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A Backyard Fish Farm Experiment
Fish farming is not new. The art of raising fish for the table goes back thousands of years in some parts of the world. It has been practiced for at least 3000 years in India, and even longer in China. The earliest known work on aquaculture is a Chinese treatise on carp farming, written well before the birth of Christ. Primitive as they may seem to technological cultures, these ancient methods often embody an exceptionally astute appreciation for natural processes. For example, in many parts of southeast Asia, rice paddies double as fish farms. After the harvest, the paddies are flooded with water containing young fish which are happy to feed on the rice stalks and other detritus left behind after the harvest. Months later, when it's time to plant again, the paddies are drained, the fish are caught, and the land is clean and bare, ready for the new crop.