Last Fish Standing

OK, I knew this could happen, and at one point, I even considered buying a backup power supply, but since we havent had a power outage last more than an hour in the last four years, I never got around to it.
Well, thats what I get for ignoring Murphys Law.  Today, during an electrical storm, the transformer in front of our house went out.  The power company repsonded quickly, but they "didnt have a transformer that big on the truck," so they had to go back to the plant in town to get another transformer.  Anyway, three hours later, our power was back on and I was pretty happy.  I think our utility company is awesome...even during blizzards, I havent been without power for more than a couple of hours in the fifteen years Ive lived here.  Unfortunately, I wasnt thinking about my poor fishies.  :-(

According to the guy I bought the fish from, cold-water fish such as trout are very sensitive to lack of oxygen/circulation, and need a constant source of air.  He told me that even a couple of hours is too long for them to go without some kind of air pump or circulation, and I guess he was right.

When my husband went downstairs to feed the dogs, all fish were belly up.  One guy was still breathing, so we left him in the tank, but the rest will be dinner later this week.  Within about 20 minutes, Silvery One was right side up and swimming around in the tank.

Silvery One

Last Fish Standing

So, I guess the other seven fish will be dinner later this week.  BTW, if youre thinking that its unsafe to eat these fish, consider the fact that lots of people will drive at least two hours to go fishing, so if they catch a bunch of fish, drive home, and eat them several hours later, its really no different.  As long as we know that they died from oxygen deprivation, which is what most caught fish die from, theyre safe to eat.  It would be different if they all died from some mysterious leprosy-like fish disease.  Just thought Id mention that, since more than one person has voiced concern over my questionable fish-eating practices.  :-)

Friday Night Fish Fry

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Cataponics

Since my cats are so fascinated with the fish in the big tank, I decided to make them their own aquaponics setup - aka "cataponics."  It will have a little fish tank with fish for them to watch and a "grow bed" containing cat grass for them to eat.  Technically, its not really an aquaponics system yet, since the the tank and grow bed are not connected.  The little "water pump" that came with the tank is more of a glorified air pump, so its not strong enough to get the water up to the grow bed.  Ive got a few ideas on how to make it work, but I will probably get my husband involved since hes pretty smart about those things and always seems to see the most obvious solutions that I wrack my brain trying to figure out.

Fish Tank (No Fish Yet)

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Nosy Cat 1

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Nosy Cat 2 - Cat Grass Seeds on Grow Media (Fish Filter)

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Decorative Rocks Cover Seed Might Keep Cats from Pulling the Entire Thing Out When They Eat the Grass

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Fish Fetching Fail 2013

I took a half day off yesterday to go to Boulder to get my 50 new baby trout.  Had the trash can cinched down tightly.  Had my inverter, air pump, and duct tape.

It was so exciting seeing the 50 baby fish swimming around in their little bucket before we headed out.  I couldnt wait to get home and get some pictures...theyre just so cute!

After a 2+ hour drive from Boulder, at least half of which was spent in a pretty major rain storm (yay, rain!  boo, low visibility), I ran in the house to grab my cameras.  When I removed the lid, my heart sank....all but five or six of my new babies were lying at the bottom of the trash can, not moving.  :-(

I started scooping them out so I could move them to the big tank to see if any could be revived.  After several minutes, out of 50 fish, only ten survived.  Worse than the dumped-out-in-the-bed-of-a-hot-truck-in-the-scorching-sun episode of last year!  The only thing I can think of is that when I put the air tubes into the trash can for transportation, I didnt put the air rocks on them because they were kind of gummy and I was afraid they would get less air that way.  Instead, the rocks werent there to weigh them down, so I think the tubes popped up to the top of the water and blew out into the air instead of into the water.  So sad seeing all those cute little rainbows dead.  :-(

One of the babies - This is how big Fatty McFish was when I got her last year.

Zipped up bag of fish failure - I read that if you fry them up crisp enough, its easier to get the tiny bones out.
Worth a shot.  Or I guess I could boil them for fish stock - yum!  :-{

Today, on the way home from work, I decided to cheer myself up, so I stopped at PetSmart and bought three small koi fish to put in the tank with the trout.  Koi can survive cold (even freezing) water, so I figured why not add some color to my sad little tank of survivors.

As soon as I added them to the tank, the koi swam right over to the group of trout.  The trout were like, "whuuuuttt???" and swam away.  But within a few minutes, they were all hanging out together like a nice blended family.  Dont ask me how I am going to "harvest" one set of fish and keep the others.  Or how I will explain the sudden disappearance to my Koi babies.  One day at a time...

Trout and Koi Buddies

I tried to get some video of the new fish.  Sorry for the awful cinematography - trying to hold the aquarium light just right, while ducking under the grow beds and holding the camera steady.  Hopefully no one gets sea sick from watching this.

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The End of the Rainbow The Demise of Fatty McFish

FISH
In two days, I will be making the trip to Liley Fisheries in Boulder to get a new batch of fish.  Fatty McFish is  (was) a big fish in a small tank, so it was time to make room for the tanks future occupants.

For me (and probably most people, as evidenced by this post), this is the least enjoyable part of aquaponics - "harvesting" the fish - but, it must be done.  I read a bunch of opinions on the most humane way to kill a fish.  I went with two ideas -
1 - put the fish in a bucket of ice water so its circulation will slow down
2 - smack it in the head with a hammer

Well....lets just say that I wont be doing the smack in the head with a hammer.  It didnt work after one smack...or two...or...Anyway, I think you get the picture.  Obviously, I didnt smack hard enough, but that fish had a tough head.  I ended up taking a sharp knife and sawing off the head.  Wish it had been faster.  Sorry, Fatty.  :-(

Next time I will probably use more ice in the ice water.  Or maybe try the method mentioned in the forum linked above and use clove oil in the water to anesthetize the fish.

At any rate, Fattys suffering is over and he will be dinner this evening.  He was pretty big.  I should have gotten a tape measure, but I was trying to finish it quickly, so well just have to take a guess at his length...looks like over 15 inches.  Actually, it was a "she," but we got used to calling it "him."

Fatty McFish

Heres a short video of him swimming in his tank last night.  BTW, the noise in the background is my dog drinking water.  Hes crazy like that.

PLANTS

Unidentified Growing Object - 

Last year, my husband planted a bunch of acorns to see if he could grow some oak trees.  The planters were sitting above my grow beds.  This spring, once it finally stopped snowing and the temperatures got above freezing, a strange woody plant sprouted in one of my grow beds.  Once the leaves got big enough to be identifiable, I realized one of the acorns must have fallen into the bed.  There is now an oak tree growing with my strawberries and cilantro.

The Mighty Oak

Coconut Husk (Coir) Planting Material

All of my plants in the grow beds end up with very shallow, weak roots.  My husband bought me some coir, made of coconut husks, to see if I can get a stronger root system.  Coir is being used in many places instead of peat moss.  When I soaked the blocks of coir, as instructed, I was a little worried because it just looked like a bunch of potting soil ending up in the water.  However, I put about an inch of the stuff in a section of one of my grow beds, and it seemed to hold together pretty well.  I planted a few basil and cilantro plants...and I think something else, but I cant remember what.  Well see if this allows them to establish better than starting out directly in the gravel.

Coir - 23 June

Sprouts in Coir - 29 June

Thats it for now.  I will post some pictures of the new batch of fish soon.  Hopefully this trip will be a little less...eventful than the last!

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