Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi everyone!
Things are finally starting to come together for my smallish system
I've given up trying to get better tanks and stuff for the moment,
so i'm just gunna throw something together while i wait for my mate to turn up with 4 ibc's
anyway...,

I'm soon gunna need some fish, and i'm worried about temperature,
my question is,.. What water temps should i expect??
these are small plastic tanks, but they'll be buried, should i expect them to be roughly a certain amount below air temp?
or is it much more complicated then that?
its rather warm here, winter VERY rarely hits 0 at night, and summer days are often 40-45
Its just that i'm still deciding between jade and silver perch, but i read someware that jade will die below 13 degrees, silver 3

Forget Jades... unless you can get them at a good size late spring and grow them out before now...

Silvers would handle the winter .. but basically wont eat/grow much...

IMO... your best option is to get some trout within the next month... and eat them around Xmas...

P.S ... don't forget... you have a major DPI hatchery just down the road at Narrandera...

I know they do Murray Cod, Trout Cod, Golden & Silver Perch...

And there's plenty of Trout hatcheries around Tumut...

Did you say TROUT as in fish TROUT

one old man looking down the barrel of a little internet holiday

Actually ... checking your district temps...

If you could get Jades [b]early[/] spring... you'd probably get them through before temps cooled off too far...

Trout ... should probably have been in end of March.... and November might catch you out with the heat....

But trout are still the go I reckon..

thanks for the replys,
well, when i said i'd need fish "soon" I didn't mean that soon, i haven't finished building the thing yet, still digging a hole,
soo.. lets say a month from now it'll be cycling with yabbies and musles in it, mabye a few seeds
it'll be like, mid-winter when its ready for fish?
so you think i shouldn't get fish till it warms up, then run trout april-october, and silvers november-march?

the way i found out about aquaponics was when i was looking up info on stocking my dams with golden perch,
the idea from the start was to get them going in my system, then chuck them in the dam.
if i'm growing by the season this really ain't gunna work is it? i'm sure dams retain temp better then tanks,
but trout ain't gunna survive here, are they?

also.. is there a website for the hatchery in narrandarra? i found the one in wagga, but it just says silvers/golden/cod

once again thanks for the help, i'm starting to get frustraited with this whole idea, and its not even going yet!
so much reading.... and digging..... to many numbers to think about.........
help is good

Hehehehe
we have been there too
You would prolly have to cage the trout if you want to put them in the dam.
They will eat everything but not alge
How deep is your dam in november/jan/summer?

well, i live in rural NSW, so it ain't rained much in 10 years
at the moment, 1 dam is about 3 foot, 1 about 2 foot, the others dry.......
but 2 of them are huge dams, at least 20 feet deep if they ever fill,
so i'm kind of hoping for a bit of rain..............
my brother and I are concidering joining the 2 big ones and draging some old machines in there, create a reef,
but once again...... its still got to rain, if we join them and they fill we can water-ski in there, thats how big they are.
just hoping at least 1 gets to 6 foot before the fish out-grow my system

what do you mean by caging the trout?
all thats in the dams are yabbies, musles and leeches....
will they eat, or get eaten by those?
Theres birds around.... but even if we don't drag the machies in there, i'll throw in some grader/scarper/loader tyres

Oh well tis a tad larger than I was thinking...
birds would be an issue if you were to use the whole water body.

Caging the trout so you can get them when you are hungry
Otherwise draging a net isn't much fun... specially seein as how all that
machinery will be in there Not going fishing in your dam

You could try Murray Cod, or Golden Perch in your tanks (or even Eeltailed Catfish)... and then put them into your dams... None of them will grow out in less than 18 months to 2 years though

Goldens are notoriously picky feeders in recirc though... with 30% + refusing to take a pellet...

Whereas they forage and survive quite nicely in dams...

Trout are a fast growing ... 5-6 months.... Silvers... 15-18 months...

The Narranderra hatchery is run by the DPI... http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/research/cent ... ies-centre

Perhaps ring/visit them and have a chat about things...