Choosing easy fish for a beginner aquaponics aquarium
Sure enough, our reader
was right. Our aquaponics setup didn't need more plants --- it just
needed a little more time. Six days after my previous test, I tested
again...and found ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels were all close
to 0. Success! Time to choose some fish.
I've narrowed it down to
three unlikely-to-fail options. Perhaps those of you with more aquarium
experience can chime in?
Option A: 4 Danios. I
understand this might be pushing the limits of my ten-gallon aquarium,
but I might get away with it if I choose short-finned varieties that
are less likely to be picked on. Danios are reported to be fast
swimmers who enjoy dancing around the upper limits of the tank.
Option B: Three guppies
(two females and a male) and three dwarf cory catfish. This would be a
busy tank since the guppies would breed (and then eat their babies)
while the catfish would play around near the bottom. Downside --- I
might need to change out my existing gravel bottom for sand for the
sake of the catfishs' tender mouths. And will I fall into the trap of
trying to give all those baby fish away?
Option C: A single betta
for peak beauty (although lower activity levels). Possible problem ---
the beta's beautiful fins and tail might get caught in the intake of
the pump since the species isn't good at handling rapidly moving water.
What do you think?
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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Hi Anna and Mark,
I started with 6 small gold fish. Early on one jumped out, leaving 5 fish that survived for a few years. They have grown quite a bit. Then at first one plant died. Then some fish? I am not sure how many are left at this point. I hope to get a new tank in a day or so, put in new water, aereate it for a day or so, transfer the living fish and see what then happens.
That is why I asked about your testing kit. I have done essentially no testing and things just worked for a long time.
I have not changed the water so probably things got far enough out of wack to give me the problems I now have. Perhaps my problems are all due to 'salt' buildup whatever that really means.
warm regards to you both, John
I have heard that Danios can breed very easily. But I have personal experience with Guppies, Cories and Betas. The guppies will breed themselves to death. Cories can do well with gravel but they need space to grow and places to hide and explore.
Betas can do ok in stronger current tanks. You can use craft plastic mesh to make a box to keep them out of the filter. They can be very smart and love attention. There are short finned king betas out there and the short finned females are also very pretty.