Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I know people who can't keep duckweed and cone snails alive let alone convicts. I mean if convicts are surviving maybe try step it up with some mbuna like zebra, fulleborne, hongi, pindani.... ? I'm planning on using some mbuna in my first try thru summer.... maybe in the future try some rostratus
Just somethings sell better than convicts... even rainbow cichlids or rivulatus could be a goer.
How much do you people pay for fish food?
Around $50 or so for a 20kg bag of something like ridley barra pellet?

up here we pay $75 for 25Kg of Ridley barra pellets

Sounds about right haven't ordered any for a while.
Anyone know if 'Hey U' will still get it in for ya on a bag by bag basis?

would love to breed electric yellows they are a sexy fish and have personality. i have two in the community tank.

Well they are the only cichlid I can think of that has a nice high demand that never seems to waver. Might be able to tell I have done a fair few years selling fish hey.
But ya in larger systems, with a stable pH and temperature I'm thinking electric yellows would be the best $ to cm of fish you could grow out. Prob have the breeders inside. All depends on the temperature... but ya bristlenose catfish would be another handy one to breed. Could even grow out some of the larger plecs.
Would be nice to be in the full tropics and not have to worry about such a big winter/summer difference....
btw paradise fish make convicts look like discus lol

For the good cash crops get into the L numbers Plecs.... hehe... But other cichlids are good.

At the moment I am breeding (attempting to):
Bristlenose Catfish
Peppermint Bristlenose
Cuckoo Catfish
Electric Yellows
Melanochromis Manganos (common name unknown)
L333

Ya we have a good sized school of the cuckoos in with a few frontosa here. Not a fan of mangano or johanni... bred way way too many.
Catfish except common bristlenose change price weekly, bit crazy.
Seriously though discus and angel fish can be good if you can sell quantity fry.
But end of the day, small fish that people use for pond mosquito control like white clouds and pacific blue eyes can sell in good numbers. Guppy/platy/swordtails are also great, molly do better with a fair amount of marine salt added so maybe not so good. But yea the bread and butter species always sell reliably. You get more money selling lots of small fish than a couple of really expensive ones.

A quick question, in fish food recipies that have beef heart as an ingredient, is there anything wrong with sheep heart? I am guessing that they reccomemd beef heart as it is generally cheaper, and has a greater surface area to volume ratio (eg less fat, etc) just want to make sure there is no nutritional reason also...(eg less nutritious, etc)

i just found this site
http://home.iprimus.com.au/kuekids/keto/ketotbl.html

looks like lamb hearts have abit more fat, and abit less protien compared to beef heart

if your worred about the fat could you cook it then let the fat rise to the top as it cools and scape it off ??

probably, but majority of the fat is on the outside, so could maybe just cut it off

Ask your butcher to trim and mince the beef heart for you. I also get mine to put a piece of liver in for every 2 kilos of heart.

Be warned, this stuff is sticky and smells horrible. WEAR latex gloves or something. Add a teaspoon of spirlina, tablespoon of paprika, 500g fresh cooked spinach, 2 grated carrots (blended with spinach) and some freeze dried prawns or flake food. Per 2kg of beef heart. When all mixed add gelatine per the directions on the pack to hold it all together. Freeze flat in freezer bags or ice-cube trays. Just break off or grate what you need.

Plus I would not cook it. I believe this may reduce the shelf life and remove the 'goodness' from the meat.

Thanks, thats pretty much the recipie i used last time. I do it in the flat freezer bags so it takes up less space....

Tim, I have less complicated recipes for stuff I cook for my Wife! You must really love those fish

paprika? Is that as a preservative or vitamins or ?