Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Oh yea ell clays were busting up just fine, but i forgot to call in at fisheries havt to do it tomorrow

it is a very elaborate perch breeding manual as mentioned in my post on sept 2
there is also a pike perch (walleye) manual available on the same site

greetings

frank

In brief,
Redfin may not be as good in our AP systems as we had hoped for. Tests completed in Europe and in Ireland indicate that:-
Their growth is slow, say 100 to 150 grams for twelve months against a Native Perch of around 350 Grams. When you consider that the food intake of both would be almost the same our NP have a far better food conversion ratio.
These are the factors that I intend to find out about. Of course they may grow much faster here in Aussie.
If I were you "elefant" I would be looking at Jade Perch for your area.
Alex

it covers redfin starting with specific tolerances, all the way through the care and breeding of them and ends with a cost analysis of running a hatchery for 800,000 (i think) fingerlings per year.

would be worth trying it again. maybe right click on it and select "save link as"

This is only the first chapter and only treats the hatchery and fingerling production.
it also starts from a "bookkeepers" and "big company" and "market domination" point of view, not that of a farmer:

on one hand it says:

This is a rather depreciating and pessimistic view on what we try to do and doesn't take into account the huge savings we realize by being inventive instead of recurring to expensive specialists on each and every occasion.
10% in that perspective is a drop on a hot plate.
which doesn't mean we all should start fusing wires together and wrap them in insulting (!!!) tape.

and on the other side states (which confirms this):

I think we (amateurs and farmers) have a quite different approach to "good salaries".
Most of us live on the premises, so the "24 hours a day seven days a week" has not the same impact as with payed "skilled" staff.

While knowledge is essential and a university degree is undoubtedly an asset, few fishermen or sheep herders or pig or chicken or goat farmers have one
and all of them will probably do much better than the academic
as 24/7 is their way of life and they (we) feel quite happy about it (if only to brag or complain).

Academics often have the tendency to overrate difficulty while beginning farmers sometimes underrate them.
take this sentence on feeds:

using that kind of food is simply preposterous in our type of setup.

most of us are mostly primarily interested in making a "decent living" while doing what we love to do.
we are not interested in wearing suits and going to Wall Street.

The key is to find the right balance and not to put all your eggs in one basket.
That is one of the beauties of AP: you have at least two products, more if you diversify in fish species and vegetable species.
Which doesn't simplify things , but doesn't necessarily over complicate them as long as you don't overrate your market.

lots more to think and ponder about...

Frank

Alex,
slow growth is obviously an issue but might be caused by climate limitations and ensuing heating constraints.
so the situation in Australia might be quite different than over here (I live in Belgium) as you rightly state.

but you connect that to food conversion which might be an issue too but is not the same
the only passages on food conversion I have found are:


plus the tables and figures connected to them.

Are food conversion rates of Jade perch or other similar species better than 1.2 to 1.7?

That is important to me as Perch in general retain my interest

greetings

frank

growth rate in the manual is probably related to the cooler winter temps.

from wiki:

European perch size can vary greatly between bodies of water; in Australia the fish are sometimes much larger than in their native Europe. The perch can live for up to 22 years, and older perch are often much larger than average; the maximum recorded length is 60cm and reach a maximum weight of around 10.4kg in Australasia, a maximum of less than 3kg in the UK (the UK record stands at 5lb 14oz), they grow to moderately larger maximums in mainland Europe than in Britain.

hmmmm..... might have to give PIRSA a call today see where I stand at keeping them in an enclosed enviroment?

can't hurt asking, right?

H.

I went to fisheries at the Hill and they are closed down called in at the DPI one staff member who said do whay you want in an enclosed system as theres no one that will be interested in looking anyhow Plenty of fisheries officers on the rivers and lakes and i guess that really where they should be. I was thinking last night that when i was catching yabbies at Walgett ealier in the year that there was little fish in the traps that i now think were redfin. I got a 42 ford pickup to get from a farm out there sometime sooo might take the traps as well. and a drum and aerator

Was looking at JP early in the plan how many tanks i got? Lots of good omega 3 in them.

This is what I like plenty of discussion.
I agree that they do better here than Europe due to the longer warm to hot periods. It appears that they will cope with a range of temps from 4 to 30 and I am referring to water temp.
In referring to the food conversion I was using the fact that Redfin or Native Perch would eat almost the same amount per 12 months. The Redfin will finish at 100, Native Perch approx 350 grams.
The difference could be that you may be able to produce more Kgs of Redfin per 1000lts water. This could even up the food conversion ratio.
I intend growing some Redfin out along with a couple of other AP people. records will be kept in order to compare. I will also have some Natives. If I can heat the system cheaply it will assist the Redfin and allow me to keep Jade Perch.
Alex

that doesn't seem right!

silvers and jades definatly sit in the 1.2:1 to 1.7:1 ratio that was quoted for reddies, so they SHOULD have the same weight gain.............. hmmmmm.............

I really do think that we have to throw all these figures away and start again with Redfin.
Wrote Jim a note asking him to take a look at this page, have not heard from him as yet. Be interesting to learn how his venture with Redfin went.

I thank Frank for his input.
Keep up your good work Frank from your efforts we will learn more.
My problem is getting the time to read it all. I do not read I scan and I know that I miss some things.

Alex

VB will now make some wise crack about me speed-reading things..................

So most probably both species will perform equally under equal circumstances?