The most common question we are asked is concerning the fish that are used in Portable Farms is, “Why Tilapia?” Our response has been consistent for all-these-years. Here are the reasons Tilapia is still our champion and will probably remain so for a long time:
Tilapia fish are considered to be ‘fresh water, warm water fish.” The plants grown in aquaponics systems grow faster in a warm environment, which requires warm water flowing through the systems. Plants do best at 73˚F no matter where they are in the world. They may grow faster or slower in warmer or cooler temperatures, but they grow best with a leaf surface temperature of almost exactly 73˚F. That means that the fish in the system need to love and enjoy warm water.
Please note, different countries have different choices for their aquaponics systems with fish that are ‘fresh water, warm water fish’ other than tilapia. For example, in Australia we’re told they favor using barramundi, silver and golden perch, and catfish. Portable Farms Aquaponics Systems favor using tilapia.
Most trout/salmon do not like water over 60˚F at which point they begin to experience stress and become susceptible to diseases above this temperature level. This means either the water must be cooled and heated each cycle, or the fish or the plants will be unhappy and not grow well.
Trout/salmon are also carnivores and are grown best on animal protein. Commercial trout chow contains fish meal as the protein source and that fish meal is from ocean harvest fish, depleting the ocean fisheries.
Catfish, which was our personal first choice, have a different problem. The fry or fingerlings are only available three months of the year (May, June, July) so there is no way for farm owners to constantly restock their fish tanks. Catfish grow quickly, they like warm water, they will eat almost anything, they taste good and are a hardy fish. Bust, stocking off season is impossible.
Perch are carnivores and eat bugs, crayfish and other animals to grow. These are tough to get in the winter time unless you grow them inside for some other purpose. Perch food is tough to get almost any time of the year. Perch taste sweet and are easy to work with but are difficult to find food for them.
Crayfish and freshwater prawns are cannibalistic and need to have separate ‘apartments’ built in the tanks so they don’t eat each other. They are sometimes used in the tanks with other fish to clean up the bottom of the tanks. They are very hardy, but the housing for them is a problem.
Welcome to Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems. We're green. We're tasty and we can help you feed you, your family and even the world with organic vegetables and home-grown fish.
Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems use 95% less water than in-grown growing, plus they do not require fertilizers, pesticides, watering or weeding. Just sing to your fish while you feed them and when you plant and harvest, and enjoy fresh fish and vegetables. No bending or stooping because the grow beds are waist high so anyone of (almost) any age can enjoy Portable Farms.
We’re green. We’re ‘sustainable.’ We’re tasty and we can help you feed your family and even the world with organic vegetables and home-grown fish.
Portable Farms Ltd offers aquaponics systems for commerical growing and smaller aquaponics systems to feed small groups and families.
Aquaponics is the future for urban agriculture as well as a reliable food production facility for remote and desert areas and areas susceptible to desertification.
Aquaponics is an environmentally safe and productive alternative to over-harvesting fish from oceans, rivers and streams.
Portable Farms Ltd. designates this year as: The Year of Aquaponics. Read more: CLICK HERE.
Aquaponics technology, especially using the Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems, can be a boon to any community, city, company or investor who is willing to make the investment in time and money.
Commerical aquaponics is a local phenomenon and provides the following benefits based on a US$1,000,000 investment:
License to build ten to twelve Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems including all of the materials and components
One hectare of marginal land near markets to be used – not necessary to be contiguous
40 people will have permanent jobs – this does not include the construction crews
Each US$25,000 creates employment for one person
Each 275m2 (3,000 sq ft) supports one wage earner
Each square meter requires US$90 of investment (US$9.00 per sq ft)
Solar power can be used and is a slight extra cost
A water supply is necessary, not large but consistent.
Provides over 700,000 vegetables and 100,000 kilos of fish per year
No need to ship any of the production, all of the output will be consumed locally.
