Tuesday 13 March 2012

Aquaponics (Videos Included)

Photo1602


One of the facets of organic farming that I am most fascinated by is aquaponics. I'm not sure that there is a better or simpler way to grow large amounts of food in a small amount of space.


(This first video is just a brief summary of a DVD that gets into the nitty gritty - but it is still a great explanation of the basics!)



I think one of the more challenging parts might be finding a good source of organic fish food! Most people just tend to use whatever fish feed is readily available; but I would be hesitant to trust most sources without a great deal of research. I think the key would be to first choose your species and cultivate your own food that suits that species of fish. (A lot of fish feed contains corn; which as you may know, is more often than not genetically modified - and I doubt that many fish feed companies would bother purchasing organic corn!)

Tilapia are one of the most common fish grown in aquaponics; they can live off a diet of duckweed and apparently pretty much anything else including plants, worms, smaller fish, algae... no wonder they are one of the most preferred fish for aquaponics! (How nutritious your tilapia are is directly affected by what foods they eat!) Crazily enough I've never tried tilapia, but apparently they are one of the most mild fish out there.



I've watched about a million videos (teeeeny exaggeration) so far on aquaponics, fish ponds, and so on... I've only posted a fraction of them here; if anyone is interested let me know and I'll post some of the others that I enjoyed!

See you soon!

Photo via Kanu Hawaii

__________________________
If you enjoyed this post, why not Subscribe to Organically Inclined!

1 comment:

  1. I really enjoyed this! It just shows you what can be done if you want to do it!
    It is a very good idea, raise fish and eat veggies and berries...every family should have one in their back yard or over their inside living room fish tank...imagine no more cleaning of the fish tank! That is awesome research too.Thank you

    ReplyDelete