Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello all, I am based near Perth and want to get my hands on some Barra fingerlings for the summer period. I believe Challenger TAFE is a good place to get them.

Can someone please let me know of what the protocol is with regards to getting Barra ie. When to place an order and what month the pick up time is.

Also any other information on good suppliers of Barra would be great.

Many thanks!

You just need to monitor your water temperatures, last year it wasn't till quite late, about November or early December I think before water temps were up.

Second thing. Don't buy small barra.. The season tends to just not be long enough to grow out fingerling unless you are really onto them, feeding them lots with a mature system, even then, they still have to be a good size fingerling to begin with.

There were a lot of people at the end of last summer saying "what should I do with my half grown Barra?"

Hi, I am up in the Pilbara and I have stocked my system with Barra from Kimberley Tafe. My "fishguy" is absolutely fantastic, so if he is anything to go by, try dealing directly with the aquaculture member of the Tafe. He would be the only one to be able to answer you, as he is growing them. When buying up here we have alot of restrictions on size and time because they need to travel 800km on a bus in bags etc, but you shouldn't have any issues like that. The only advice I can offer you is Barra grow best in water 26 degrees celcius or higher, they do not like the temp to drop below 22, you made need to purchase some heaters. Hope this helps.

WOW and I thought it was difficult to keep SP!!!

Yeah Barra are a PITA, not quite quick enough to grow out in a typical southern summer.

Yeah, SP not quite quick enough to grow out in two Melbourne Summers!

I spoke a little while back today with Anthony Aris, the hatchery manager up at the Kimberly Tafe, and sussed out how the spawn was going.........well it isn't.......he is hoping the warmer weather in the next few weeks might bring a a school of spawn,.....,,

I am planning to book in a hundred minimum fish

If anyone else might be interested, think early and get in early, small fish are so much easier to transport.

You can contact him on 0488 175 395, a great guy to deal with

What temps does the barra need? Is it viable as a growing fish in the super in NSW?

You might be a bit like us in Perth I imagine, a slightly short season.. No problem if you get them fairly advanced to begin with..

I just ate some store bought barra, and now its got me thinking that I might have to grow some.

If you get a decent sized fishtank in your lounge room, and connect it to a grow light lit herb garden, you should be able to grow fingerling's through the winter in your house. Any losses from heating would just go toward heating your house, and as a plus you get to have a fish tank full of a herd of fish.

As a bonus you get a herb garden that grows right in your kitchen, and you get to grow summer herbs. It would only cost 20 bucks worth of power to get a 3 month head start on the season, and I think you could save that by buying smaller fish. If you keep in mind the heater losses go into your lounge room, then you could argue that there is no loss if you are lucky enough to live in the developed world.

You only need a fish tank that would support 1 plate sized fish to keep a stack of fry.

G'day Borby,
Contact Tony Bart @ freo tafe. I picked up my few barra yesterday for $1.00 ea. Sales by appointment Friday afternoons.
I keep 'em in a 6' aquarium until the tanks warm up, the biggest got to 650gm last year
Cheers Matt

Hi,

I totally agree with Wickham above. I live in Tom Price in the Pilbara and have Barra from Challenger TAFE. My fish caught the plane up here last October and are going great guns. Even with living in the toasty Pilbara I have heaterrs in my tanks. +22 is the name of the game if you want growth.

My suggestion for Perth would be SP or trout.

Barra are shipped when very young at about 50mm, much bigger than this and their fins will pop the bags.

My tip would be to do more research and opt for a cooler climate fish.

Good luck

Have forgotten to check this post for some time and just came back to it to check if anyone replied. You all rock! Thanks for all of the information!

Having said that, given I am down in the cooler climate of Bunbury, I may need to look beyond the Barra side of things till I get my hands on some good sized fingerlings. I dare say Bunbury will only offer three or so months of warmer growing weather.

Will give Challenger a call ASAP and find out what is on offer. Keep you all posted.

Cheers!