Have you thought of adding a few cleaner fish to your aquaponics system? It could improve the ecosystem efficiency and the fish production.
Why a cleaner fish in the aquaponics system?
You can grow food in aquaponics without any cleaner fish. Your system will still produce some nice plants and fish.
So why is it better to add cleaner fish in the tank then?
Well, if you are like 90% of the aquaponics keepers, you may sometimes over distribute the fish food. It may form some heaps of fish pellet on the bottom of the tank. If this fish food is not consumed by the fish, the water pump will eventually raise it to the grow-bed. There, the bacteria will transform it and some nice vegetables will grow from it.
However, from a fish growth perspective, this fish food is “wasted”. In order to improve the fish production profile of the system, we can do 2 things. First, adapt the feeding practice to the type and quantity of fish in the aim to cut the fish food “waste”. Secondly, we can add some bottom feeder fish to transform part of the possible fish “waste” into fish.
What is a cleaner fish?
a cleaner fish is generally a bottom feeder. We call them “cleaner” as they spend most of their time scaning the bottom of the fish tank for food.
3 categories of fish
We can classify the fish in the 3 main feeding categories bellow:
Surface feeder
The surface feeder have a mounth oriented towards the surface of the water. They mainly feed from floating material. In this category we have the guppy, the mullets, the mosquito fish…
Middle column feeder
The mid column feeders are fish that consume most of their food from the middle of the column of water. This category include the majority of fish species. Mid column feeder are generally interested in moving food. Once the food pellet is sitting on the bottom of the tank, they generally lose interest. That is a shame as sometimes, the food is not consumed and waster. the solution is to add some bottom feeder to “clean” the sitting food on the bottom of the tank.
Bottom feeder
Cleaner fish in aquaponics
Bottom feeders are fish equiped with a mouth oriented towards the bottom of the tank. therefore, they are by design the best fish to consume the food sitting on the bottom of the fish tank. Some of them even have moustach with sensors. Those are able to detect any particle of food dropped into the tank. For this reason, they are often called “cleaner fish”.
Are they consuming algae?
Some fish are also called “Cleaner fish” because they are able to consume algae. Different types of fish are actually consuming algae. Some are able to filter the microalgae from the column of water. Others are feeding from the benthic macro algae growing on the bottom and walls of the fish tank. More information about algae here.
How to select the cleaner fish for your aquaponics tank?
Temperature
As for any classic fish, you must make sure the species is able to live in the temperature profile you are offering.
If you live in a “cold climate country”, please do not buy a bottom cleaner fish from a pet shop. Most of the time those fish are pleco or ancistrus. They will not survive your winter. Instead, have a look around what species are growing in the local lakes and rivers. Talk to fisherman, local fish farmers. They will guide you.
Legilsation
Please check that the species is legal in your country. Some nations classify certain bottom feeder fish species as pest. Indeed, some catfish could become invasive if realeased in the open nature.
Watch out for behavior and size compatibility
When adding new fish species into a populated tank, there are few things that you should check. First, make sure the species are compatible. Some fish are predators and territorials. They will attack and kill any new fish entering the water tank.
Also, please make sure the size difference is not too extreme or the new comers could become fish food.
Spines
Some bottom feeder such as the catfish have spines in their pectorals and dorsal fin. It will allow you to mix them with other fish of bigger size without a risk of attack. However, please keep this in mind when you handle your fish. The spines are very sharp. They may cut your skin and be painful.
In Australia we use eel-tailed catfish. But there are hundreds of catfish species with different characteristics. There is definitely one species adapted to your Aquaponics system! Find it and add it to your fish tank, it’s a very hardy fish perfect for Aquaponics beginners.
Build your Aquaponics clean-up crew and relax! I hope you enjoy it. Please leave your comments here. Let me know what type of cleaner fish you are growing in your aquaponics system. Don’t hesitate to share this article with your friends who are in the aquaponics process.
You will probably be interested to discover my six steps to build and manage an Aquaponics system. Click here to access for free! Thanks and good reading 🙂
