Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Fair go Jessy I think he got those seeds from me not Jack and the bean stork.I must admit that I use the extesion ladder to pick mine but they could be differant in your climate.I saw some seven year beans going ferel on Christmas Island, maybe snake beans would do the same there .They all die off in winter here.

G'day Jessy - you must have better ones than me - these haven't done much at all in the last few weeks. Bit disappointed really.

Hi Don - nope, these seeds were from the Mother In Law

Snake beans died off once the cold weather set in - but the borlotti beans are doing well at the moment.

Think the big job this weekend is going to be separating out the biggest SPs and removing them from the FT into one of the 1000L sumps. There's definitely preferential feeding going on, with the little ones missing out on their fair share, no matter how much I put in. They are obviously getting some as they would be dead by now otherwise, but they are not allowed/ or won't rise up much to get feed - however, their growth rate over the last 3 months has been fairly negligible.

Anyone else had this sort of thing with different aged fish in the one FT ? My fish are ranging from 6 months to 18 months old.

Don said he read in a book of Murray's that he has SP different sizes and harvests the bigger ones out, I think in this case he suggests that some get more feed than others rick I am sure has different ages in his system, he has been quiet for a while though, but growth now Nigel will be sweet fa as far as I have read, I will get some in september and study them up

I crush my feed so there is a variation in the size of the pellets or pieces I throw in, the big SP seem to only go for the big chunks and leave the smaller pieces for the smaller fish

Thanks Paul - yep, will separate them out - the biggest ones are 10x the size of the small ones, so this difference is quite significant. Turns into a big job as I'll have to take the yabbies out first as am planning a day in the next few weeks where the kids can catch 'em all - don't want my biggest SPs getting stressed out from that.

Yabbies from that sump will have to go up into the separate 1000L tank in the orchard, which means I have to clean that out as it's got a lot of leaf debris buildup over the last 6 months.

To top it off, I've just remembered I have practical exams at Freo Hatchery this weekend as part of my Cert in Aquaculture - Faaaaaarrrrrrk !

With growth, I'm talking about over the last 3 months. And given that my water temp still gets up to 17-18ºC during the day (thanks to GBs on north side of house), they're still feeding well in the afternoon and evening, so I should have seen something of significance over that time.

Thanks Simo - yeah, have been doing a bit of that, but just am not seeing the growth so not convinced how well it's working. Will continue after the separation and see if I notice any difference.

All the same age I believe, just bought some when they were so small I didn't know they existed. The ones I bought the following year were their sibblings.I think the same applies to the human race too. Some will, some won't, some do, some don't. Some grow at different rates, say its genetics, then others bog into the tucker more than others. Then some do both!!

Perhaps the breeding of fry under ideal situations means there are less deaths, resulting in a wider range of growth rate potential.??
SP do seem to to vary in size more than trout.

The way I look at it, the quicker some grow big, the sooner I'm going to eat them.

Murray recomends putting heaps little ones in but there is always a guts who gets more than his fair share .When he is big enough for the pan then the next one takes over and grows faster so he is next to go .By doing it that way you are stopping your tank from having too much weight fish in the tank as they get bigger and you reduce the number of times that you have no fish in your system .My redies are still doing OK but there is a gowing gap between the the biggest and the smallest.I have never seen trout feed like this new lot,you have to stand back so you don't get a shower.

I don't know about your SP Chillidude but mine really aren't eating at all atm due to cold water. They have gone into hibernation mode and just huddle under their shelters and might stick their heads out to eat a pellet but only if it drops right in front of where they are hiding, so i am not expecting much growth at this time of year.

I am going to partition off the tank next winter and keep trout in one side while the SP hibernate just so i can keep the vegies growing.

Yeah, mine still eat in the late afternoon/evening as the water has warmed up to around 17ºC by then, except on the wet cloudy days.

Am finding with my SPs that even when it is cold and they're huddling somewhere and not interested in pellets, they will still come out (not while I'm watching) and munch on some lettuce leaves floating around. Now, it's not a good source of energy or protein, but it does still keep the whole cycle going.

Bit like Bill and Ben the flowerpot men (for those who can remember back that far )

Weed . . .Weed . . .?

Yep - and if I remember rightly, it used to be followed immediately by Andy Pandy and then The Magic Roundabout ("Boing", said Zebedee !").

Think I just scared myself.