Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Nice BF - can't wait till I'm at that point with my Barra.

Molj - if you are talking AP in general, the Silvers and Jades have a lot of fat - the Jades more so. This is because that is a natural trait. As for Barra - I think they are a leaner fish, but will be interested in BF's comments.

Molj, Fish farming works only with continuous flow but it is at the best 90 % water reuse in RAS farms, usually the water goes back to the wild!!
The fat is full of Omegas 3 and 6 but has a bad taste. The fat in the fish depends on the proportion of lipids and protein in the fish food, lipids are cheaper than protein and the fish weigh more if they are full of fat. That is why fish farmers fill the fish with fat because they are paid per kilo for the shortest time possible. To extract the fat, it is usually better to do a purging time here and then so that the fish consume the fat for living.
There is a farm in france that produces farmed fish (sea bass) with the same fat levels as wild fish, just by doing purging times during the farming cycle. Slows down the weight uptake but does more protein and less fat at the end, so better fish and better food. He produces his fish on more or less the same period of time as wild growth.

BF: Just a question, how long did it take to get fish that size?
And by the way, it's a cool T shirt.

Amaca - I hear what you are saying about the periodic purging and this may work for some species of fish. In my experience this will not be overly effective for Jades however. Those buggers will live for months without food and still have significant fat stores.

I know jades are tuff little buggers, they are like all the aussie wild living creature, meant to resist to all the worse and stay calm.
But i would suppose that they are really fat in the wild too.
And the good thing with the jades fat is that it is one of the richest in omegas, so it would be the missing link in the production of industrial fish food if it could be reused.
Jades are a part of the system i think, not entirely the final product.
It would be a very good fish for fish meal for other fish, kind of fodder fish.

it makes really glossy coats on the dogs they lurve fish guts

That's a bit harsh mate. Jade flesh is beautiful, just gotta cook in a way that reduces the likelyhood of gettign that sick in the guts feeling from having eaten too much fat :-). Problem is that the fat tastes nice (once purged), but you can regret it later. Despite being less convenient and less econmoical in terms of flesh recovery, I've taken to filleting and skinning my Jades. The flesh can then easilly be cooked in a way that promotes melting away of the flesh. The last one I did, I cooked chunks in a stir fry on the bbq. Very simply done - veggies and fish with a bit of bottled fish sauce and soy sauce mixed in for extra flavour and moisture. Was yummo.

I was not saying that they are no good for eating, i've had some when I was at Ausyfish and they are good, but the leftovers are very rich and the best for use in fish food. They could be farmed for food and the leftovers and the slow growing ones of the batches could be used to feed barra in example.

Actually the fat in the jades will get stuck to the saturated fats that are in your blood finding a nice spot to settle down, and the omegas get stuck to it and stop it from depositing itself and makes easier for the body to evacuate it. It is good cholesterol and is very usefull for our health, compensates very well with peanut butter...

I've played with those fish and a few others, i'd like to bring a few to this side of the world because they would outperform our fish in heated AP systems. A lot of companies are trying to start barramundi farming here, so silvers and jades will come soon enough.

Jaymie why don't you eat it you could a cheap glossy shine on your hair too.

While the other guys chew the fat (boom tish ) I'm just jealous of your barra BF, hope you enjoyed your meal. Hope your moggy got a taste too...

I'm still keen on getting my hands on some silvers for my system and having a look at the setup at Trevs, are you heading there this week at all?

sweet looking fish BF, flawless in fact. Trust they tasted as good as they look.

Beautiful!

hey all,

thanks for the replies.

sorry i took so long to reply. been super busy.

remember these were quite large when i got them. some were 400+grams easy. i didn't weigh any.

they did have a large fat content but it was anything but distasteful. it was in fact very tasty. i guess my fish feed is good quality. unlike a lot of people i like a fatty fish. sure it may go straight to my hips but i burn that off soon enough. imo the pro's of eating it outweigh any negatives. i would much rather this then some greasy chips.

didn't take a pic of the flesh but will do so tonight when i prepare the barra for some guest's. i will be taking some out of the purging tank and into an ice slurry before their very eye's.

will be interesting to see the reactions.

my guests last wknd enjoyed their whole bbq'd fish. They did however insist I remove the head pre-service, so they couldn't see the eyes!

dinner. gotta love this life.

Nice BF, did you purge at all??

Give him a chance Troutman... he hasn't finished eating them yet by the look of it