Aquaponics Experiment Up and Running

40 goldfish all named Dave

After a long time deliberating and trying to find a good source of fish, I finally settled on getting goldfish for the aquaponics experiment (see related posts here and here). They were easy to locate, produce lots of waste and are pretty hard to kill. We've had some goldfish in out animal water tanks (helping to keep them algae-free) for almost a year now. They seem to thrive on neglect.

So, on Sunday, I bought 40 little goldfish and introduced them to their new home. I then planted four tomato plants, three arugula plants, three romaine lettuce plants in the planting bed. I also pulled a bunch of lettuce out of our winter garden to see if it could make the transition.

Three days into the operation with no goldfish floaters and the plants seem to be doing well. I will monitor the water temperature over the summer and see if I will be able to keep it at a suitable temperature for tilapia, or something similar. If so, we will eventually transition over to a more useful fish.

So far, so good. Everything seems to be doing well. Lettuce from our garden is in the foreground and right. Romaine is to the left, arugula to the rear, tomatoes in the middle.