Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

A simple way to weigh a fish would be to use a digital scale.

Just put a bowl of water on the scale and set it (the scale) to 0 then add the fish and you would get the weight of your fish.

simple..........................

This seems like a good way to get the average weight of the fish in a system. Handling fish is going to be stressful for them at any time but at least if they are in water it will be less of a problem.

We need to start to establish an average weight for our fish so that we begin to feed them at the appropriate rate. At the moment, it's pretty much a hit and miss affair. If we don't feed enough, we don't get the growth that we should and if we feed too much we waste money and create nitrites that we don't need.

My thinking may be flawed - but I am going to try and work out my optimal feeding rate by keeping an ey on my nitrate concentrations. If nitrate is too low and the fish are willing to eat more each day, I will feed them more. Over a couple of weeks I should be able to work out the best feeding rate. This will then just need to be increased now and again as the fish grow and also as the plants require more.

VB, over a couple of weeks your feeding rate should have increased, with the fish growing, etc
That way might work, i am just having trouble getting my head around the thinking.

I think VB's method makes sense. If the nitrates are a bit low, you need more fish poo, and to get more fish poo, you feed them more, so as long as they are hungry, this would work.

I think it would work too. And as Monya said, as long as they're hungry.

To a point I guess obese fish can happen, some of mine I thought were obese but the slimmer species are, well, slim

Smaller more frequent feedings with a bit of water flow for them to swim in would be a way to train your fish up like athletes hehe. Dunno if you can make fish meat tough or not, age????

If fish are fighting fit they will easily eat more. This will make more wastes without having fat fish. I think...

Humans in training to improve muscle mass (protein) and lose fat, are actually taught to eat 5 or 6 times a day as opposed to three. These meals are smaller than your average 3 a day type meal, but overall more food. Adding training, humans burn the carbohydrate portion of diet and muscle tissue is kept intact, and will grow, provided protein is regularly supplied in the diet. This constant feeding teaches the body to burn carbohydrates and fats rather than store them, a metabolic shift in the system resulting in more efficient food processing. The body seems to 'know' it will get fed again.

The third part of diet and exercise, considered crucial but rarely ever mentioned, is rest.

A theory

- feed your fish regularly as clockwork 4 times per day with an automated feeder set so they get a little more (20 - 30%) than what they'd normally get in 1-2 meal days.
- Feed comes from beside your water return, so fish begin to jostle for position in the flow around feeding time (and feed is better dispersed for those runts)

I theorise the fishes clocks will soon take to swimming in the flow, then feeding, then resting, then swimming in the flow...

And hopefully, they'll grow faster and poo more.

that's good thinking AA

does the fish that swims the fastest get a little medal?

An excellent training regime AA

First fish to the hook gets prime position on the BBQ.

sounds good to me!

i get it now vb, yeah that should work in a system with the right ratio of plants and fish.

I was picturing one fingerling getting food dumped on him to support tons of growbeds, but then thats just me being melodramatic. (funnily enough i pictured my sister dumping the food in...i don't know why)

Is your sister younger?

All the stories about childhood fish kills were at the hands of younger sisters............. LOL

Oi, you lot! I never killed any fish! I think it was skinks...

See the gender bias on the portal page?

If we say you killed fish then you did. OK?

We'll beat the confession outta ya if need be

shes younger, but never had fish or killed any of mine

i guess its all my friends stories of their sisters killing fish that made me thing of it

I can kill my own fish without any help