5 replies to this topic

[norby678]

Hi! I've had fish tanks off & on for my whole life and recently decided to get back into it. I bought a 55 gallon with the intention of setting up a small aquaponics system with bluegill & veggies on top, but before i got the bluegill a friend gave me a "koi" out of his backyard pond he was filling in. Turned out the "koi" is a mirror scale carp - a little guy - only 6 inches. The first two weeks were a nightmare getting this pond fish to eat something. Finally i tried frozen food & haven't looked back since. Two months later he is up to almost 9 inches and still growing like a weed and i have scraped the idea of routing his water through veggies. I think the 55 won't hold him much longer so i have a 300+ gallon tank build planned for January.

I'm currently looking for a source of more common carp to put in the new tank. I'm not too worried about them starting out smaller than him because he has lived the last month & a half with some 2-3 inch rosy red minnows i put in there for him to eat. I put in 20 & all but 4 were gone by morning. But since i found frozen food he isn't interested in them at all. In fact they are more likely to nibble at him.

When i get the big tank up and cycling I'm thinking about adding a Bullhead catfish or two. I'm sure they'll finish off the last of the minnows, but that's okay with me. I prefer more naturally colored fish any way.

All the sources I've found for Bullhead only sell little guys - under 4 inches. I don't think my carp will try to eat them but I'm wondering if they'll get along with him. I've read that sometimes Bullheads cab be territorial.

The finished 300+ gallon tank will be 7 feet long by 36 inches tall by 22 inches wide as that is the space i have.


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[norby678]

BTW i know carp aren't native, but I'd really like to have possibly multiple native species in with them. Bullheads are my first idea. Other species suggestions would be great! Thanks.

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[Sean Phillips]

Your carp ate minnows? That's odd behavior for a scavenger fish, but weirder things have happened I suppose. If the tank is only 22" front to back then I wouldn't add any more carp, and I'd be careful about keeping yours in there too long, they can get 36" long after all. Bullheads would definitely work though. Yellow, Browns, and Blacks would all be good choices that are easy to find. Really, any of the bullhead species (including white catfish) would work well, but most other than the first three are pretty hard to obtain if they're not local to your area.

[norby678]

Thank you for the input! I knew he'd get big but didn't realize that big! I'd better find another spot for his home so I can make it bigger.

But I like the idea of Bullhead catfish in the bedroom aquarium.

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[Matt DeLaVega]

Bullhead are not a bad idea for an aquaponic set up. Bluegill would be another option. Carp are just so wasty. Big bag of guts with little usable flesh.You would need to grow them to a rather large size for them to be worthwhile. If you go non native go with blue tilapia. Easy to breed and nearly ideal for indoor aquaponics. Need 3 tanks.One for your brood fish one grow out tank, and one for finishing. Some good aquaponic forums out there. I suggest checking into some of them.I would not be surprised if you could produce over 30 pounds of fish plus vegetables yearly.I am not convinced that it will be cost effective.$100.00 worth of fish plus whatever value you put on the veggies. Maxicrop seaweed extract is non toxic to fish and will do wonders for your plants. The other major hurdle if you live in an area with high pH water with a lot of buffering capacity is to get the pH low enough that the plants can readily extract nutrients.For me it took at least two weeks of muriatic acid drip to finally stabilize the pH at around 7.0. Rain water may be a better option. I do imagine it would be mineral poor though. Good luck.

 

Oh, and 36 inch deep tank, no reason for that. The footprint matters much more than the depth. I would drop down to 24 at the most.

[strat guy]

1) When I was a kid I kept a bullhead in with my goldfish. He had to go when he started attacking them. I've also caught 8" bullhead on 6" golden shiners, so they're not afraid to try to eat food as large as they are.

2) Goldfish and carp are extremely difficult to keep in aquaria. They make a TON of waste. Most hardcore goldfish keepers say 1 goldie to 55gal. Carp are even worse. If you're going to keep them, your filtration should be way overpowered, comparable to what you would use for a pond. You may want to look at fluid bed filters for bio filtration since carp have such a heavy output. A simple sump probably won't be enough.