Hello again!

Here is a quick update on my tomato plant, it is going crazy! I had to buy some bamboo supports for it because it finally fell due to it huge size! Luckily the stem didn't snap and all is good. The first tomato that came out is continually growing and is about three inches wide. I also have noticed new baby tomatoes that just came out last week. They are already getting big!

Here is my tomato plant. It is massive!
After two toppings it is still growing.

This is my first aquaponic tomato.

These two tomatoes just popped up
and are growing very fat!

I am also working on a "mirco green" project. It is a combination of different veggi seeds that sprout up and you eat them as baby greens or "micro greens." They are very tasty, but that will be in the next update!

Thanks for reading!

Quick Video

Please excuse the noise :)

New Fish!!!

I got some new fish last night! I am very happy with them. One of my fish contacts had to get rid of some of fish to make room for new ones. I was happy to come by and see if there was any that caught my eye. I ended up coming home with five little guys. I'm very excited about them.

Blue Dolphin mug shot. When they are older,
they will grow a big hump on their forehead.
This hump is to attract mates and is composed of fatty tissue. 

The first pair is Blue Dolphins (Cyrtocara moorii). I have been interested in them since I began keeping cichlids back in 2004. They are very peaceful fish that grow to big sizes, very cool. One of the distinguishing features of an adult Blue Dolphin is a large hump that grows on its head. The larger the hump, the older the fish. While it is mostly males with large humps, females can have them too.

The next pair and single, I'm not sure exactly what type they are yet but I think the single one is a female "Rusty Cichlid" but is def a type mbuna. This family of fish is pretty easy to identify. They look very similar.

Rusty Cichlid

Here are some more pics I took of all my fish

Aquaponic Growth Explosion

Hello viewers!

It has been a while since I have updated, my computer broke. But... now I am back and ready to update! I wish I could have shown the progress of my tomato plant, however I can show you how it is now! It is IMPRESSIVE! Everyone who sees it is astonished. Even if it is only been three days, they can see a big difference. My fish are also going great. They are growing and I actually had to sell a few because they were getting big and territorial.

Having African Cichlids makes my system different from other aquaponic systems. African Cichlids seem to have more personality and behavioral habits. They are fascinating to to watch once you know what they are doing. They can also change color or more like hues and color intensity depending on how they are feeling.

For example I have noticed that the dominant males tend to show off their colors for the females 15 or so minutes after they are fed. There are also relationships between certain fish that can be seen day after day. Some are scared of others, some are couples, and then some are friends or tend to stick together.

Enough chit chat :) here are some pics

Massive growth from the tomato plant.
Blueberry bush doing okay after transplant 

My first tomato plant!

Tomato plant after topping.

Blueberry bush after transpplant.

My blueberry bush is recovering from the transplant shock and it starting to grow... kinda. One of the first things I learned while reading Aquaponic Gardening was that blueberries do not do well in aquaponics. I should have read up on them before I bought them. The reason is they thrive in a more acidic soil / media.m My aquaponics has a PH bit other 7. I would guess 7.4 or so. While this is a tad higher than the suggested aquaponic PH level, my Cichlids come from Harder water so it is a compromise. I may have problems with low iron levels later on but i will fix that when the time comes... IF it ever comes!

As you can see, my ruccola isn't doing that well. I think if I want to continue with the DWC (Deep Water Culture) I will have to hook up some lights to it. I am toying with the idea of converting it to another flood and drain, media bed because my other one is just doing so well!

Arugula needs more light than the window provides.
I will need to add lighting if I wish to continue growing arugula
and other salad greens.

Fish looking for some grub

A group shot of my cichlids. From Left; Nimbochromis Venustus,
Placiachromis Milomo, Red Empress

Nimbochromis Venustus

Lastly, but very importantly... I would recomend everyone interested in Aquaponics to read Sylvia Bernstien's book,  Aquaponic Gardening: A Step by Step Guide to Growing Fish and Vegetables Together.

I am not all the way through it, but I have learned a decent amount already. I wish I had this book a few months back though. Instead of reading forum after forum, blogs and dozens of YouTube videos, you can just read this book instead. It has everything you need to know and in simple and easy to understand language. It is written in a way that you need a bit of your own creativity, but Aquapons (as we are called, I guess) tend to be creative and DIY folk, my kind of folk ;-) 

Until next update!

Felix