Licenses available for cities, state/provinces, countries outside the United States. Investment required for participation. For more information: CLICK HERE.
To read a 'nutshell' version of the history of Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems, CLICK HERE.
Read the History of Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems (patent pending):CLICK HERE.
Google Search: "Portable Farms"
• No need to water your plants because a Portable Farms™ Aquaponics System uses a timed cycle to circulate the water throughout the system so the plants constantly receive a fresh supply of warm, nutrient-laden water.
• No soil is necessary. Your plants grow in trays filled with gravel or river rock.
• No weeding is necessary, just regular harvesting and replanting.
• No pesticides, herbicides, fungicides or fertilizers are necessary.
• No antibiotics or hormones are necessary.
• The Portable Farms™ Aquaponics System can be Solar or Wind Powered.
Salmon is one of the most popular fish in the world and there are currently major efforts around the world to breed salmon through aquaculture. It is estimated that salmon aquaculture is a $12 billion. Norway and Chile produce close to two-thirds of the world’s farmed salmon. Approximately 60 percent (1.26 million metric tons) of the world’s salmon comes from fish farms.
Read the History of Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems (patent pending):CLICK HERE.
Google Search: "Portable Farms"
• No need to water your plants because a Portable Farms™ Aquaponics System uses a timed cycle to circulate the water throughout the system so the plants constantly receive a fresh supply of warm, nutrient-laden water.
• No soil is necessary. Your plants grow in trays filled with gravel or river rock.
• No weeding is necessary, just regular harvesting and replanting.
• No pesticides, herbicides, fungicides or fertilizers are necessary.
• No antibiotics or hormones are necessary.
• The Portable Farms™ Aquaponics System can be Solar or Wind Powered.
Eco Housing and Eco Cities Using Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems
Portable Farms Ltd is dedicated to advancing Eco Housing and Eco Cities in their effort to become carbon negative in an urban environment. Portable Farms Ltd has designed the Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems to advance the local self- sustainability of every installation.
240,000 vegetables and 92,000 pounds of fish can be grown on one single acre of level ground.
Find out how to get started, so you
can be a Portable Farmer: CLICK HERE.
For information and ordering information: CLICK HERE
To ask the inventor, Colle Davis, a question
about Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems,
email him: cdavis@portablefarms.com
Phyllis Davis, Co-Inventor and President of Portable Farms Ltd, harvesting a single
4' stalk
of Brussels Sprouts
Narrator, Matt Damon: This powerful short clip by U.S. State Department
reminds us that we will need to feed an additional 1.8 billion people
by the year 2030. CLICK HERE.
PatioPonics Portable Farms Aquaponics Systems' official launch was August 1, 2011. See our NEW YouTube Video for PatioPonics, CLICK HERE.
Above is a photo of a 32″ basil plant in our own PatioPonics Portable Farm we took yesterday (January 4, 2012). Basil is considered the most valued ’cash crop’ grown in aquaponics because it can be grown year round (out of season in most locations) and it’s organic.
How can you grow a cold-water fish in a fish tank, and raise warmth-loving plants in the same system? Carefully, with a skillfully designed system. Portable Farms Ltd. Is pleased to announce the launch of their new design, Portable Farms™ SALMON Aquaponics Systems.
You might be surprised how many calls and emails we receive from people who are interested in growing salmon in aquaponics systems!
We receive many many calls of people who are passionate about raising salmon and vegetables for home and commerical purposes. THE WAIT IS NOW OVER and Portable Farms Ltd. announces their newly invention: Portable Farms SALMON Aquaponics Systems!
Technology licenses for protected territories now available worldwide. Own your own territory, state, province, or country. Manufacture, sell and install Portable Farms(TM) Aquaponics Systems within your territory. Build and develop your protected territory and become one of the most influential forces for change in your area.
Because of interest globally, we have moved our headquarters and research center to Latin America in order to better serve both developing and developed countries. The Portable Farms™ Aquaponics System technology lends itself to the use of local materials and utilization of local labor.
