Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I'm not sure whether it is the warmer weather, or just itchy feet, but my Marron have been doing their best to escape these past couple of weeks. My GF is away at the moment and has our camera, but when I can I will post a video of them in action. At least once or twice a day I will notice one of them poking his claws up through the mesh or hanging upside down trying to figure out how to get through.

One marron in particular is always trying to escape, he's easily identifiable by a mark on his claw, and in fact he did manage to escape one night last week when I forgot to wire the flyscreen cover back properly. My dog kept barking and sniffing behind a pot plant that sits next to my setup, and when I pulled the pot aside there he was just sitting there.

He's not afraid of me at all either, I can go right up to him when he is trying to escape and even touch him. I've heard that Marron are escape artists but I didnt know they were so bold about it...

I've tested the water to make sure it isn't a quality issue, Ammonia and Nitrites are almost zeros and Nitrates are around the 20 mark...

S77- when you got yr marron did you just chuck em in?

GTG soon-I have heard that it is best to place the marron near the water body and let them find their way, that way they should be happy to stay in what they found rather than the other way around.

Ummmm, yeah, the system had been running for a fair while and had housed first goldfish and then yabbies happily. I moved those guys out, changed the housing situation and added some more gravel, cycled the system for a coupla days, then bought the marron and put them straight in there evenly distributed between the tanks. Is that what you mean?

Ahhh, now I'm with you... Well yeah that could be the case I guess, thinking the grass may be greener.

yes! did you get a chance to read previous posts?

precisely(?)

I just caught your second one after I posted my reply to yr first one...

I might test that theory, somehow... I could perhaps move the guy who is trying to escape but just place him on top of the mesh and see if he will find his way back to the water.

I have decided that rather than stock my new tanks from BF with fish, I will re-home my Marron into them. This will give them a bit more of a chance to stretch out and the deeper water (and hence more pressure) will encourage their growth.

would it be possible to place them near to the tank and let them do their thing.
I have seen marron walk across a fairway of a golf course from one water way to another only to be picked up by hungry golfers, Me one of them. Easy catch wish my golf was that easy.

hmmm, the tanks are raised so no, not easily... Perhaps with the new system I will try this method, I'm going to bury the tanks in the ground completely so it will be easier to achieve.

my males are doing the same thing. water quality is good yet they seem desperate to get out. my thought is either they are looking for a larger water source because of rising temps or they can sense the presence of the females in the neibouring tanks. it is breeding season after all.

BF-Good point!!

Yeah I think you're on the money mate... It definitely started when the temps rose. Hopefully with them all together in the bigger tanks it will alleviate the problem. Getting excited now about the propsect of building another system.

I might even try to grab a couple of females when I get the new tanks in, cause I'm pretty sure most/all of mine are males, haven't seen a female yet.

Appologies for digressing lol

Dumb question ....Simmo I read your description of your autospyhon( nice work by the way) that you run your pump continuously, but the syphons will work if the pump was on a timer yeah?

Only asking because I have "tee'd" off from my main feed (which is on a timer....30 min cycles) that runs to my bath tub GB and running to 3 extra GB's the same as yours and I thought I'd use the same syphon design

The only problem with timers and auto siphons - if your pump switches off just below the level the siphon kicks in then the grow bed will remain flooded until the pump starts again, the idea of the auto siphons is to use low volume cheaper pumps and run them continuously.