Simmo's System III

simmo_77

Yeah cheers, I'm a proud expectant...dad... sortof...

The good thing is too one of the berried girls is the bluest of the lot too, so hopefully that trait will pass on to some of the littlies...

creative1

awesome keep an eye on em!

bio-farmer

congrats on the youngans simmo,

any berried marron or are they all males?

Jaymie

like the ostracod BF

EllKayBee

way to go simmo :king:

simmo_77

Nah BF, I'm pretty sure all my marron are males.

bio-farmer

Jaymie wrote:

like the ostracod BF

to nit pick and hijack this thread (sorry simmo), its actually its a daphnia which i imagine is closely related.

Jaymie

thanks for the correction BF, I was going on old memories from college, now I know what to look up in the books!

Crusty

Just a quick one on this Simmo mate. I have kept just about every native fish in australia with crayfish. Yabbies are a little more aggressive than the redclaw and the marron are even worse again. Any of the spiny crayfish will demolish all plants and fish in very short order.

The only native that I had an issue with was Perch. Not pygmy but just plain ol' Silver Perch, bass, barra and cod smash the crayfish to peices. Most other available at the LFS will co-habitate with crayfish.

The berried females you have will loose all the fry when they hatch as the fish will definately make short work of them. This is the time of year for breeding the yabbie right through until end april so no doubt all of your females will be berried.

You can safely move them out into drums or tanks on their own without and fish. Other crayfish can be there, just be sure to have plenty of hiding places for the young.

Look for the little'ns around xmas day....

simmo_77 wrote:

OK, long time between updates on my system threads, so here goes...

I have 15 pygmy perch in the tank now with the yabbies; which are small, fast moving native fish that I introduced for mosquito control. They have been in there for a couple of weeks and have been doing their job well, no mozzie larvae to be seen and they have managed to keep out of the way of the yabbies, all 15 remain alive and intact to this date. I'm sure that Minnows (western, white cloud etc) would also be well suited for this task, as would any other small, fast moving and predominantly surface dwelling fish.

I also made a cool discovery yesterday, I have berried females!!! Yay!

I expect to see a lot of baby Yabbies (much like the pics EB posted) in the coming weeks.

I cleaned the glass on the weekend, just the side adjacent to the family room window, and yesterday while I was showing my friend's son the yabbies I noticed that a couple of them were walking around with their tails curled up. Apon closer inspection I managed to find 3 of them that were definitely berried, and there could well be more as I have a lot of hides that are impossible to see into. I'm going to try to get a pic of them for you but it might be difficult, I don't want to disturb them too much or stress them out, as it can cause them to drop their eggs.

Crusty

Looks great. Can I ask what are those pebble looking things in the tubs? and what are the "stand pipes" coming out of the tubs for?

simmo_77 wrote:

simmo_77

Hey Crusty, thanks for your posts... To answer the last post first, the pebbles are pea gravel (scoria) which is basically the growing medium/biofilter for my system. The standpipes are there to keep the pea gravel out of the siphon tubes which keeps them from being clogged, they are also handy for checking the water levels as the system is running, and also a nice dark home for frogs to sleep in during the day (I have at least 5 of them in my systems).

Check out my other system post as I have elaborated a little more on the standpipe and autosiphon setup that I have been using - http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=407

simmo_77

Crusty wrote:

Just a quick one on this Simmo mate. I have kept just about every native fish in australia with crayfish. Yabbies are a little more aggressive than the redclaw and the marron are even worse again. Any of the spiny crayfish will demolish all plants and fish in very short order.

Hmm, I always thought that the Yabbies were the most aggressive, especially to each other. My marron seem happy (at times) to be right up close to their neighbors, walking over them, using them as stepladders to try to get out of their tanks

, whereas the Yabbies are very territorial and rarely will share their hides with others.

Crusty wrote:

The only native that I had an issue with was Perch. Not pygmy but just plain ol' Silver Perch, bass, barra and cod smash the crayfish to peices. Most other available at the LFS will co-habitate with crayfish.

EB has had Silvers in with Yabbies and lost all of the Yabbies as a result.

Crusty wrote:

The berried females you have will loose all the fry when they hatch as the fish will definately make short work of them. This is the time of year for breeding the yabbie right through until end april so no doubt all of your females will be berried.

You can safely move them out into drums or tanks on their own without and fish. Other crayfish can be there, just be sure to have plenty of hiding places for the young.

There are lots more hides in the tank than the last posted pic shows (I'll try to take an updated photo this afternoon) and also a few potted vallis plants for them to hide in, and 8-10cm of gravel on the bottom.
Do you think that even the pygmy perch and minnows would predate on the yabby fry? If so I will try to move at least one of the berried females into another tank.

Thanks again mate...

Crusty

Thanks for the reply Simmo I will endevour to read your other system later today.

Where abouts is this pea gravel available?

In response to your last reply, indeed the fish in the tank unless they are herbivours, will wipe out the yabbies no matter what hides you have.

Quote:

There are lots more hides in the tank than the last posted pic shows (I'll try to take an updated photo this afternoon) and also a few potted vallis plants for them to hide in, and 8-10cm of gravel on the bottom.
Do you think that even the pygmy perch and minnows would predate on the yabby fry? If so I will try to move at least one of the berried females into another tank.

TimC

Hi Crusty... Pea Gravel is available from most soils suppliers. Buy by the trailer load if you need a lot. Otherwise you can usually get it in 50 L bags.

The other QLDer's will give you some more specific places.

simmo_77

Hmmm, OK, they are definitely carnivores so looks like I will be setting up a nursery tank for the expectant mums. It's gonna be a busy weekend.

Whats the best way of catching them without dismantling all of their hides? Meat on a string?

Could be fun...

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Simmo's System III

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