Aquaponics - Silver perch underwater

A front loading washing machine makes fish more visible.

I salvaged the door from a broken front loading washing machine, and suspended it over my fish with the camera sitting inside it. Camera washing machine goggles allow me to see my silver perch underwater. After seeing the results and being able to see the underwater component of my aquaponics test system, I'll definitely be incorporating some kind of porthole into the lager system.

I turned on the powerhead, and pointed the camera where the current was strongest. The fish seemed to love the strong current and spent much of their time in the full strength, rather than taking cover behind the pump at the other end of the tank where it was relatively calm.



While I had the camera outside I thought I'd try to measure my fish. I dropped a 10 cm length of plastic pipe into the fish tank so as to get some idea of their growth rates. And after photographing the school next to the pipe, was surprised to find I actually had eleven. I thought I had nine.

The smallest is still only around 7.5cm and the largest is around 15cm.

I think they might have been much larger if not for the stress they were put under from the poison plant, and the fact that whenever I lost a fish, I would stop feeding them for a day or two, then feed them only a little for the next week. It's standard practice to stop feeding the fish when anything goes wrong in your aquaponics system to ensure there is no extra pressure put on the fish from nitrite or ammonia spikes. Often a fish death can increase your levels of ammonia and nitrite to dangerous levels, so feeding the fish can just add to your woes. It doesn't harm the fish, and potentially can be of great benefit.