WARNING to Aquapons....Tilapia could be a heartless killer of other fish!!!

Hi there.
About 3 nights ago me and Osama finally decided to go get some Tilapia for our Aquaponics system. At first I was hesistant, worried how on earth we can bring them home....and the thought of telling the salesman that I need them alive... is something weird.. so we decided we will tell him its for a school project.. which is actually true..because we are preparing one Aquaponics system for his science fair 2 months from now.

We got to Marhaba supermarket along Hail street in Ruwais and got 4 healthy and active looking tilapias for only ... 10SAR.. yes... all of them for 10SAR... whatta bargain... it took 3 plastic bags becuase their fins kept poking holes on the bag... finally we had to rush back home with 4 tilapias in a plastic bag.... the taxi driver gave us that strange look when the tilapias flapped.. from the bag...

Upon reaching home, we put them in one small container and soon enough we realized we may need to separate them as ... because of hormone treatments in the farm..all of them seemed to be males and were fighting. That same night I put two of them separately in two of my other aquaponics systems, with already established goldfish groups.

Friday morning.... i found two goldfish dead..obviously attacked because their tummies showed nipping or bites... scales were gone....skins were bruised... ay yayayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy... immediately i had to come to the rescue... we put some 4" pvc pipes in the container they were in to give each one some sort of territorial feeling.... but not after 4 goldfish dead 2 more dying... and they were not just goldfish... they were with me since i started aquaponics in january of this year.. so they are almost 8 months old... they have grown happy, healthy and they have been with me on this journey.... what a bummer.... it as a bad way to go......

now.. i am thinking of getting a bigger tank for these 4 tilapias...and maybe come up with a better system for the school fair.... inshallah

so lesson learned! ------- don't mix tilapia with goldfish..... it will be ugly!

Aquaponics in Jeddah update 15July 2011

It was a sad weekend. Thursday was the funeral of my grandson (through my niece, the elder daughter of my oldest sister). Jam suffered childhood leukemia for a few years and his young fragile body (only 6) couldn't take it anymore. Inshallah and with all my heart's faith in Allah, that he is now safe in the arms of the Creator. Couldn't help but had a few hours in Thursday morning just on the net, crying while listening to some sad songs. Inshallah, I pray that my family will draw strength from the inspiration of our faith in Allah and His promise of eternal life.

On my Aquaponics, I also lost my bell pepper and one small pangasius in Aquaponics sytem 2. Actually it was since early last week. The pump broke down, water was in the growbed and it probably drowned. I tried my best to revive it and in a few days it seemed to be recovering but it just gave up. I took it as a good chance to clean the growbed. This is my Aquaponics system #2 where I couldn't grow any new seeds and there are some insects that seemed to be eating the seeds before they can germinate.

After cleaning it, i replanted a watermelon, a few brocollis, a cloned basil and threw in some new seeds of Bellpepper, hoping they would germinate.

My other two systems are doing fine. #1 have the ampalaya, basil, okra and tomatoes. #3 have the ampalaya, spinach, bush beans which are drying up again - huhuhuhuh, parsley/cilantro just dried up...... but, but but... swiss chards germinated only after 3 days of sowing... huh.... very fast, i hope they tolerate the heat...

No pictures or new video yet.. there will be inshallah aftter a few days or next week....

Just started my Aquaponics system 4.. which will be indoors and will be some sort of germinating bed... but for the flowering plants.. lets see how well they do, today i just threw in a bunch of mixed seeds and hope they germinate this week.. will certainly post pics once this happens, inshallah.

I posted some videos of my step by step instruction in making the self watering container pot, made out used 6L water bottle...glad that some of my friends already visited and promised they will try to do it... its nice if it could make their gardening life easier! Inshallah.

Self Watering Container - Step by Step Tutorial