Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I was told that the fish will not grow because of the restricted space in the container

Would be good to get a experiment going though. I have some 7-8cm trout in a 50cm wide barrel. I am planning to chuck them into a ibc. I may leave a few in the barrel and see the difference between them

" Fish secrete a growth inhibiting hormone, "

It's simply got to go. All we need is a few mutant fish that don't do this, and breed them up like crazy.

Stu, break out your microscope and do some home surgery and cut out whatever gland produces this stuff and see what happens

Well here is photo of my Barra (13 months) have 20 in an IBC. you work out the length?
What 2 1/2 the length of the uprights of an IBC how long is that.
IMO its not the size of tank but water temp and what feed rate you are pumping into them, that determines the growth rate.

The photo is when I drained down the tank and transferred them to another tank. Jst slipped an environet under each one and tranferred no problems at all.

whats with the water chainsaw? looks a bit crappy

from memory the gap is about 10cm, so your barra are 20-25cm

Those barra look magnificent Chainsaw,

Well done, when are you planning on harvesting them?

Cheers.

Hi Freoboy and BD, Water really is not bad, In all my systems have never ever been able to get that crystal clear look. But as I read, a light brown tinge is the sign of a mature system so not really worried about it. Your Barra looked pretty good too BD, would love to be able to try the Trout.

Hit the submit button too quick. Trying to keep going as long as possible BD, but with this cold snap and overnight temps down to 7 it may be soon. But then I still have 100 about 150mm to keep warm as well. They all use the same water and operating as a RAS. Water temps lovely 25 deg.

Did put the patio heater in the shed amongs the tanks, only one problem 9kg cylinder only lasts 26 hours and that costs $27. Been trying to find a instant gas HWS like F&F uses that has a stainless coil. Anyone know of a particular brand?

OK even have pictures

You've discovered a way to go broke, Chainsaw !

Check out the barra feeding on this page. These are the guys at Gardenworld in Melbourne

http://www.autopot.com.au/default.aspx? ... 1d98874672

Yep a must place to visit if you are in the area

they have a pic of an airlift pump that looks like its got about 30cm head hight on it didnt think they would pump that high??

My 380ltr FT had 300 silvers that grew to 15cm ish before I moved some into the pool. Cold weather is the only thing that slows them growing. I have water going through this tank 24/7 from the pool.

Sorry Chilli but the good Doctor didnt write that one, and I dont know if I can trust that woman or her research.

Oh, I know he didn't write it - but I reckon with his stamp up in the top right corner, he's claiming editor credits!

I think the fish growing to the size of the environment idea is rather simplified. It will definitely depend on more than just size of container and it is also rather fish species dependent. Some fish like tilapia and blue gill that tend to breed rather prolifically will actually produce a very stunted population of lots of small fish if allowed to go un-checked.

A goldfish will tend to grow as big as it can within the confines of the container, food supply and water quality. I suppose it can't grow bigger because it would die if it did so the stress of having difficulty moving properly in the container will probably stunt or slow growth. In some types of fish this might just seem that they quit growing while in others the stress will just kill them instead.

In my location and with my experience of a few types of fish I'm gonna estimate that tilapia, goldfish and bluegill are ones that would be stunted by confined spaces while channel catfish will stress and die from them.