Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

you already thinking of being a pimp to your molluscs?

as far as I have been able to perceive, the spawning inducing setup in the hatchery was in a refrigerated room, a closed environment, in small (say 50 liters or less) containers, stacked in piles of at least 5 high, with no temporized lighting at all, with continuous recirculation of water
I have no idea whether this water was ran over a biofilter. I assume not, as the mussels themselves are filterers
neither do I know if any food was added for the mussels

you can see on the pictures that algae are bred, but as far as I know, these are fed into the nursery, not into the hatchery

so I assume temperature (and darkness?) to be the decisive factor

frank

sorry, forgot to mention: these were cockles and mussels

frank

[quote="RupertofOZ"]Mussels require a fish "host" as part of the reproductive cycle....[quote]

are you sure of this, Rupe?
as far as I understand it, they don't
from what I read what they do is use the fish to hitchhike to spread around

frank

alive alive o

indeed, very alive and sexing in the dark

frank

Check out some of the other mussel threads frank. There are links and lifecycle diagrams posted there. All agree that the female will disgorge the babies when a fish comes close to investigate, then they spend a couple of days maturing on the fish's gills before dropping off. I imagine this helps them spread incredibly well.

confirms my thoughts, Kuda:
they don't really need fish
but take advantage of hem for spreading around
good to know that the presence of a fish may help to induce spawning with certain species
might be something lacking in cockles and mussels hatcheries for better functioning

then again some species might not even spawn if no fish are present
worth investigating

did you know that cockle larvae can actually swim in their first days?
watched that under a microscope
fascinating

frank

Thanks Guys, I was thinking of keeping the yabbies in a series of 10 sumps coming off the grow beds then pumping the water back into the main FT.
Any thoughts on this how much this would reduce the amount of dissolved oxygen going back into the FT?

Man we have some threads on this, but I can assure you that Mussels need a host fish, the mussel will only spawn if the presence of a fish is felt, eggs will attach to the fish (maybe only 1 egg) it then metamorphoses (think I got the spelling right ) into a tiny mussel less than the size of a pinhead, whilst attached to the fish the fish develops a small boil caused by the irritation of the foreign body, boil explodes, mussel drops off this takes from 5 - 14 days, some fish will not make a host, haven't gone into the full science of it, (beleive it or not) but scaled fish with open gills are a good start. Without a host the chance of an egg becoming a mussel is millions to one, I have studied on this subject and this particular species and have discussed the breeding with Aquablue, the link below will indicate that a mussel needs a host NATIVE fish, this is why I am going with the pygmy perch http://www.rumbalara.eec.education.nsw. ... ussels.pdf this link is about the only aussie one I can find
And as always Rupert is correct, I will stick up for ya JB

I doubt they have a calender in the wild either VB, but they can hold eggs for months, they must wait for tempreture changes, which you can tamper with in a tank, also this is an old link but a good one http://www.rumbalara.eec.education.nsw. ... ussels.pdf

+1
but aren't SP native Nocky? What is your main reason for using pygmies?

Yes, they "hitchhike" on the fish for a period Frank, and then drop of....i.e they use the fish as a "host"... (note the quotation marks)..... and that's exactly how it's referred to...

And yes they must have fish present...... as Kuda says.... all explain in previous threads...

Sorry that should read... "as Nocky says"... like to give you the kudos Kuda... but nahhh...

I am using Pygmies because they are different and also the spot we got them from has freshwater mussels of a different kind, only PP and marron live in this secret hideaway with mussels, I have marron and mussels so PP were the obvious choice for me, I need something to host mussels and won't eat baby marron so again this is why, SP may do but haven't tried yet PP I know work as they do in nature