Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

hi all
i am thinking of putting yabbies in over summer as a fish replacement, as i may be moving houses and yabbies will be alot easier to move . . .any idea on growth rates for them??
cheers
ben

Small... get bigger, slowly.... then bloody kill one another just before they're ready to eat...

i sense some prior experience?

If you could get Marron it would be better, a real slow growth rate but less violent towards each other

had a marron. big bugger too, but he went walkabout then keeled over for no apparent reason. the water was all fine and heaps of hides . . . . .

i think marron taste better though

It depends on how you cook em.

Stun them in ice water, cut in half length wise, paste on garlic butter and sprinkle over bread crumbs. Place them on a real hot bbq for 1min open side then 2min shell side grab ya fave beer and enjoy

With yabbies i stick to the traditional boil up but instead of adding just salt to the water i add a bit of sugar to sweeten the meat a bit

Yabbies are fun. nothing like seeing one walking around the bottom of the tank holding half of another yabbie in each claw.

Certainly nothing that's going to blow you away. Just make sure you can access the bottom of the tank as you're gunna have a constant supply of dead/muilated ones that'll stink up the water !

Hmmm, I seem to detect a certain malcontent here towards Yabbies.

Maybe I'm getting the wrong message, but are they a little bit violent to each other??

Despite the clear message, I'd like to give Yabbies a try. They are available here as pets for around HK6 / AUD1 each. Is that expensive?

If I took this foolish step, I'd get about 6 and put them in a plastic box similar to my GB's (around 110L). If I'm right they don't need to be a part of the aquaponics regular system. I'd probably perform a partial water change every few days to a week. Perhaps plumb it into my system and open up the valve once a few days.
I'd put in a load of hiding places such as plant pots and PVC tubing.

Any thoughts on whether or not this is worth my effort.

i have 3 yabbies in a 130L sump at the mo, they seem to be ok but i wouldnt put anymore in. usually egt em free in Aus, just find the nearest dam/ lake. my neighbour had hundreds in his pond so i go fishing everynow and then but theyd be imported into HK so i guess thats a good price. . .

1 yabbie per sq mtr. But if one wants the spot that another is using then you lose a yabbie. They seem to be okay together when they are small. Goerge liked having them in his tank.

one per sqm??!!
So I can have one in my box?

Hmmm. Maybe I'll have a think about mussels. I saw them on sale here as well. I'm guessing they'll need some water flow right? But the stocking levels aren't so restrictive. I can't imagine a couple of mussels having an argy bargy!
I want to have more food variety than 'just' fish & veggies!