Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Excellent Tristrin.... Very interesting about the catfish, now that is my sort of fish, you don't have to scale them OR skin them...

Do you know if the catfish started eating pellets while they were in the system?

I think they did, but it took a while for them to see pellets as food. We had been giving them some feeder fish as well and they were definitly eating them. Some smaller catfish in the tank are definitly eating pellets now. I have been putting some catfish into aquariums to observe how long it takes to get them to eat the pellets. Have noticed the smaller ones start to go for them first. My 3 spoilt catfish i have had inside for about 10 months almost eat pellets from my fingers!

I don't scale or skin my trout...... I don't think many others do either... (right guys?!)

Nah, leave the skin on.... packed full of "goodies"... like omega oils...

WOW that catfish looks so odd to me So what do they taste like?
My mom calls our channel Catfish Luscious. I don't know if I've ever heard of anyone recommending leaving the skin on a channel cat though.

I would describe them as tasting sweet, tender and delicious
Now i am curious as to what a channel catfish looks like as i thought they were similar

TCL has loads of pics of her catfish.... but here's a couple below...

Main difference is the tail shape, which in most catfish is pretty much similar to most other fish species...

Our Tandanus "eel-tailed" catfish... (hence it's name).... is unique...

Great photos Rupe. I can see our ealtail catfish would look quite strange when you're used to seeing catfish with a 'normal' tail.

We also have Fork Tailed catfish in the Northern states (QLD, NT etc) Also known as Salmon Tailed catfish. They are a good sport fish with lures in the Brisbane River, but not as nice to eat as the Eel Tailed.


Cheers IanK

Nice catfish. I've 50 that are getting close to that size. The other 240 are growing well, all took to pellets quickly. And they hold back the silvers at feeding time.

I normally scale my fish.. Well I always have done in the past time because I like to eat the skin of the fish. In fact I'm finding it a bit annoying lately that the fish mongers are skinning the atlantic salmon fillets, damn you, I like my skin on, it goes nice and crispy....

Guess I'm used to eating scaled fish rather than cat fish types too.

Me to EB, last lot i especially ordered with skin on.
tastes heaps better.

I put 2 catfish in with our 90 silvers to see how they would go, (they are just slightly smaller than the silvers), was getting a bit worried that they are missing out on food as the silvers dive on the food very quickly while the catfish stay at the back. Hopefully they are getting some leftovers and will grow and all live happily together.

Progressing slowly!
These are the trussess for the new roof in the area where our BYAP system will eventually go.

More progress....Now a 'valued contributor'