Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I've got a mate who has redfin in his dam. Heaps of them. They are all smaller than your hand.
If some of these were caught and put in an aquaponics system, would they then grow to eating size?

There has been much discussion about growing Redfin on this forum. The consensus seems to be that they are difficult to get to feed on a pellet and are extremely slow growing.

i have found the best way to feed redfin is with fish scraps and left over bait, I have had redfin in a largish pond that would feed out of my hand.

they would be worth a try I think, they are good eating even at a smaal size if you know how to prepair them (head, gut and skin)

i tryed to get some down at harvy two weeks ago but i only managed 1

hay oldute if your mate wants to thin those redies out a little i would be happy to try some in my system, as the trout are getting thind out now!

I was thinking about trying Redfin here in Melbourne too - not sure where I would get them though. I have Yabbies breeding - hopefully!!! - in my Fingerling Tank - and thought I may be able supplement the pellet feed with some Yabbies. Does not matter about the slow grow factor. I have Silver Perch at the moment - and they are slow growers. Although water temp warming up now - they are feeding much more.

Nice tidy system Colin...

yes, nice tidy system there Colin is that your fish tank in the middle? if so what is it made from? I ask because it looks like it might be made from sandwich panel?

redfin sure love yabbies by the way, if you have a spot where you can get lots of little ones just freeze them and feed out as you like, a good way to reduce numbers in over populated dams.

cheers and good luck.

I am VERY pleased to announce that My reddie is taking pellets! Yay!
The big fella is not yet taking much of anything. I fear he may be too old to take anything that doesn't swim.

Guess the reddie was getting desperate hey....

Can get mine eating BSF larvae if I really throw it hard onto the water surface. Seems to trigger the response to a degree.

congrats Kuda, am sure thats a proud moment and a small mountain in your AP career, i hope the big one follows souit

Chilli, I had him eating standard bait maggots (after all, that's what he was caught on)
he learnt they fall from the top every once in a while, and within 1 day had his first pellet, which he promptly spat out and then ignored for the next 3 months!
But with the other fish to teach him that they actually are edible, he's started to munch.
He has trouble eating the big pellets though, he has to chew for about 10s each, whilst the silvers and koi the same size seem to swallow them whole.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons it's hard to get reddies on pellets?