP
Hopefully I didnāt wait too longā¦ may get an accumulation of snow Saturday into Sunday this weekā¦ cold front moving through with moistureā¦ more rain today, and coldā¦ tanks are all over 80 degrees, and fish are eating like the farm animals trying to fatten up for winterā¦ ran out of the big pellets last nightā¦ have some on order, will be here Mondayā¦ have a small amount of each of the smaller pellets, Iāll have to feed over the weekendā¦ if the fish will eatā¦ colder weather slowed down their eating previouslyā¦ Iām not ready for winter yet with any of my chores yetā¦
what's rain?
I wouldn't seeing some of that a little more often than I do
OP
OP
We are actually ahead on moisture this month, and lastā¦ we are still a little over 2 inches short for the year, but were as far as 8 inches short, earlier this yearā¦
They are now talking an inch of snow, and a week hovering around freezingā¦ Iām going to tarp the fish tanks tomorrowā¦ the temperatures have been slowly dropping because of the cold wind and rain, mid 70 degrees, right nowā¦ if I air gap, cover the side the wind is coming from, and cover the tops to help hold the heat in, hopefully I can keep the tanks in the 70ās
They are now talking an inch of snow, and a week hovering around freezingā¦ Iām going to tarp the fish tanks tomorrowā¦ the temperatures have been slowly dropping because of the cold wind and rain, mid 70 degrees, right nowā¦ if I air gap, cover the side the wind is coming from, and cover the tops to help hold the heat in, hopefully I can keep the tanks in the 70ās
OP
OP
brrrrrrā¦. 28 degrees this morningā¦ 4 degrees below freezing in Minnesotaā¦ at least the wind died downā¦ one tank at 73 degrees, another at 68ā¦ even though the tanks are warmer, the last of the vegetables were frost wilted, so I picked the last couple tomatoes and peppersā¦
So today I will shut down and drain the hydroponic tankā¦ as that one is only holding 71 degreesā¦ that means transferring the Bichirs indoors, and moving at least the one tilapia to the middle tankā¦ will try to take a few pictures and post later
For The tilapia tanks, I ran some warm fresh water, into those 2 tanksā¦ I have some foam board insulation, Iāll lay on top, and finish wrapping them with tarps and hope for the best getting through this cold week
So today I will shut down and drain the hydroponic tankā¦ as that one is only holding 71 degreesā¦ that means transferring the Bichirs indoors, and moving at least the one tilapia to the middle tankā¦ will try to take a few pictures and post later
For The tilapia tanks, I ran some warm fresh water, into those 2 tanksā¦ I have some foam board insulation, Iāll lay on top, and finish wrapping them with tarps and hope for the best getting through this cold week
OP
OP
Well it hasnāt warmed up any yetā¦ too hard to take pictures, in the process, and with rubber gloves onā¦ only found 1 Bichir and 1 tilapia in the plant tankā¦
Tilapia was a male, so I moved him into the divided tank, and I had a tank ready for the bichir as wellā¦
Was hard on the fish, a big temperature change, and the bichir went from alkaline water to neutral waterā¦ but a half hour later, both look goodā¦.
Tilapia was a male, so I moved him into the divided tank, and I had a tank ready for the bichir as wellā¦
Was hard on the fish, a big temperature change, and the bichir went from alkaline water to neutral waterā¦ but a half hour later, both look goodā¦.
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OP
OP
Both tanks wrapped, moved the heater from the plant tank to the middle on ( it barely reached ) shut the air off last night, the circulation and the pump pumping outside air, just to see if they would warm upā¦ this morning the lower middle tank was 79 degreesā¦ the outside tank was down to 50 degrees when I turned the air onā¦ may lose half my fish today??? Have to go to church early this morning, and take my mom to her sisterās out of town afterā¦ I donāt have a good working extra heater right now, and would have to run a long extension cord for power, as my circuit is at capacityā¦ not supposed to warm up much todayā¦ no floaters so far far, but itās not looking very good for one of the tanks right now
Alice B
Fish Herder
what size heater are you using? Mine sank when they got too cold and died, they didn't float, you'll have to drain the tank to get them
OP
OP
Right now Iām using 800 watt heaters, one has 2, after I shut down the plant tankā¦ the blues, like I have are supposed to be more cold hardy, but 50 degree water is a little too coldā¦ Iāll know more when I get home in a couple hours
Alice B
Fish Herder
that electric bill would be fierce here. Good luck
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