Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

might be a change in season thing?
do you feed your silvers veg mater? If so would things like lettuce, brocoli carrot scraps be ok?

Silvers like the greens, not as much as high protein pellets, but they will definitely eat things like lettuce, broccoli leaves, water cress, azolla, duckweed, etc..

My silver babies in the indoor aquariums smack the food in a frenzy then go digging in the rocks for more. Got 3 out in the big tank and they are chasing sinking food but dunno if they are bottom feeding. The 10 goldfish are cleaning everything up.

Fed usual amount last night 2 teaspoons of 4mm pellets, all food in about 40min, feed another teaspoon and they cleaned that up.
Fed this morning which I havent before, fed 2 teaspoons and gone within the hour.
Will feed again tonight, all the fish seem keen to feed and the SP are betting a lot less shy.
Tank looks awesome as all the fish are getting used to their new home.

I got this great iPod app Fishing Calender to help me pick the best days to wet a line. It is based on time of day, sunrise / sunset, moonrise / moonset etc etc. I am still checking it out but it seems that my silvers feed best at times which the calendar predicts as optimum fishing times. They also tend not to eat as voraciously at the less optimum times. I would not have thought this to be the case with farmed fish. Maybe there is a bit more to this......but then again maybe I am imagining it!

Ray

I found the same thing from my GPS's fishing times almanac and from a tackle store bought fishing almanac. There seems to be a correlation between crazy feeding and moon phases. Its also been pointed out to me that low pressure weather fronts have an effect.

But/and...

I recently put a 15$ (12 watt) powerhead into my FT and my silver perch seem to love the water movement, and love the fallen food thats blowing around in the breeze.

A power head is a thinggy from an aquarium shop and is for turning over the water rather than pumping it. It can't raise water like a pump, but a 12 watt power head will shift as much water at zero head as a 150 watt pump. Its like a tiny outboard motor. It has the benefits of not being blockable, low power consumption, and stirring food/fishpoop around. The fishpoop eventually finds its way into the outgoing pipe, and the food gets a second (and third and fourth) chance at finding its way into a fish. My silvers line up in the strongest point of the flow and wait for the previously ignored, sunk feed to blow past. They seem to love it.

My marron do a great job of cleaning up the leftovers. Maybe that's why they are growing so quick......I don't think they respond to solunar times.

Ray