Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Ive had my 200gm barra for3 days now, and gave them a little floating pellets this AM but no takers after a half hour.
is this common / normal? im used to having trou and goldfish thatll walk on water for food. also is floating pellets ok, and how long do barra 'sulk'; for before taking feed usaually??

cheers
Ben

Yep, welcome to keeping Barra........I've had some in the past that I could have sworn didn't eat for about 3 months...

I've haven;t seen barra boil like the trout do, well not for many years. If you want them to feed well you really need to get the temp right up.

Okay barra do not want to see you. So throw your food in from a distance... Once they see you, they freak out and do not eat anymore... For this reason, if your tank is near a common area, cover the top of your tank so that the movement of people do not freak them out... Barra can see very well with limited light...

I applied these guidelines and my barra has been eating the last few days...

i liked feedignt he trout and having boiling water . . . .

so do you just chuck some food in and take it back out if not eaten . . ?

cheers IVan
tank is pretty well covered already, will just have to resist temptaion

Our poor Barra here get to see people all day long here, and some of the people are very scary....

Well the problem with chucking the food in and then taking them back out if they don't eat, you would kind of freak them out... and they may not eat for a day or two again...

Okay do this. This only works if you have not given them live feed.
1) Find a tarp or cover to fully cover the tank for 2-3 days. Do not feed them during this time.
2) After 2-3 days, take some food in your palm, lift the tarp/cover slightly, tip the food in. You want to do this like "pink panther".... If it works, you should hear them hitting the water...
3) Keep doing this for a week and if you think you want to remove the cover, remove it but there is no harm to leave it on for the entire season, especially if the tank is in a high traffic area...

Edit : Opps...ignore the cover part then... you want big fish, resist the temptation to disturb them...

That's why you cheat by buying bigger barra ...

cheers Ivan, will do

one other thing, will the weather affect feeding like it does trout? i noticed my trout went off feed (slighlty) if there was a bit of a front coming thru . .

Hey not cheating, just being smart, with a bit of luck we will have some huge barra by the end of season......

You can hear when the barra feed because they make a "popping" noise.

Probably would, but I found that the water temperature affected them more...

Sounds like music...

will barra get used to people and be able to feed with you in sight? or is it a losing battle.

Yes... but bring other people around to watch... and they'll probably hide...