December 12, 2011 - Organic Aquaponic’s System Licensed in Lagos, Nigeria. Portable Farms Ltd. provided the technology, construction and engineering expertise to assist in tje building and installation of the initial components.
Organic Aquaponic’s System Licensed in Botswana, Africa -
Portable Farms Ltd announces the licensing and construction of the first commercial Portable Farms™ Aquaponics System in Africa. This installation is located in Botswana, Africa. Portable Farms provided the technology, construction and engineering expertise to assist in building and installing the initial components.
10,000 sq ft Portable Farms(TM) Aquaponics System in Botswana, Africa
The Botswana License Holder, the owner of a major construction company with thirty years of experience, had been searching for 2½ years for the perfect aquaponics system to bring to his country. His company recently completed the largest fish hatchery in Southern Africa. After extensive research, he approached Colle Davis, inventor of Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems, with the request to become the premier License Holder for Portable Farms™ technology in Botswana, Africa. The License Holder is quoted as saying, “After studying various aquaponics systems throughout the world and attending several trainings, I chose Portable Farms™ because of three key features: One, the systems don’t require constant monitoring and cleaning, and two, they can be operated by semi-skilled labor, and three, they focus on sustainability.”
The initial crops chosen by the license holder based on local demand are tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers and herbs. The 10,000 sq ft (1,000 m2) Portable Farms currently being completed in Botswana produce 60,000 vegetables and 21,000 pounds (9,000 kg) of tilapia fish, per year to be sold locally.
The Technology License was assigned for the entire country of Botswana to fulfill his company’s plans to sell fish and vegetables to local markets near each installation. He anticipates direct government involvement for the wide-spread installation of Portable Farms™ in Botswana because of the country’s need for fresh food.
The Botswana project includes a visitor’s center, three 10,000 sq ft Portable Farms™ Aquaponics System units, a fish processing center, a farmers market, and upgraded utilities for the area.
Portable Farms Ltd continues to incorporate new and improved technology designed to reduce construction costs and improve productivity of their Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems. They have received interest from 34 countries and 11 US States and Canada regarding the use of their Technology Licensing.
As the demand for protein and crop production increases over the next four decades because of growing urban populations, commercial aquaponics is a business opportunity that provides an easy, urban-access source for healthy food that requires 90 to 95% less water than in-ground agriculture, no soil or fertilizers, and minimal land requirements.
Portable Farms Aquaponics Systems offers investors a feasible and realistic ROI for a reasonable initial investment. There is a growing request for Kilometer/Mile-Zero Food that is locally grown and nutritious to feed the growing urban middle class in urban settings. With the disruption in transportation and increased costs associated with transportation, urban centers are becoming increasingly vulnerable to food shortages as the Century progresses.
CLICK HERE to see pictures of the interior of the
inventor's own 10' x 16' backyard farm.
The daily maintenance for smaller Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems
is only minutes a day (and that includes singing to your fish).
The Happy Portable Farmer, Colle Davis (aka The Fish Whisperer), Inventor,
with a single head of lettuce from one of his own
Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems
that was grown in only 40 days.
This is an unretouched photo.
Duckweed MAY be the food of the future. There is no doubt about that. Grown under ideal conditions, duckweed ranges between 25% and 45% protein and doubles its growth every 36 hours, and OUR TILPAIA love to eat it. There may be a day when people eat it too!
We do not profess to be experts at growing farm-raised duckweed to feed our fish. In fact, quite the opposite is true. We have grown duckweed in kiddy-pools, large and small containers and even open-air tanks off-and-on for many years and we have not always been successful in our efforts to maintain our duckweed farms, but we keep trying and we continue to experiment to find the answers to pass along to you.
* "Bovine emissions are a growing source of gasses which cause global warming". - 2006 United Nations Study.
Aquaponics Rescues Aquaculture
