Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I am a newbie to aquaponics based in NZ. The strict quarantine laws mean I can’t get perch, barra or tiaplia. Has anyone tried using eels, I know I can get them out of local waterways and they are at least edible.
Cheers
Darren

Hi Darren,

I did some research into Eels and I thought that they would be a good candidate for AP.

From memory, the only thing that put me off them was that they are difficult to breed so obtaining a regular source was going to be difficult.

Simon

Simon
Thanks for the reply. My research suggests they should be okay as they tolerate a wide range of water conditions and temps. They are kept extensively in China in rural farms where they are reared as a food source. I have plenty of wild stock locally and I can feed them on dog food and worms. Also I don’t think I would get too attached to an eel so culling wouldn’t be an issue 

Darren

Tena Koe Darren...
There's another member from across the ditch.... has a thread by that name...

Think he was also looking at eels.... and there's a bloke (name escapes me at the moment) at Ragland that has successfully breed kokopu....

Eels are good candidates for recirc systems... at least aquaculture...

I've got some info somewhere... I'll find it for you...

Here you go Darren.... viewtopic.php?f=16&t=3089

See if you can get hold of some of the other Kiwis...

The government hasn't exactly encourgaed aquaculture over there... although I believe they've just had a major "summit" about the future of aquaculture...

Heard anything about it?

Where abouts you from?

RupertofOZ

Many thanks for the thread info, I am in Warkworth just north of Auckland. Just about to setup my system so any info I can get about NZ based systems will be great. I'll try and contact the Kiwis in the tread.

For a pro Green govt this lot aren’t very proactive, I can’t get any grants for setting up tank water, solar or wind power generation. I have just put in a composting toilet after a 6 mth battle with the local council.

cheers
Darren

Eels cannot be bred (yet).
they breed in the Sargasso sea, then swim over the ocean in one to three years
as tiny glass eels they smim up rivers and become soft water fish
after 10 to 14 years they swim back to the Sargasso sea to breed

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eel_life_history

you will have to buy glass eels every year
they are becoming scarce

frank

True... up until recently Frank....

There's a bloke in Raglan NZ who is successfully breeding glass eels, the only person in the world doing so .... I'll find the bookmark later...

I would be very surprised at how to interpret the words "successfully" and "breeding", Rupe

In Holland (big consumer of smoked eels) and elsewhere too they have had small successes so far

TMK they achieved this by making eels swim in a tube or channel directed at the Sargasso see with a counter current and adapting the speed, salinity, temperatures and other factors as they would normally encounter on the journey
and the eels hatched after over 3000 km, which would be about the same distance
but the larvae did not survive or do very poorly
one main problem is the absence of knowledge about what to feed the larvae

best results so far are with Japanese eels
but even there it is only on very small laboratory scale

I think it reasonable not to expect a successful commercial eel hatchery within the next ten to twenty years

frank

Unless they just inject to induce breeding.

Could always clone the things .....

The concept that you may be having trouble with the concept of "successfully breeding"... may have some quietly clapping and murmuring "thank you god"...... ... (Said with tongue firmly in cheek Frank .... )

And my bad.... was confusing Oliver Lucanos, of http://www.belowwater.com ...over in Raglan...who is now exporting Giant Kokopu overseas... another species thought to be almost impossible to breed in captivity.....

Was in fact Paul Decker and collegues at Mahurangi Technical Institute at Warkworth ... the leading aquaculture research facility in NZ....

But yes, they have successfully "breed" and hatched eggs.... although work is ongoing to reliably get the larvae through to 100 day old "glass eels" for export....

Although they expect to do so within a few years.... and knowing the Kiwis... I'd put my money on it ....

http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/bre ... n_eel.html

http://www.mti.net.nz/research-and-cons ... jects.html

just shows how you misjudged and underestimated me in the past, Rupe
I wonder whether you still do or whether you have finally accepted me as a worthy contributor

thank you for the links
they confirm what I initially wrote:

true, that statement should have included the words "successfully" and "commercially".
but (purposefully) adding the word "yet" made my statement much more flexible than yours:

the question was if there was (at this moment) a reliable and affordable source for bred glass eels, or a way to breed them yourself.

There is not (yet).

Excuse me for assuming that you, like me, would expect "successfully breeding glass eels" to end up with an affordable product that can be used in further raising in AP.
which is what was asked.
To me (in my perception), this person is not "successfully breeding glass eels" (usable in AP), much as I admire his results
nor is he the only person in the world doing so. I have shown that.

your links confirm the (extremely important) bottleneck I pointed to
and you acknowlege:

this has apparently not been solved (yet).
first the issue of reliability must be solved
then the issue on commercial viability
that will take time (or a lucky break, which I don't exclude).

unless you define "a few years" as ten to twenty, I wouldn't.

but, of course, it's your money

and, believe it or not, I truly hope to be proven wrong much sooner.

Frank

Come on. After the rings you have to put money on those guys.

Technology does move faster these days.

And given there results with both Grass and Silver Carp....

And the major advances in hydroponics out of Massey University in the last two decades... I'd back them....