Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Sad Day in Aquaponicsville

I put one of the tilapia in a new outdoor aquaponics system yesterday, and unfortunately I was dumb on two fronts: the system was extremely full of water (within 2-3" of the lip) and uncovered.  I found the fish dead and semi-dry on the ground about 12 hours later.  I tried to revive it for about 20 minutes, but it was too far gone and never responded.

species:  blue tilapia
weight:  32 grams (1 1/8 oz)
length:  4.5"
age:  probably 9 or 10 weeks (had it for 7.5 weeks)


Friday, July 22, 2011

Tilapia Grow Somewhat Quickly in a Good Environment...

The tilapia are now around 4" long (individual variance of +/- a half inch). My best guess is that they have tripled in length since my last post less than a month ago, with their mass increasing by a factor of 10. 

The first two pics are just with the camera; I shot the last two with my polarized sunglasses covering the lens:






Here's the view from the doorway.  I'm in the process of clearing out the tomatoes and cucumbers from the left-hand side for a fresh planting.  The lettuce on the right-hand side is only there out of curiosity.  The shrub-looking things behind the lettuce are eggplants.