Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

My stepfather who was a biologist in Wyoming for many years says that the pink meat is related to their diet. A diet with a lot of freshwater shrimp = pink meat.

Dark red/orange meat indicates that it is either an anadromous steelhead or a farmed Rainbow trout given a supplemental diet with a high astaxanthin content.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_trout

under as food

This thread is monsterous and I just came across it so sorry if I post something that may be redundant...

I was reading about scuds... those little "shrimp like" invertabrates that trout prey on in the wild which gives them the more pinkish/nutty flavored meat... I never had trout before so my description is basically just a copy/paste of what I had read.

I came across this site last night while looking for hyla versicolor (tree frogs)...
http://livingaquatic.com/product_info.php?products_id=48

I will dig up the site that I found where you can order a bunch of "organisms" which will have a bunch of organisms that are in the food chain that will support scuds to feed to your trout...

Ok I found the website that sells freshwater invertabrates such as Ostracods, daphnia, rotifers, ceriodaphnia, copepods, tubifex worms, amphipods (scuds)... etc...

http://www.aquaculturestore.com/fwinverts.html

sopy/pasted from wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_trout#As_food

"Muddiness"... or "off flavours that may occur in farmed fish (or some lakes)... are generally caused by geosmin and 2 methylisoborneol. These are compounds produced by blue-green algae and some bacteria...

As a general rule, the muddier the dam the less chance of off flavours. This is the opposite of what most people expect. If the water is crystal clear then the sunlight penetrates to the bottom and more weeds, algae and bacteria grow. In muddy water less grow so less chance of off flavours.

Purging stock in tanks prior to sale will recitify the problem...

The problem mainly occurs in pond based aquaculture... and usually isn't evident in fish grown within aquaponic systems... unless the water quality is bad at the time of harvest...


I recently gave some trout to an avid trout fisherman, and asked him what he thought... he reckoned it was the best tasting trout he'd ever had... better than even "wild caught" trout...

Good quality trout feed will contain astaxanthin that colours the fish flesh...generally pink...

I've got nothing but good to say about trout grown in aquaponics... and everyone else who I've asked.. says the same thing...

Thanks! I am big on the idea of having a very biodiverse environment but at the same time I foresee all these little problems with trying to grow scuds in my AP! I thought about freshwater snails and then I thought about how difficult it would be to purge them if they ever reproduced and started growing inside of pipes etc... I won't be setting up a large scale AP that will have edible fish due to room constraints but I like to accumulate knowledge for that fateful day when I finally am able to do it! So for now I will just play with goldfish pond and moss covered waterfall =P

Would you be able to give me the name of the fish feed that you use that contains astaxanthin?

Would you recommend purina for carnivorous fish? There is a feed dealer about 10 miles from me...

http://www.purinamills.com/OurProducts.aspx?product=fish

Not sure if any of the US members are/have grown trout... but quite a few use Purina for their catfish and Tilapia...

Most I know say the opposite Gem, the wild ones generally have the muddy taste described here, some pro trout guys actually purge them in fresh water before eating them, the farmer that I get trout from has salty dams, he reckons a week or so before harvesting fish, salt the water as much as system will allow, 3-5ppm I suppose and that adds to the flavour, but depends what you cook them with to I suppose, a pizza base is pretty boring on it's own and also smoking trout (My fave) would taste the same where ever you got the trout, Trout nuts don't like people home growing them in my experience, they would rather spend $100's of dollars going on trips with $100's of dollars worth of gear in the hope of catching 1 Trout, we make it too easy

Wow, my thread has grown a whole page in my absence.
I will comment later whenni have more than an iPhone to do it with. Keep up the chatter, it looks interesting from my skim read.

So trout tasting a bit muddy can be normal if your water conditions weren't good at the time of harvest? That's kinda good news because last year when I brought in my trout because of the heat and the high ammonia content, the trout didn't taste quite right. It was white when cooked and the fillet was normal but the taste/flavour just wasn't right. I wasn't sure if it was because I was expecting another kind of fish taste like the whiting or something like that.
Thanks for this little tip! I will pull the trout out and purge them in a salt bath this year instead of leaving them as late as possible. Which month is usually a good time to bring them in Sept, Oct or Nov?

Well I had my first HSM that wasn't design related! Well, not much anyhow.
My main pump failed

Luckily it's winter, as I'm MUCH too busy.
I stopped feeding the fish (pump failed the day after I got home from a trip of not feeding)
and left them a week with no filtration, but plenty of air.
And I haven't lost any!

Under warranty I took it back to the fellows at Brundson Pumps here in Thomastown.
I can't recommend these fellas enough.

He would have replaced it on the spot, but alas, he had no stock.
So he went out the back, found one whose impeller housing had been smashed during install, and whose power lead had been cut too short.
Within 20 minutes in his workshop, he and I had blended my busted pump and the smashed pump together into a brand new pump.
(although he wouldn't guarantee the waterproofing of my electrical joins!! I didn't get zapped when I put my hand in to test.)
So now I have a new pump, that is better than the old one! Either the old one was getting worn out, or the couple of times it rand dry really hurt it. Regardless, I no longer have any flow issues in my system!
The tops news is: he cant sell that pump, so gave it to me 'not to run but for spares'
My new pump will arrive shortly,and now I have an emergency backup

Always good to have a spare

and a free one at that. I am most pleased.

Put you're hand in water to test for electricity wow you Vics sure do things different
Nice new look kuda, first time I've seen you're new avatar

There was some talk of two of us looking similar and in disguise, so i thought it was time to offer a new face