Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Out of a batch of 25 fish how many would you expect to survive to the plate?
Or what % of fish would normally survive if you purchase in larger quantity?

I received 25 Silver Perch today. 1 was DOA, another keeps lying on it's side but isn't dead (yet).
The supplier has a 100% Alive on Arrival Guarantee although I don't really feel like nagging them for 1 fish.
Even if the 2nd fish does die it was technically Alive on Arrival.

On a correctly spec'd system correctly stocked, getting fish from a very reliable supplier (ie Troutman) and stocking the correct species for your climate I would expect 100%.

Usually a supplier will take doas into account and provide you with a couple extra. But I'm figuring as long as you have the right filtration to stocking levels, the right fish for locality and without human error issues you should get high 98% as a minimum for growout

Depends on a lot of things. I got 25 silver perch from livefish over two years ago and they are all still alive and well above plate size. Got lots of other fish since from various suppliers and had 100% death in a few days from one duchebag supplier.
Apart from the fish I have killed by chlorine or have been eaten by their brothers, I have had about 3 random deaths in two and half years. One catfish just the other day, with no signs of disease

Hope that clears it up nicely

No reason why you can't get 100% survival with careful management, the right stocking rate and backup air

+1 on expecting close to 100 percent. The only reason some of mine died was through stupidity. Left hose running all night long, and didn't have my tank covered. As long as you take your time and you concentrate on what u are doing you can easily go 100%.

But let's assume that on your first try you will expect to make some of these type of mistakes, and occasionally you will just get a random one drop off the perch for no good reason, so I'd say expect to loose between 4-5.

I actually get far more plant casualties/losses than fish losses.

If you can get your fish delivered face-to-face by supplier you'll be much better off.

Mine were from Livefish the only supplier I could find here in SA didn't have any Silver Perch
The 2nd fish did end up dying also.

I guess the transportation took its toll on them. 2 isn't too bad and hopefully they will replace them both for you.

The deaths were really out of your control.

I wonder how OBO goes when he transorts fish over 600km by road? Perhaps Charlie would know?

He's hardly lost any, in fact some years I am pretty sure he has lost none at all and he has transported up to 2800 at a time. All up I think I have only lost 5 fish during transportation of tens of thousands of fish over these last few years. The survival rate of fish transported in boxes by airfreight definitely isnt as good as getting them delivered locally.

Yea OBO rarely looses any during the transportation.

Its all about prep.

Ive moved fish 400km without an issue numerous times.

They delivery guy was flipped the box from horizontal to vertical as he pulled it out of the van and back to horizontal again before handing it to me.

I said it has live fish in it... and he said. It's ok they will just swim wherever the water is.

I was thinking sure they will but they'll also get bashed against the sides of the bag in the process.

I sent them an email with their claim form and a photo attached.
They are giving me a credit for the 2 dead fish

I wouldn't mind getting something that I could put in the sump tank. I'll just have to work out what will do OK with the rise and fall of the water level in there all the time.

Had a similar thing happen with my order of 25 from there a month ago but didn't bother claiming since the 2 I lost were still barely alive when they arrived.. Took them 44 hours to get here so was expecting to lose a few.. Still worked out better for me than picking some up from lewiston like I did last year..

Mine were here in about 18 hrs which was much faster than I had expected.
Who does them in Lewiston? The only place I could find was at Two Wells and they said they didn't have any stock.