Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi everyone,

I spent the afternoon culling these, ranging from 650 grams down to 500 grams.
I starved them for a couple of weeks, very little fat on them

18 barra culled vacuum packed and in the freezer.

Cheers.

Why starve for weeks bd? A few days rids the guts of food

Nice looking fish by the way

Thanks FB,

I was trying not to have to much fat, if I could help it, they certainly had very little fat on them, might be normal for barra anyhow.

Cheers.

Not a bad result BD.. given the summer down your way...

Hi BD,
They look great, still got mine as water temps are still over 22deg in the shed. What temp did your tank get down to before you culled them?

Did you salt your tank down while purging, is it worth it, does it produce a salty flavour in the flesh?

Rod

Great harvest BD

Great work....whens the BBQ

Thanks guys and gals,Just let's know and we'll throw some barra on the barbie.

Magnificent fish aren't they? I like them anyhow.

That's right Rupe the summer down here, if you can call it that, certainly slowed down the growth. Which was annoying but can't tell mother nature what to do.

I was going to cull the babies, actually sardines, today but that will have to wait until tomorrow, the trout (120) are ordered for pick up in the morning. Hopefully in six months, they will get up to about 500 grams, so that should be a 60 Kg haul.Well that's the plan, we'll see.

How big do your's look Chainsaw? 22 C shouldn't slow down the growth a lot, or does it?

Sorry, I ran out of time to make a salt water system this time, I wouldn't mind doing that next year. Or if others want to, let's know how you go.

I wouldn't of thought they'd taste of salt but would have a nicer flavour, but we'll see next year. I reckon I would still give it a go, just have to find the time to build.

The tank temp got down to 18 C but not for long and I can tell you I wasn't very happy to see that, I probably think the barra would not be happy at that either lol. But mostly the tanks were on the 20 C borderline, that's about as low as I would like them to go.

Cheers.

Yep... 20 C they'll hang in there... just... 18 C... and they'll start rolling over and dieing...

OK, will keep eye on temps and try to hang in there as long as possible. Still got 25 out of the original 30. This is the group that I raised in my insulated aquarium, so it can be done. However, the next 100 may be a battle they are about 150-200 long at present and reside in an IBC or 2 in fact. Have the system inside the shed and can go closed loop if necessary. Now thinking of some sort of gas heating, maybe a gas bottle and a gas ring heating a 20 litre drum with a small pump recirculating the water.

Keep you all posted

That's right Chainsaw,

I can relate exactly how you feel, I held of culling as long as I could, but It has got to the situation where I have no other alternative, with the tanks battling to get over 22 and dropping into the danger zone, less than 20 overnight. As it turns out I in fact lost only 1 due to cold the night before last (and 1 late last winter) but the others were stressing, no doubt. ( I could hear their back teeth chattering).

I reckon for you, hold off until your tanks hit 20, any lower then prepare to cull ASAP, no matter how big your barra are. I suspect between 20 and 22 C they probably don't grow a lot, so another consideration you may like to think about, is culling them any time from now on.

I didn't think it was too cold for to long around your area, but never mind it all has to do with the temp of your tanks, regardless, doesn't it?

Cheers.

Yep... once the tank gets down around 20... a sudden cold change can see it plummet down to 16 overnight... and floating barra the next morning.. and/or progressivly through the next day...

Busy day today, went down to Touperang picked up my trout I am now a new daddy of 120 mad trout, one thing after another went down and picked up 20 kg of 3mm floating barra food, they slugged me an extra 10 bucks for a bag, so I'm looking for another supplier, did a heap of other work and running aroung and did the cull of 38 babies.

I have just finished culling the these, actually they were a bit bigger than I was expecting, with the exception of one or two, ranging from about 200 grams - 350 grams.

Cheers.

Noice , now bring on the trout eh

Bring on the trout, for sure Mantis,

I've got them mine washing baskets in one of the IBC's with plenty of air overnight, the heaters are out.

I just have to do a little maintenance on the tanks tomorrow, not a lot, just a quick clean up. Then it's out with the summer vege's and in with the winter vege's.

Cheers.