Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Well I am definately not impressed with them so far

They seem to be a very violent fish towards other Bream in the same tank.

I purchased 25 Black Bream from Challenger TAFE on Monday.
2 were looking a bit stressed (upside down!!) so 2 more were provided at no additional cost.

Brought them home and put in fresh rainwater in a 1KL tub, still in the oxygenated plastic bags, to allow temperature acclimatisation.
Cut open the bags and allowed them to swim in the tub (sump for BYAP system), plenty of water dribbling into the tub. 2 looked bad, so filled aquarium with water and 2 cups salt & bubbler.

Both fish dead Tuesday morning. Found 4 more unwell (same symptoms) and placed into aquarium (after removing the deceased pair).
Came home from work Tues afternoon, 2 of 4 dead, others still hanging on. Found 2 more looking unwell, but not as badly affected (swimming sideways), added them to aquarium.
Wed morning, 2 more dead, one very unwell, one looking a bit better.
Wed afternoon, only one survivor in aquarium. Fish in tub look well.

I hope this is the end of the fatalities.

Tony

Yeah, the bream do not travel as well as perch.

I have lost only one small bream,
THe small ones are just starting to eat, and the big ones are not eating at all yet. I will keep a close eye on them. I would be dissapointed if Freo Tafe Aquaculture sold us unsuitable fish

What are you feeding them??

To be fair Ducky... the TAFE has been running them as part of an aquaculture project...

They're no longer needed, and are being sold off to whoever may want them...

I don't think that they are representing them as a "suitable" fish for AP.... or indeed if they have any real aquaponics knowledge as such....

Anyone having problems with the Bream, should perhaps contact the TAFE firstly... and ascertain what water/oxygen/salt/temperature parameters they have used in their project tanks... and any helpful hints/tips....

I grew them quite successfully in one of my first system. Anyone that has my DVD can see a video segment of assorted Black Bream swimming around with silver perch, just click on the "Fish" segment from the main index.

Whether they are one of the best fish to grow in an AP system is debatable, but I found them to be ok

I agree, they are 'ok' for Ap use at this stage, Silvers and trout have been a lot more successful for me so far - the Bream experiment continues.

To get the bream onto pellets a bit better, soak the pellets first, then squash them flat, and allow to sink. Because they are soft and sinking rapidly the bream really go for them. My bream take pellets as they sink, and from the bottom of the IBC now.

One more small bream dead, that makes two in total, so not too bad.

The Larger ones do seem to be eating off the bottom so i am less worried now. THey don't hit the food hard like the trout do so not as exciting to watch.

So much conflicting information and advice, We will have to wait and see.

almost 4 months on with the Black Bream and all but 4 are dead!!

I asked Freo Tafe about them, and they said that they were more a brackish fish, and would be tempremental in fresh water. I founsd they were ok if all the conditions were spot on, but any hiccups and they started to die. This included pH swings, water quality and aeration issues. The silver perch are living in the same water and i have not lost one yet.

IMHO i think they are too much effort and are too fussy

Wow! all mine except for the initial fatalities are going fine.

all 10 of mine dead aswell ( as of a month ago ) . 3 died from having crappy swim bladders ( which we knew of ) , the rest either died from being stuck in the outflow pipe , or died then floated into the outflow pipe

not impressed with their growth rates - they ate just as much as the silvers and didnt grow at all

From what I have read these fish can grow quite quickly in their first 2 or 3 years reaching around 20cm, but slow down dramatically to where a legal size fish (25 cm) is probably going to be at least 6 or 7 years old and very large bream caught in the wild (40cm or over) is most likely to be 35 years or older.

35 years for a big fish BBQ, now that is a long term investment.

Ours are going great down here at the shop. I think you can get better growth rates when culturing them rather than in the wild, I know the ones I grew at home, although fairly slow, got to a good size over 3 years or so.

I imagine they have similar growth rates to redfin perch.

Makes sense that they would grow faster in a tank. Despite the poor reviews I wouldn't mind trying a few myself.

What approx size did yours get to in the 3 years?