Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi dbird
The Cobbler did well in the system no issues with diseases unfortunately back in January 2018 while I was away at work all my fish, Barra, Silver Perch & the Cobbler died. I would get them again as they are good at stirring the solids on the bottom. It's a bit hard to find them in the West.
Sorry to here that people are stealing your fish
The Cobbler mostly stay on the bottom so if they are scooping for Trout they probably wont net the Cobbler.

Hi thanks for the reply ,we all seem to have a sad story to tell like that. I got some from a fellow in Gingin, I have forgetten his name ,He is on Murray Hallam's site and the Gingin Brook runs through his back yard, The interesting thing about them is that some were eel tales and some were fork tales. It will cost you a carton if he catchs them for you. I don't go on that site any more and have lost track of him.

Hi dbird I've never been on Murray Hallam's site. I'll check it out. Interesting what you said about the two types of cat fish in the Gingin brook. I didn't think fork tailed cat were native to WA. I've collected fresh water mussels from there before. May have to have another look next time I go to Perth.



Nearly finished the GB today just need to top it up with media & attach the drain back to the sump. Hopefully I'll get to plant it out on the weekend.

Hi I understand most of the catfish that you get further north are fork tails. I am pretty sure that the lady that had a system at Onslow had them. We caught a lot at Carrawine gorge and Kununurra but to tell you the truth I never noticed what sort of tale they had ,I was more worried about the barbs on the front end.

Finished the GB, painted & Planted out.




dbird - I've been spiked by a cobbler a few times before. It's not very nice, very painful

Hello! DTK, the matching grow beds look real nice together! Well done. I looked through your thread and found your progression video. That was really cool to see the growth of your system.

Bird, that would be a good way to get even with the thieves! So your cobbler is a type of catfish? Are they good eating?
Are the barbs in the fins? The types we have here in the US have fin spines that hurt when they hit you. I got stuck once, and it was just a little bit of a poke, but the pain lingered for a while. I once saw a saltwater or ocean catfish on a documentary that you guys apparently have out there, at least it looked like a catfish, and it could send you to the hospital or kill you. Is this the same thing?

Fork tail, eel tail? This is interesting to me. Are they both cobbler? Or is that a general name for catfish out your way? I saw that DTK had Tandanus before. Aren't they an eel tailed catfish too?

Hi Will, yes the cobbler is a catfish and have a spine on top and on the two side fins. I have heard of some one getting stung with one and they had to hold him down to stop him thrashing around .I just hope that happens to a thief. They are very good eating. Some do have eel tails and others have fork tails. The ones that they get at Kununurra in the north can grow up to about eight kilos but I have never seen one that big. I am thinking of trying them again and feeding them black soldier flies.

Hi Los Angeles Will
Thanks for your compliment. The system is still a work in progress, much more simplified with less chance of something going wrong now. The next addition will be a 200L swirl filter between the FT and the GB's to capture some of the fish solids/waist.

I have eaten salt water Cobbler before & they were delicious & would expect the freshwater ones to be the same. Yep spines are on the dorsal fin and both pectoral fins. Don't think they could kill you but are very painful.



There are two distinct Cobbler species, East coast (Tandanus Tandanus) & the West coast (Tandanus bostocki)

Tandaus Catfish/Cobbler
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=tandanus+catfish&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi_0IWq77jrAhWOzTgGHVoBAbIQ_AUoAXoECBsQAw&biw=1366&bih=667

It's just the tails are different. The fork tailed grow much bigger.

Fork tailed Catfish
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=forktail+catfish+australia&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjooPDD87jrAhXEwTgGHfQaB8cQ_AUoAXoECBIQAw&biw=1366&bih=667

I think anything with whiskers is called a catfish here in Aus.

I find it very interesting that so many parts of the world have very similar animals filling similar ecological niches.
Your Eel Tailed Cobbler seems very similar to our Bullhead Catfish:

https://www.google.com/search?q=bullhead+catfish&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjIrp2virzrAhXNhK0KHT5gAW8Q_AUoAXoECB4QAw

And, your Fork Tailed Catfish reminds me a lot of our Blue Catfish:

https://www.google.com/search?q=blue+catfish&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwji3sfTwrrrAhXCU80KHV-2BeAQ_AUoAXoECCAQAw&biw=1083&bih=605

Anyways, Cheers! And great progress! I like making things simple when possible, so I'm happy that you were able to simplify things a bit for your system!

Was in Perth last week to catch up with friends. While I was there did a browse of Gumtree to find Catfish (Tandaus ) most of the adds wanted over $100 each for there fish
But I found these guys selling small 7cm fish for $20 each.
https://www.pasesaqua.com.au
I purchased 10 & made the 500km drive back to Geraldton.

They all survived the journey & started to feed the next day. They are too small to add to the main system so I will grow them out in a separate tank until they are bigger.

Good discount but tough to see that the price is really steep compared to most species . I see from searching that they are becoming harder to get and are a native species there. Are you going to try breeding them in your AP system? If you can grow them to a larger size seems like there must be a market since people are selling them for $100 each - seems crazy though

Wow, that is pricey. How much do other commonly used AP fish go for out there?

Scotty might be on to something if they will breed in an AP system! Early retirement! I agree though, it does seem like a crazy price.

Do the high prices have to do with your areas restrictions and what not? Why are they becoming harder to get?

A hundred dollar catfish! I guess some people sell the rare aquarium/ tropical catfish for those prices here.

Channel Catfish about that size go for less than 5 dollars if you get them from a fish farm here. Then again, I'm not really sure about the differences in money exchange rates here vs. there. But, on our Craigslist- like Gumtree, people usually raise the prices a bit, but not that much.

Here, i have heard of people breeding the smaller bullhead catfish in tanks of a few hundred gallon size, but the Channels seem to require more space, I've heard a 500 gallon for a breeding trio number be thrown around, but I'm not sure.

Glad you found some though.

Hi Scotty- Will
Unfortunately the West Australian Government have banned the importation of nonendemic species as they can become invasive in our waterways if released in to the wild.
Small amounts of Tandanus have been sold trough pet stores & are very expensive once they have grown out, that's when aquarium owners like to get rid of them as they bully other fish for the food.
The Silver Perch sell for around $3 each which is a quite reasonable price for AP fish. The Silver Perch & Rainbow Trout are breed in WA so are cheep in comparison to imported fish.
I will do some research into breeding the Tandanus catfish, but I think they are slow growing & will not mature for quite a few years.
The main reason I want the catfish is to keep the larger waste particles from settling on the bottom so they can be removed from the FT via the SLO.

Yeah, I understand the endemic species thing.

Someone always has to go and release their fish.......

We have the Los Angeles River here, and it's chock full of non endemic species. Long ago, it used to hold endemic steelhead and trout, lamprey, and smaller chub type fish, now they are all gone. There are plenty of carp, sunfish, tilapia, bass, mosquitofish, crawfish, and a few catfish though....all non endemic to the area. Suitable habitat loss due to cement channelization, along with predation. So, I get the bans. It just makes it hard for APers.

There is some good fun fishing in there, even if it's for catch and release. Though, some people eat them, and I would' put it past myself if the conditions were right...

Hiya GTK, your system is looking good mate, well done.
I’ve often thought of adding some catfish to the system but have rarely seen them grown out here in the West so have been hesitant due to the cost so am keen to see how your lot go.
I have fond memory’s of stalking the shallow waters at night armed with volleys, torch, bucket and a gidgee in my childhood.
How are the bees going?