Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

VB,

Don't worry about the Ich unless its symptoms show.

Yes and no on the aquarium salt. i havent use any for a while, i did use it in new setups though.

The aquarium salt is a mixture of chlorides, and sulphates of magnesium, calcium and sodium. They ad to the general hardness (GH) of the water.

If you're using salt for treatment of ich then just go the non iodised table salt!

The way its meant to work (sorry if you already know this) is by raising the temp as high as you can you either increase the speed of the life cycle of ich (they are only suseptible during a free swimming state after they have ruptured from their cycsts but before they find a new host, as little as 24 hours) or if its above 32C it actually kills them, but not many tropicals can handle this either . Then by having a huge salitnity their simple cell structure cant compensate and they die. its more the CHANGE in salinity that the final level. so for Ich a BIG, QUICK dose is better than slowly adding it.

But like i said, don't fix it if it aint broken. keep the temp at 28/29 though, its suggested by some that it helps their immune system.

Let me know if you do see white spots and i'll churn through some info to give you the dosage. Flashing can be signs of other less dire things

Steve

Thanks Steve.

Nick - Haven't heard from you in a while. How did your silver perch feeder fish go?

happy to say that all of my silver perch are alive and well, I have had more guppies die lately than anything else, THe barramundi are going good except, I am trying to get them onto a larger floating pellet instead of the smaller sinking pellet they are currently on, i think it will be a while till I get them to come to the surface to feed.

My original lot of silver perch that are in a tub (800L) that is not connected to aquaponics are also doing well. They have probably doubled size in a month, so am happy with that.

Good to hear Nick - it is likely therefore that there was a problem on my side of things. This is good because now that I seem to have fixed it I can go and get me some more feeder fish.

Hi all, i'm placing an order tonight for some jade perch from Bruce at Ausyfish.

If anyone in melbourne is interested and can reply TONIGHT then i can up the order.

I'm expecting it to be under $3 each including shipping from QLD (about 50% will be an advanced size of about 10CMS).

Below is what Bruce had to say regarding perch when i told him that silver perch had become a fish of choice for us due to its hardiness;

QUTOE:

If you think Silver Perch are hardy, wait till you try Jades !
We have Silvers and Jades from about December.
It looks like Golden Perch will grow about as fast as Jades, and Jades grow way faster than Silvers.
Jades and Goldens prefer warmer water than Silvers.
Best at between 22-27C. Probably best at 24C
They all handle cold but the Jades may not do so well in cold water when fed the fatty aquaculture diets.

END QUOTE

Just to clarify on the temperatures, i'm fairly sure that the quoted temps are the temps at which they feed well. For example silver perch feed ok down to 18C. But i have had mine at around 10C for quite some time, they just don't want to each much and hence don't grow much at this temp.

Ausyfish are curently out of silvers and i think goldens as well, and this lot of jades are all thats left. As they breed their own they have distinct time periods where they are available. From what i gather from about December through to around April

Cheers
Steve

Looks like you are set to go Steve. Interesting information. On the basis of that I think I will definitelly give the golden perch (yellowbelly) and jade perch (Barcoo grunter) a go. I have always been keen on yellowbelly, having caught and eaten a few in western Qld when out that way.

Has anybody thought about Australian Bass as a possibility?

Steve you should have recieved my PM - I'm in for 40.

Not procrastinating now

Warren

Warren,

Order increased.
Fish will ship via virgin blue at noon wednesday.
Will go and collect from melbourne airport early evening.
I'll call you as soon as i know exact details.

Hows that? Jade perch, next day delivery from queensland. not bad, huh?

SH#T, now i'm going to have to organise myself too! i can wack most of mine in indoor aquariums for the moment. I think i'll set up a smaller system in the garden shed using a spa bath for the time being. the 1000Lt tank that i dropped into the ground is definatly a work in progress, especially with the short daylight / long work hours. I'd dearly like not to kill these fish

Damn, i just finnished setting this tank up to breed my angel fish (they breed all the time in the community tank, but the eggs don't last with so many other fish!)



Steve

Bloody hell I was expecing a day or two more than that - will be busy the next few days

Warren

Steve..great service from Ausyfish...got your babies yet..? All healthy..?
Exciting stuff

LB,

I was stressing bad today. I thought AUSYFISH was going to ship at midday and that put them at about 3:30pm at melbourne. Then i hear on the radio that all flights have been diverted away from syd and melb due to air traffic control hardware failure! at 3pm! Hardware failure? What about heart failure!!!

I just got home at 5pm and checked my email. There is one from AUSYFISH saying they will ship as soon as i can confirm funds transfer!

Anyway, i'll transfer the funds to them now. If they take my word that i have paid then we'll have them tomorrow, if they want to see it in their account then i guess we will have them friday

Lucky turn of events, when you consider the flight problems
Steve

Nice wallpaper Steve. I bred my angels a couple of times. Hatching brine shrimp every day or so for weeks is not that much fun. Its harder than having a human baby (well not quite - but hard work all the same).

Brineshrimp ...

I wanna have a go at that , but I heard that they can "crash".

So I have been using "microworms" .. I innoculate new media (porridge oats and a little yeast) about every three weeks, and have been using it to feed little tiny babies that are too small to take flake.

Very easy to keep the culture going!

(I keep some in the fridge, as a breeding stock - which can last up to 6 month apparently in the cold before you make a new batch of breeding stock.!)

Johnny, have a doucment with much info on brine shrimp, i will upload it somewhere

Thanks VB, I had the wall paper specially ordered and made......NOT

My angels go through spate of breeding, sometimes 2 or three times a month, then they give it a break for a few months. I'm not to fussed if the little ones die, just seems like a waste to keep letting them breed in the community tank and get to day 3 of 8 and have all the eggs dissapear.

They are fiercly protective when the lights are on, but seeing as at least half of my tank is nocturnal i'm sure one of them is having a little feast while parant angels are resting

Johnny file has been uploaded here http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum ... y&cat_id=3