Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Our first batch of fish aren't exactly huge, but I'm wondering whether it's best just to settle for a few mini meals and get a summer batch of fish in asap. Any advice?

We have about 80 rainbow trout in a 2000L tank. Range in size - at a guess - from 20cm to 30cm. Haven't exactly filled out yet.

We have our heart set on barra and I've just noticed that these may be hard to get hold of...

We have a 1000L sump and the system is fully cycled but I don't know whether I could extend the trout's growing period by having barra in there to begin with without nutrient issues.

I am up for barra too so if you manage to find barra for your system I would be keen to put some fish on order...

I would keep harvest a few of the larger trout and continue to feed the others and encourage them to gain some more weight.
I look to keep my trout for maximum growing time, and keep an eye on the water temp. When it looks to be getting to close to 23 degrees (Water temp) I use that as my indicator to get them out. You do not want to come home and find the temp peaked at lunch time. Unless you want to add ice in the middle of the day, being very vigilant.
What is you water temp at the moment?
Keep an eye on the weather forecast. Last year we had a short warm spell about this time and then it continued being cool up to xmas. Last year some people recorder 800 gram trout almost at xmas.
Who know what the weather gods are up to, Nocky any ideas?

Hi Dazed
Your biggest problem there would be the different temperature tollerences. To put the Barra in your sump you would need to heat your water to around 25 deg but at this temp the trout would suffer.
I have recently set up a nursery tank for the Barra fingerlings for the same reason you mentioned ie the shortage of fish.

at a guess the temp is 15 or 16 C at the moment.

What species are likely to be available around in a month or so?

You might still be able to get Barra in another month or so but as they have been grown on a bit the price rises accordingly.

See thats the beauty of 2 or3 fish tanks or systems its easy to overlap your fish buying

anyone who has trout should now be adding extra airation to their fish tanks to get them into the late end of the season. I know of 2 people in Adelaide who lost all their trout in systems that were in full sun in the last 2 weeks on hot days. One was in a pool of 20000 litres- algal bloom ate up the oxygen, and the other was in a 1000 litre system with a poorly maintained pump that had slowed down due to clogging. then stopped just at the wrong time. air bubbles would have saved the fish.

thanks for the tip

It looks like time to get barra. The FT temp has suddenly gone up to around 23. One dead fish last night. One this morning. Even the RW tanks we fill the system from are close to 20C (3 tanks. 2 x 8kL; 1 x 6kL). Hopefully the forecast temperatures for the coming week don't get revised any higher.

Any Barra out there???

a day late for us unfortunately - 15 deaduns belly up this morning after water hit 25c yesterday

the rest culled and in the freezer

the weather gods were not kind to us yesterday

Yes, Trout are pretty scetchy this time of year, but it's still not warm enough for barra really. There's a few weeks of cool weather to go.

We up for Barra as well if anybody is taking orders, had 2 floaters (Trout) last night water was 23C when we checked this morning, culled the rest today, most of them was around 30cm, happy with that!!

I called Golden Ponds today. They said no fingerlings until mid Nov. Probably around $3 to $4 each. Are there any other possible suppliers? I'm keen to join in on any group buys of Barra if anyone is organising one. Or of some other suitable species for that matter.

Dazed.. I spoke with Golden Ponds today & they have Barra in stock now.

We are getting 100 fingerlings for $75 !!

They said they are "tiny" when I asked the size.. so we are yet to see how
big that means!! lol