Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

thats amazing, hope all goes well to get them to the next stage

Thank you. This will be my 3rd batch of sex-reversed fry and I've learned a LOT since I started. There are definitely little tricks, written down nowhere, that improves the survival rate substantially.

at least write them down for your son, so that when he finishes college he'll have a job to go to

Today the fry were "promoted" to the holding tank where they are kept before being transferred to the farms. They have grown well and eat like crazy. My mortalities are much lower than last batch. Attached an image of the little buggers in their bucket on their way down to the holding tank.

Also, I almost dropped the bucket (my son's college fund ) on the way down to the tunnel when I walked into a rather large snake. Apparently it's not too venomous, but how was I to know at the time. That's a 25mm pipe in the background for scale.

I had a really pleasant visit from Axle (http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=4102) this week and he spent two days with me checking out my home system and the two commercial systems that I built last year (and having quite a few beers). I suppose now I owe him a visit. What a nice guy (but then again, I suppose all AP guys/girls are)

Anyway, cheers for now.

gee, it's almost the same colour as the hose!

You always get a fright when you spot a snake

Scales look like the fibreglass reinforcing in the hose too...



snake looks small... didn't pick that as 25mm hose... wow. Also: "not too venomous" so... it's venemous right?
or it's a python? Clearly not a Black Mamba, and there you have it folks: my entire knowledge of African snakes
On second thoughts, doesn't look like a python... venom in that thing.

The local experts opinion went something like this.

Snake Expert - "Yeah, that's either an Eastern Green snake or a Boomslang (tree snake)"
Synaptoman - "Yes, but is it poisonous?"
Snake Expert - "The Eastern Green snake is harmless, the Boomslang is deadly"
Synaptoman - "So it'll either kill me or I'll be fine?"
Snake Expert - "Yeah, something like that"
Synaptoman - "You make me feel so safe in my garden."
Snake Expert - "Oh look, it has big eyes and a turquoise sheen to it's scales."
Synaptoman - "So?"
Snake Expert - "You'll be fine, it's an Eastern Green Snake."

Whew! I immediately thought Boomslang! Serious stuff......

We have Puffadder here I have to watch for. Love to lie on pathways to catch mice. Nearly stood on one recently when running up a pathway. Lazy creatures though. Seems to take standing on one to get bitten. In the 10 years I have lived here never heard of a case yet........

Bet you're thinking... never lived to tell the tale!

Really neat what you are doing Synapto. Start with eggs and keep them moving through your system. You have a real handle on this stuff.

If you wanted to catch tiny fish to separate them from the general tank what sort of net would you use? Every one I have looked at looks so rough I am sure it would scratch the babies. Someone suggested making a net out of nylon stocking. What you think?

They're hardy little buggers so don't worry. I just use a small aquarium net bought from a pet shop.

Thanks! That's easy enough...

Synapto you are a legend, you never cease to amaze me

+1

We have brown snakes out this way that like to attack you if they see you.

we get Guadars....nasty small snakes........Hi Jack over

We stripped eggs from the female Tilapia this weekend and I thought that it was an ideal opportunity to test out my new-improved Tilapia egg incubator. The problem that I had with my previous incubators is that dead spots developed in the corners of the bucket, eggs died and then spread a fungus to the remaining eggs. This meant that I could only incubate a few eggs at a time and so I had to use more than one incubator if we had lot's off eggs.

Using some Methylene Blue did help somewhat to kill any bacteria causing fungus, but I knew that my bucket design was far from ideal. Enter the versatile "Coca-Cola bottle".

A sloped bottom forces the eggs to one spot. Applying water from the bottom swirls the eggs around and then the slide back down to the bottom. I had to make a mesh screen out of mosquito netting to prevent the eggs falling down into the pump when the power is turned off.

We stripped about 500 eggs from 3 females and replaced 4 of the brood males with "fresh" males that I had been conditioning in my "reserve" tank. The production of eggs slowly diminishes if you don't replace the males as they tend to get very "tired" servicing 4 females each, 24/7.

Attached images of the Synaptoman Incubator Mark#2

As you can see, I have an inline filter just below the incubator to prevent dirt and debris entering the incubator. There is also a valve to control the flow. I purposefully didn't treat with methylene blue to really test the design.

We also collected about 1000 free-swimming fry and placed them in the brood tank. These will all be left mixed-sex.