Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi just started i put some barra in last week they all tend to hide and not eat one called him bazza the barra he swims around and even comes up to u for a scrach but he still wont eat any help would be great thanks
david

10 barra 12-20cm long

30 trout about 3-6cm long

15 marron 5-10cm long

12 fresh water mussels

any info on this would be great thanks

What are you feeding your barra? Pellets?

I hope your trout and barra are in different tanks. If they are in the same tank, then I think I know why they are not eating pellets (if you are feeding them pellets)... Go count your trouts...

If they are in different tanks, what is the water temperature?? Barra do not feed consistently until water temperatures are above 23degC.

Feeding my barra pellets (silver perch pellets)
they are in the same tank but not that fussed if the trout get eaten but the barra arnt even intrested in them just hiding out on the bottom of the pond
water temp during the day has been about 25degres
i guess if they get that hungry they will chase the trout but just not intrested
bazza the barra swims right next to them and keeps going i managed to feed him 1 pellet by hand had to open his mouth he dosent mind being handled

Well the problem with barra is that they need water temperatures to be consistently over 20degC to survive. And 23degC to start eating. So I would guess that you don't have a heater hence the water temperatures in the night would drop. This temperature fluctuation affects them and their eating habits.

The other problem with barra is that once they tasted live food, it takes a while to introduce them back to pellets.

IMO, it is best to keep barra on separate from other species so that you can consistently feed them to grow to a good size before it gets cold for them again..

thanks ive just got a solar heater so only day time really water temp is still 20degres when i check it in the morning might have to try and seperate them is it fine to keep the marron/yabbies and fresh water mussles in there together aswell
thanks david

Although it might be fun to touch the fish I'd recommend that you only do it when necessary, they have a slime coat that can easily be damaged, then this opens them up to disease and fungal attacks.

ok thanks

I think maybe Bazza is not well. Slow and sluggish is not the sign of a healthy fish. If he is swimming at the top and letting you handle him I'd be concerned for his health. If you have lively trout in there they are called live feed,( not a good sign if the barra aren't interested).
Any healthy barramundi would snap them up pretty quick smart.

I would suggest that you consider heating your water if your main intent is to keep the barra alive. It is going to be cold the next two days and water temperatures could drop pretty low.

water temp is up around 26 but the barra still dont want to eat i am using sinking silver perch pellets should i try something else help

Hello deegsta

You must keep the temperature fluctuation to a minimum. The night time temps drop alot compared to during the day if you don't have a heater. I've had my Barra for a few weeks now and I paid the price of loosing some at the begining due to not keeping the night time temp up to at least 20 degC. Now my temps are 22 degC during the night (using a heater) and up to 26 degC during the day and the Barra are doing well. Also the Barra took a week or so to settle in and start eating, I feed them 5mm floating pellets from BYAP they love em.

Good luck

JezaB

Hey my temps are about the same i had about 30 baby trout in there but i think there is about 4 now so i am guessing they are eating them might by so floating pellets and give them a go thanks for ya help

hahahaha, no wonder they aren't eating pellets, they'd much rather eat life fish..

Taken from my earlier post. Barra are very fussy eaters, very different to trout. As stated, if you want to get them to a good size with pellets by the end of summer, remove all other species... Starve them good for a week, then feed them pellets... did you also count your marron?? I wonder??

Yep. In the aquaculture research world, if someone accidently feeds live/fresh feed to fish being monitored in some sort of study/experiment, then that study/experiment is stopped as the fish won't eat pellets to the same extent as they did before (which buggers the results).