As grand openings go, every thing went swimmingly Tuesday as  The Foundation Academy unveiled its Aquaponic Farm, which students hope will  hook restaurants and residents on their organic fish and produce.

Self-sustaining with solar power, the working aquaponic farm is the first of  its kind in Northeast Florida on a school campus. It is stocked with about 900  channel catfish and about 75 koi, ranging from about 3 to 10 inches long. The  fish live and work in separate tanks close to the vegetables and herbs they're  helping grow at the arts-based private school, which has about 240 students from  kindergarten through 12th grade.

"The fish are multi-functional. We're selling them and they also fertilize  the plants," Zach Kuipers, 17, said.

Check out more photos of the school's Aquaponic Farm

He is among the high school students running the farm as part of its  Entrepreneur class. The students researched and developed a business plan, and  with the help of staff built the farm, including the installation of the solar  panels to reduce its carbon footprint. In addition to setting up the farm, the  students are responsible for maintaining it and tending the crops.

"We built the solar panels so we can get rid of the generators. We have  auto-feeders for the fish," Tyler Thomas, 14, said, smiling with pride as he  explained the farm's operations.