Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Anyone know what this little fella is? I'm guessing it's a fish! I don't know much about fresh water fish If an AP system could work with salt water and snapper I would be doing it that way!

It's got some sexy colouring by it's eye, I'm guessing (read wishing)... rainbow trout?

Looks like a gambeizie to me, where did you get it?

If it is a gambeizie (don't know if thats right spelling) they have been banned from pet shops over here (WA) because people have been dumping them in natural water ways. They are prolific breeders and take over natural stocks by eating the very young or eggs.
I can find them now in dams around Kalgoorlie, I used to feed them to my Barra.
The black bit near the tail are eggs inside its guts.

Most definitely gnash.... And the correct name is Gambusia... Mosquito Fish!!

http://www2.dpi.qld.gov.au/fishweb/2397.html
http://www.amonline.net.au/FISHES/fishf ... brooki.htm

I got it from a dam next to my mates house out in Smythesdale, I told him I was looking for something to put in my system and he said the dam next to his place was full of little fish. He didn't know what they were either

In that case! BACK TO THE LOCH WITH YOU NESSY!!!

You can plead the 5th if you want Did you breed them to feed your Barra or catch them? They sound like a really good feeder fish, do you think it would be worth it to put some in a seperate tank to breed as food?

I think your DPI might have something to say about it Kenny

I grew them ages ago in a separate tank and feed them to my oscars, I used to get the guy's over and sit around the aquarium drinking and betting on which fish would last the longest

For the barra I just caught them as there is heaps around.

Would love to breed them again for feeder fish but as Jaymie points out

"I think your DPI might have something to say about it Kenny"

I plead the 5th!

OK then, I'll leave these little tackers alone (and by leave alone I mean put in a spare 1000lt tank I have and breed them as feeders).

My system should be ready for trout in a couple of weeks, my seedlings are getting impatient and are begging to be transplanted.

I so thought I had found a cheap/free source of trout fingerlings Buggered if I know what they look like that small! It has a bit of 'shiny' stuff on it, so I got my hopes up as it looked 'rainbowy'! More wishful thinking that anything...

Catch them and kill them.
You are not allowed to keep them.
You are not allowed to transport them live.
Having them in tanks gives AQIS people the right to kill all fish on the property so the story goes.
Then again I have seen them openly used in National Parks and Wildlife turtle setups. One set of rules for fish keepers and another set for others lol.


Anyway they suck. They nip fins, eat fish eggs and out compete everything else.
I hate them.
As to them being good feeders, well they are certainly good hosts for lots of gnarly digenetic trematodes so ya without worming them first you take a big risk.

I know.... they are easy and free and there.... but they are as bad as canetoads.
We will probably never be rid of them. But I certainly do what I can to ruin their day when I come accross them.

I didn't read all this stuff but seemed to pertain to your fish.

We have gambusia in the states- very prolific little buggers.

http://www.gambusia.net/

Fair call BUT there was a place for these fish as there was a place for cane toads, it was just some stupid bugger that relocated them that probably needs catching and killing

They were of course introduced to control mosquitos - hence the name - and I suspect they were put everywhere. Even if they weren't put everywhere - it is very easy for these sorts of things to spread without human intervention (birds, floods etc) - so not a good idea to introduce really (hindsight is handy).

Gotta say though - they are in my gully on my place. It doesn't always have water in it and so the fish sometimes die off and I can have water without them. During these times, mossies are a major issue. I'm always grateful when we get a big rain and some are washed back in from somewhere upstream - probably somebody's dam.

Why are people so unkind They didn't ask to be displaced from their homes, put to work in the fields picking larvae! So they form gangs and steal other fishes eggs, and nip at their fins when the come into their ghetto's. They're a product of their forced relocation and hard labour, don't blame them if they have a chip on their shoulder. We need to understand them and show tolerance towards them.