Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Will see OB I am emptying tank after xmas when we have the 4500lt tank and conventional grow beds (as much as I hate conventional) but they should have breed ok, did fish out some pygmy perch last month and they had glochidia (mussel eggs) on them, some had 2 or 3 so will see what the end result is

Ultra cool news Nocky... tell me, how easy are the glochidea to spot on the gills? I had thought they were almost microscopic...

kuda had a big magnifying glass and spotted tiny out of normal spots on the gill and scales under belly, PP are small fish and not easy to find spot, checked them on weekend gone and can't see any unusual spots so am hoping it was mussel eggs I have around 300 PP so no way of telling if I had the same ones even, but looked at about 50 in October and about 50 in November and difference could be seen, will see in a few months, tried taking a pic through mag glass but looked like crap, may get to drain tank around feb, I imagine I will be sifting through S*** to find small mussels

should have said possible but almost certain

tis OK, I wasn't picking on you, genuinely interested...

is anyone ordering any mussels soon?

I orded some but dident get them

I got some from Uncle Yarra. They're not very interesting though. I can see that some of them put out a foot and they're definatley moving around but I can't see them sticking out any little filter feeler thingys.

Was also wondering if they NEED to be buried to work their magic. So I think what I'll do is half fill a bucket with sand and submerge in the sump. That way I don't have to worry about sand being pumped around the system (as it stays in the bucket) and the mussels are happy.

yeh they don't do much at all gemmell, I put some aquarium gravel in my tank put mussels on top and they just sit like the ones just on the tank floor, the ones in my indoor aquarium moved around a bit but have now stopped, 2 burried themselves 3/4 down and 4 just sit, when they find a spot they just sit and do sweet FA for 20 - 30 years, all though you cant see the tubes they filter up to 30 litres per day, but they are quite boring to look at, I don't think you will train them to jump through hoops, but I have managed to train mine to play dead

Ok, well maybe I'll just leave it then. Didn't want to risk creating an anerobic environment with a bucket of sand either.

if they keep moving around just get some aquarium type gravel, you know the coloured s*** but they should find somewhere to settle soon

Was talking to the woman at the aquarium shop, mentioned mussels in my system she said she saw lots of trails at her uncle's dam - finally figured out that they were mussel trails. So I'm guessing that they move most when they have to travel across mud and are happy to do SFA when submerged in water.

Also put two in the aquarium inside the house. Saw the foot out, looked like the goldfish was really interested in it - I suppose it looks vaguely like a little fish they might eat (not as authentic as the 'fish-foot' seen on the US links to freshwater mussels posted here, though).

So you're saying they're at the opposite side from yabbies on the Excitement Spectrum?

yes dave boring as S*** but at least they serve a purpose