About Us

DIYAquaponics.com is solely owned by DIY Aquaponics, Inc..  My name is James Christopher O'Brian and I am the President and founder of said corporation and website and a veteran aquaculturist dating back to my discharge from the US Navy in Pensacola, Florida in 1966.  I moved to the Jacksonville, Florida area in 1967.

It is now known that Tilapia were being farmed in many locations throughout the world as a food source at that time, however I was unaware of it and my interests were directed toward the aquarium pet market trade.

At that time, I was raising Mozambique and Egyptian Tilapia in large numbers for the pet trade.  I also raised Angels, common Brown Severums and the Gold, Red Cap Orandas, Lion Heads, Butterfly and regular Koi, Oscars and Brown and Blue Discus; all in large numbers utilizing anything that would hold water.  You'd be surprised how many fish you can raise by removing the liner from a refrigerator, sealing the holes with aquarium sealant and installing a bubble filtration system.  It wouldn't be anything for me to scavenge three to five discarded refrigerators a week.  I was very fortunate to have an understanding landlord (he was a fish nut also, so that helped).

I also maintained a worm bed which received all the waste from all the various aquariums, tanks, fridge liners and plastic line trenches dug in the ground behind my house in addition to all the table waste that was bio-degradable.

The worms in addition to Green Sailfin Mollies I collected in waist deep brackish water marshes close to Perdido Bay and the Gulf of Mexico provided a fresh feast for my veracious eaters.  The female Mollies I collected were huge in size and almost always heavy with little ones which they almost immediately dispelled when transferred into the completely fresh water of my holding aquariums.  The babies went to the smaller fish and the bigger ones to, naturally, the bigger fish.

I used the compost from the worms to build my garden beds which I then covered with wheat straw about 2 foot deep and then wet the straw everyday for about a month just before planting time in the spring.  Then I pulled the straw back just enough to plant my Tomato plants and other veggies in the ground and then pulled the straw back around the plants.  When the plants got a little size on them, I added more straw.  This method yielded more tomatoes and other veggies than you could ever believe and the straw prohibited any weeds or grass from infringing on my garden as well as holding in the moisture.

When I moved to the Jacksonville area in 1967, I lucked out and moved in next door to another individual who also raised fish for the pet trade and we have been close friends ever since.  If you have viewed my forum, you've seen his name there, "Codi"  He even had the same last name as me, but that's the way of the Irish, we breed like rabbits "don't cha' know", so maybe he's a long lost relative.  Whose to say, right?  Though we aren't, most people do think we're brothers anyway so what the heck, huh?

Although I don't have any brothers or sisters, I couldn't have asked for one any better than him, so he's as good as they come in my book.  He's very easy to get along with until you cross him, then you get to know the other side of him such as his lack of patience with idiots and know-it-alls and he also possess a somewhat hot or short temper which you are likely to become acquainted with if you continue to push in the wrong direction.

Although we still basically live in the same area, North East Florida, Jacksonville area, we actually live almost 70 miles from each other now and stay in touch mainly by phone especially with fuel prices being what they are today.  For those who don't know, since 1968, Jacksonville, Florida is the largest city in the United States in land area. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacksonville,_Florida

We have both long since moved on from the pet trade a number of years ago and have been vigorously pursuing the full circle of Aquaponics.  I believe it is the one possible life saving source that the world will depend on to provide the multitudes with food stuffs in the near future.  It is my hope that the world doesn't muck it up with un-needed genetic hocus-pocus; the old "turn lead into gold" kind of manipulations of Tilapia and other food stuffs in an effort to chase after the "almighty dollar", the quick buck, regardless of the cost to mankind or who it hurts.  It's been done so many times in the past, you'd think we would have learned by now...!

MAY GOD BE MERCIFUL AND WATCH OVER ALL HIS CHILDREN

JCO