Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Has anyone managed to take Barra thru winter, I've six in an IBC with 650-700 litres of water here in Mandurah and would like to grow them to about 1kilo if possible or am I dreaming?? Thought of water heaters but probably the expence would not be worth it trouble is by the time they are filletted need a microscope to see the end result!!

You're dreaming... unless you're prepared to heat to at least 25 degrees...

I wouldn't recommend it Fish2veg. Might be doable but at what cost ? Id harvest the barra and go with trout, but thats just me and I lurve trout. Only 4 more sleeps.

oooo me too Faye......4 sleeps

Well F2V it can be done......I have done it for the last 2 winters. Started with 50mm Barra in a 6ft aquarium (insulated and heated) then for the next winter they lived in 2 IBCs (insulated and heated) I started off with 30 and ended up with 20. Repeated for the following year, so now have 2yo and 1 yo. Did have 2-3 aquarium heaters in tank set at 22deg, but didn't make much difference to power bill. Once tanks are up to temp it all depends on how good the insulation is.

Had first legal kill other day. Quiet a problem trying to catch in a 2.5 mtr dia tank. Taht black circle in bottom of tank is the drain and measures 2ft across.

Photo's in no order.

Some more photo's.

This was the smaller one. Over 500mm 3.02Kg and fillets over 1.5 Kg. Was not impressed by soft flesh but have been told that may have been caused by stressing them out during catching. Will use the Clove Oil method next time to pull the lot. But gee it was great watching them leap 3 ft out of the water.

I think you have to take into account the geographical differences between Mandurah and Queensland tho.




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I was once young and stupid, i'm not so young now

"She who must be obeyed" is saying no matter how small better to chew 'em than lose 'em so unfortunatly for "Barri 'n' the rest of the Mundi family" looks like it's goodnight Irene!! Don't think we'll do Barra again (our first fish) will get trout and silversnext time around.

Yeah, as Julia Bites says, there's a hell of a difference in average ambient temperatures during winter between the two locations.

Agree with EB and others and think you're going the right way fish2veg

Unfortunately we are not permitted to have trout in Qld. Barra do take a lot of work keeping tanks and filters clean. I can tell you tho that my Jades out perform Silvers in growth by about 2:1. Next kill is going to be a couple of Jades. Has only taken me 4 years to have my first feed, the first couple of years was a great learning curve. so keep hanging in there.

Yeah, the jades are a great fish - wish we could have 'em over here

have you guys ever considered knocking them out with a blast of co2 as apossed to clove oil.if you have ever accidently bombed a fish tank with co2 they can drop quick.
cheers
byron

I'd think that raising the CO2 level would stress 'em out a fair bit - same as if it happened to you. CO2 has no anaesthetic properties.

And it would probably mess with your pH...

a blast of co2 has been seen to knock out fish in aquaria almost instantly so if you want to empty stock quickly it could work, i was just thinking about your problem of soft flesh due to prolonged stress.
cheers
byron