Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Last night I was thinking about our fish (as you do). Our tank is large and black and the fish are dark coloured too. It is entirely possible that we will miss harvesting one or two of the larger fish in the tank for a couple of years. We might end up with one of those "fish that got away" fish

We are all aware (whether entirely true or not) that as an animal ages it's flesh gets "tougher" (eg don't eat roosters after they have started crowing as the flesh is too tough).

My question here is, does fish flesh get tougher as the fish gets bigger? This is completely discounting any use as broodstock (we don't have the facilities to deal with that) Will we end up with fish leather or will the flesh still be as good as it is now?

Interesting question. I suppose it will also depend on type of fish. I know some fish must be fine big (like many game fish.)

I think it is a possibility, the bigger, the more trauma they have had thru their
lives. But then fish cakes are always good and then the flesh doesn't matter!

My dad was a keen cod fisherman back in the 60 s i remember often eating bits off an 80 or a 100 lb cod [ we had to eat the bloody stuff for weeks ] to me wasent that bad so the answer is no

I have hearf that bigger trout can tend to be a bit dry and tough.

J, the large Bass we used to catch in South Africa used to taste the same as the smaller ones... never noticed a difference in flesh texture or taste...
I am not sure if that would be the same for all fish tho

I have eaten tons of saltwater big fish mahi mahi, kingfish, grouper, etc... Tasted just the same as the smaller ones.

thanks everyone

There is the opposite problem with at least one species,,,known as Mulloway (Jewfish),,the smaller ones (under 750grammes) are knownas "soapies"because they have asoapy flavour. The large ones are EXCELLENT eating.

I wonder how many times you have eaten the smaller ones?

I have heard a few different thoughts:

'The closer the bone the sweeter the meat'

and...
' If you eat the little ones, the bigger ones will spawn littles ones,
and if you eat the spawning ones, you don't have ANY little ones'