Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

IFS are currently doing aquaculture trials with River Blackfish at their New Norfolk facilities. At present there are no regulations saying you can't keep them but one needs to apply for a permit to capture and transport them ($140), which is what we have done (if you are interested in seeing the permit application form PM me and I'll send it to you... it would be good to have others involved in the trial as well). This may change post trial if results indicate some potential. Farming would then be done under permit. Under the conditions of the permit we will be allowed to breed our own fish as replacement stock, however, we would not be allowed to release stock or sell excess fish (as is normal for any fish in Tas). Excess stock (as eggs) would need to be fed back to the adults, however, fecundity is rather low and I'm not anticipating any such over-supply issues... there's no 1000 eggs per kg of adult fish with Gadopsis. Fishing for River Blackfish is permitted for anyone with a current IFS fishing licence (see http://www.ifs.tas.gov.au/ifs/IFSDataba ... -blackfish), however, under the conditions of the permit I do not require at fishing licence to capture them (if you use a bush pole you don't need a licence to capture them anywhere). Fisheries also refused my application to house brown trout and fertile rainbows. We were granted permission to grow sterile triploid rainbows and were offered the option of buying sterile tiger trout eggs to hatch. It is clear fisheries are reluctant to reliquish control over any such fish that have the potential to be bred (as far as I am aware salmon are not available as sterile triploids though this is not something I have investigated and I may well be wrong on this... didn't you say you had salmon in your system originally???) and would probably have been the reason for their denial of permission. Tim needs to run the application by the Director as well, however, I get the feeling he is keen for us to partcipate in the trials to add to the body of data they are collecting. If data regarding growth rates under aquaponic conditions can be collected they can add this to their own conventional aquaculture trial data and so determine the versatility and potential of the species. It may also be that since this project is educational in nature being carried out by an educational institution (by myself), they are willing to encourage it.Unfortunately, initial trial captures have been unsuccessful and I've not managed to successfully trap any. I think it is going to take more time than I first anticipated.

Nice one..! Now that is all very exciting... About time IFS became a little more liberal on the general public and those with an ability to contribute to research data to actually help out..
And yes I had salmon. A bit because of default i.e. I was delivered salmon instead of RB's and couldn't give them back... I wanted to do the right thing and get a permit from them which was knocked back.

I actually made a mistake! Tim corrected me on who was doing the trial. Turns out it is a private person doing the trial for which Tim granted the permit. Either way it looks like fisheries is starting to look at diversifying. Now all we have to do is convince them that breeding and stocking estuary perch is a better idea than stocking trout in evey waterway in the state!

Whats the latest Tony? You still with us

arrr, just flicked back a page.... selling up. Such a shame.

Yeh mate. I sold the system lock sock and barrel (except for glasshouse) about two months ago.

The family whom bought it are right into the whole self sustainability with chickens, pigs etc and there is someone always home so it will be managed really well. They were stoked with it.

It was a bit emotional seeing the whole thing be pulled apart after so much hard work setting it up, but it all went to a good home...

I kept the bipod though as it will be useful for when I've got some chickens myself

Cheers
T

Only just stumbled upon this thread, and must say it was an enjoyable and informative read.
The last few pages really interest me greatly. I am in Victoria, and river blackfish is something I have been thinking about recently both AP'ly and as a fishing target species. They used to be a commonly targeted species in my local creek and a few other waterways that I know about near by. However I have never encountered one myself and would find it hard to believe they still exist in my local waterway due to the last droughts effects on the creek. There is now a good flow of water in the creek and has been for the last 2 years and I have recently wondered if there are any breeding experiments going to re-introduce this species in the wild.
I will be keen to follow the progress of the TAS efforts with blackfish, could either of you (tasmanians) start another topic on this subject as a bit of interest for us Victorians?

G'day Tony, really enjoyed reading this thread - very educational. Thanks for taking the time to document and share all your hard work.
I know the system you built has new owners now.. Are they in Tassie too? Do you think they'd be happy to show it off to me? Any chance of an introduction?

John
(johnyaku AT gmail etc)

Hi all
I am new to this Aquaponics and want to set up a system is there anyone in Tassie who I could visit and learn from on setting up and how to handle the fish etc.
I have been doing Hydroponics for some years now in my own way and want to setup to Aquaponics

Hope to hear from Tasmanians soon please

Hi Tony are you into the aquaponics now and if so I would be very interested in contacting you to find out how to setup and anything else to do with it please
Bill

Tony that was an amazing setup!!

to be honest i was a bit crushed to hear you sold it,
some great ideas in there.

Damian

Hi all
I am new to this Aquaponics and want to set up a system is there anyone in Tassie who I could visit and learn from on setting up and how to handle the fish etc.
I have been doing Hydroponics for some years now in my own way and want to setup to Aquaponics

Hope to hear from Tasmanians soon please