Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thanks Ray... useful info for someone like myself who'd like to try some yabbies.....

I noticed you don't include any fish/meat scrapes... I'd read that you could.

Is it personal preference or is it more desirable to maintain a "vegetarian" diet?

rope rope rope.......I hope your not encouraging this act of barbarianism

i have just gone with the wasted fruit and vege we have handy here.

and pliers

Hmmm....I've noticed the same behavior modification with ours once they have lost claws in fights, but have been unable to bring myself to take the next obvious step. I've been tempted, though, as I watch them rip into eachother. I wondered if this was simply because I had them unnaturally crowded, but often catch wild ones in various stages of repair as well.

BK: this is not exactly ear surgery on dogs, a painful surgery performed on fighting dogs to reduce a sensitive and vulnerable point on the anatomy now only for appearance. This is an action we are performing on them that they naturally perform on eachother and heal from completely within months. This is more on a par with fin clipping the hatcheries around here do to salmon so we can tell wild from hatchery and release the wild ones we catch.

i know its not ear surgery...was tongue in cheek.....but all the same, maybe let em do their own manicures

Yes, that allows us humans to keep our hands clean, but sometimes things are kinder if we take a hand (no pun intended). I've noticed that they tend to do very random manicures: one came to me missing both claws, both antennae, and only had two of four of the little claws remaining. The aquarium had more space, but as they grew problems developed again. My cure was to reduce population density (with some hot water, herbs, butter), but they might have preferred a minor clip job.

"We are as gods and might as well get good at it." (Brand)

we dont do it to be cruel. we just try to stop them ripping each other apart. we had tried many different populations and hiding spots and yet they were hell bent on killing each other. we just got sick and tired of having to clean out the dead ones all the time and ending up with only one. and trust me after what i have seen some of them do to each other this little clip is bloomin minor. they do heel quickly and the breeding and feeding has never been harmed, so if it was too drastic wouldnt those two things decline. anyway this was just our way of doing it. not everyone has to agree.

dont want to get too involved here, and dont take this as a personal attack or anything ray, but maybe the reason they're fighting so much is because you have 30 in 40L with 14 hides? just a thought. whats the surface area of the tank?

we never started with this amount. lol. we had only 5 in to start with and they even tore each other apart. we only went to this length when nothing else worked. and dont stress about me taking things personally as everyone is entitled to there opinion. no harm done.

refreshing.

i thought the whole idea of a forum was for people to put their ideas and opinions across. anyways it is marnie (rays better half ) who has been replying today. ray put the comments in last night and i am just following up on the topic. it is good to toss ideas around.

Indeed it is Ray (or better half).... everyone just wanted to be sure that nobody felt offended by any comments expressed.....

Everyone's pretty open and forthright on this forum

R & M, i agree, often people take opinions as a personal attack.
is unfortunate.

So getting back to your yabbies...................

what are the dimensions of your tank?

From my reading yabbies will fight when;

there are insufficient hides
insufficient "floor" space
insufficient food

mating can be mistaken for fighting sometimes.

You seem to have enough food for them, a shallower but greater "footprint" tank would be more beneficial as would more hides.

i have also found that having a substrate keeps them busy burrowing and hiding and stuff.

Its amazing what one large soccer ball shaped rock with a few 1" holes drilled in it can do.