Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

how many you think where in there??? They probably seen my name and thought beauti !!

Somewhere around 100, Jessy. Biopod has really ramped up since then and am getting nearly that many a day now, so happy to try again after Christmas if you like. Let me know.

Faye told me you only got 6 in the end

I'm fixing to paint mine black to get some more solar heat into it. It's has a large colony of BSF larva but they are too cold to move, I thought they were dead.

Ha, I'm doing exactly the opposite, making sure it's shaded and not getting any direct sunlight. Temperature is around mid-30's (celsius) in the shade the last few days and is unlikely to get below 30 for the next 2 months at least.

Wow I finally figured out how to search on here There are heaps of great ideas for the pod here. Thanks
I noticed a thread earlier mentioning that the BSF larvae aren't a balanced diet. For fish like Murray Cod or spangled perch would they need much supplementation? Would duckweed provide enough other nutrition to give them a balanced diet?
cheers,
Adrian

Unicorn - that's right. But to put that in context, nothing else is either, even pellets really.

These fish evolved having a varied diet and that's what they need to perform to their best. There are species of fish that have evolved eating just one food type, but none of those are ones that we play with in aquaponics.

My goal is to try to eliminate pellets altogether as it is the great failing of aquaculture, and by association aquaponics, is that all fish food pellets contain fish that are harvested to create those pellets - it's unsustainable and does not represent a significant net protein gain. That's where BSF, worms, duckweed, snails, etc help increase the sustainability of the overall process as they do not require the harvesting of protein from a diminishing resource.

I don't know if I'll suceed but I'll give it a damn good go !

Unicorn I sure don't know about Murray Cod, but BSF Larvae have the same amount fat and protein as trout pellets, and it is possible to feed trout only BSF larvae, I thought Murray Cod were bottom feeders?

Cool! Thx for the info guys.
I know bugger all about raising murray cod in a tank but have caught plenty in the wild and they are a good chew.
We normally catch them on witchetty grubs but if we can't get them we use boiled eggs under standing timber in the dam.
I saw a few people mention that they can be grown in AP so thought I might give them a go. Should start building my system very soon
I have most of the bits now.
Cheers,
Adrian

I have found that I have to feed almost daily now in order to keep my BSF coming - if I miss a day, I get no harvest the next. but the blow flies have not left yet (3 weeks of consistent BSF)

Stick with it AJ - I don't think you'll ever get rid of the blowies or house flies altogether but they should decrease to almost nothing. I guess I get about 5-6 maggots some days but none others. Compared to the number of BSF, that's pretty minor.

Yeah the number I harvest goes up and down too but haven't yet tied the pattern into anything else. It's certainly not the feed in my instance. Don't know if it's temperature variation.

Looks like the Indonesian aquaculture industry is following our lead;

http://www.thefishsite.com/fishnews/11533/maggots-replace-fishmeal

Whereas the US catfish industry... is going the other way.... and reducing BSF as part of catfish diets... primarily because of the high fat content...

Others are rendering down the BSF before feeding them to stock....

Yeah, I want to look into ways of reducing that fat content as well - gets awkward pretty quick though if you try anything mechanical.

Maybe we need to modify the biopod and make the pathway longer so they burn some of that fat off climbing up a long ramp before falling fown the harvest-hole. BSF Aerobics.

Or someway to make more of that fat Omega 3's.

BSF larvae production has been down the last few days to about 2 dozen each day and nearly as many maggots some days.

Getting affected by the hot weather ? Don't know. It doesn't get any direct sun, but even the shade that it is in got up to 43ºC yesterday

you guys are smoking something BSF's don't exist