Growing tilapia in my swimming pool.

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Eric Cagle

Senior
Jan 20, 2011
678
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Atlanta, GA
So I was grilling some fish one day and I noticed that it was only a few feet to the swimming pool. I got to thinking that it sure was a lot closer than going all the way to the river or the ocean anytime I wanted some fresh fish. Being not just a sound geek but also redneck I came up with the brilliant solution of growing some fish right here in the cement pond. After saying a few times "Baby I could grow us some tilapia right here in the swimming pool and you know how you like tilapia." she agreed to it and the rest is history. I also convinced her that we could grow a few tomatoes in those planters around the pool. You know she really likes tomatoes as well and they go great with tilapia. I moved the grill back a few feet so the fish wouldn't see it until the last minute :)
 

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Re: Growing tilapia in my swimming pool.

You wasted your pool on a bunch of Mozambique tilapia? Wow! I spend 8-12 hours a day in the pool this time of the year just to stay cool. I couldn't imagine giving that up for some tilapia. The worst day of my year every year is the day my pool temperature drops below 80 degrees. Luckily that won't be for a couple months yet.
 
Re: Growing tilapia in my swimming pool.

RYAN LOUDMUSIC JENKINS said:
You wasted your pool on a bunch of Mozambique tilapia? Wow! I spend 8-12 hours a day in the pool this time of the year just to stay cool. I couldn't imagine giving that up for some tilapia. The worst day of my year every year is the day my pool temperature drops below 80 degrees. Luckily that won't be for a couple months yet.
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Yea, I thought about that a few times when the temperature hit 90 degrees outside. For the most part it has been raining for the last several weeks so we would not be swimming anyway. I am actually going to move the fish farm to another location on our property and get the pool back for next year but I still have not got the facility built yet and I wanted to go ahead and have fish this year. We were due for a new liner anyway so I figured I would go ahead and have some fun with tilapia and freshwater prawns this season. Those are actually Blues as opposed to Mozambique or Niles. They are a little more tolerant of cooler temperature and grow almost as fast as the Niles.
 
Re: Growing tilapia in my swimming pool.

Well since you went and did all that, You might as well plant your plants around the pool in such a way that they become a natural filter for the water.
 
Re: Growing tilapia in my swimming pool.

I'd hand over the most redneck award, but everybody knows real rednecks don't have cement ponds. :-)

JR

PS: My uncle had a home made pond in his back yard he stocked with trout.

PPS: You need to throw a few catfish in there to eat the dead crap off the bottom.
 
Re: Growing tilapia in my swimming pool.

John Roberts said:
I'd hand over the most redneck award, but everybody knows real rednecks don't have cement ponds. :-)

JR

PS: My uncle had a home made pond in his back yard he stocked with trout.

PPS: You need to throw a few catfish in there to eat the dead crap off the bottom.
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I hope I don't lose my redneck license then when this gets out. I will just have to park all of my old beater cars that don't run in front of the pool and maybe they will let that one slide.

There are supposed to be a thousand or so freshwater giant river prawns running bottom clean up duty if the giant bullfrogs that keep getting in there have not eaten them all. The problem with catfish is they grow fast and had rather eat tilapia if they can fit them in their mouth.
 
Re: Growing tilapia in my swimming pool.

Evan F. Hunter said:
Well since you went and did all that, You might as well plant your plants around the pool in such a way that they become a natural filter for the water.
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I have been looking into aquaponics but have not set anything up with it yet. I already knew about bio filters and stocking density from my aquarium fish raising days so I went with what I knew for now. Using the nitrogen rich fish waste for fertilizer is definitely a part of the plan for the new set up. I did not really stock the pool heavily enough to produce any real amount of nitrates for plant growth. I am only currently at about 200 fish for 30,000 gallons of water.
 
Re: Growing tilapia in my swimming pool.

Bennett Prescott said:
That's some funny shit, Eric. Your wife sounds like an interesting woman.
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ALL of my friends have said they can't believe she let me do it. She is a very interesting woman and I did promise her it would only be for this one season or until I get the other system finished, which ever comes first. Honestly I can't believe she agreed to it either.
 
Re: Growing tilapia in my swimming pool.

Eric Cagle said:
I have been looking into aquaponics but have not set anything up with it yet. I already knew about bio filters and stocking density from my aquarium fish raising days so I went with what I knew for now. Using the nitrogen rich fish waste for fertilizer is definitely a part of the plan for the new set up. I did not really stock the pool heavily enough to produce any real amount of nitrates for plant growth. I am only currently at about 200 fish for 30,000 gallons of water.
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Very cool. I wouldnt do it to my pool, but I have always wanted to do a nice sized pond with with my garden around it as bio filters. Its really cool stuff when ya think about it/get into it. Have fun with your project!
 
Re: Growing tilapia in my swimming pool.

Evan F. Hunter said:
Very cool. I wouldnt do it to my pool, but I have always wanted to do a nice sized pond with with my garden around it as bio filters. Its really cool stuff when ya think about it/get into it. Have fun with your project!
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I have researched aquaponics for the last couple of years and the whole concept of using the plants to filter the fish waste is really interesting to me. What I am doing is basically a commercial system but I have seen a whole bunch of hobby systems that are fairly easy to do and are really cool. My set up is for profit so it maximizes production on both ends (fish and plants) and is not really balanced to be a closed loop like what I consider a true aquaponics system.

Here is a link to the system I am planning to set up: aquaponic and fish farming design plans for start up farmers
 
Re: Growing tilapia in my swimming pool.

So Eric, are you preparing for the Sound Forums End of the Summer bash for us?

ATL isn’t that far of a drive for me and a couple other sound dudes. It’s only a 10 hour drive and 2 tanks in my cargo van (probably could cut that down to 1.25-1.5 tanks by taking all the gear out).
 
Re: Growing tilapia in my swimming pool.

Matt Vivlamore said:
So Eric, are you preparing for the Sound Forums End of the Summer bash for us?

ATL isn’t that far of a drive for me and a couple other sound dudes. It’s only a 10 hour drive and 2 tanks in my cargo van (probably could cut that down to 1.25-1.5 tanks by taking all the gear out).
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That sounds like fun. It might be a little later than the end of summer though until I can supply enough fish, they are only about 3-4 inches long now.
 
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