Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Just thought I'd throw an idea out there and see what comes of it.....

The conventional wisdom is that SPs slow down in winter and don't eat much and don't grow much.

What if they don't "slow down" as much as we think, but their feed requirements change ?

Regularly through last winter and I'm seeing the same thing again this winter, if I throw worms into my outdoor SP tanks, they are eaten before they hit the bottom, every time. Even if I do this for 7 days in a row. Also, if I throw in a silverbeet/chard leaves or lettuce leaves in the morning, they are inevitably gone by the time I get home.

I was more than happy with the performance of my silvers last year as many of them put on 350-500g over the course of a year.

They'll certainly go off the pellet feed under 15 degrees... and usually wont touch it except maybe twice a week below 12 degrees... preferring to graze any algae/bio-film on the tank surfaces... or,as you say, other vegetative matter like lettuce/spinach leaves....

Of course any worms or caterpillars, and probably any other "live" feed... will just poke their instinctive feed response....

And yeah.... I'm quite happy with the growth I've had from Silvers as well....

P.S.... I'm still feeding twice a day, albeit lightly in the morning... but the ate quite heartily a few minutes ago... even if not quite the same vigour as when it's warmer...

I've got no idea what my water temp is though... haven't had a thermometer for about a year...

My silver tank is at 10 deg and each morning i give them a small handfull of food and you see them darting around getting there fill
as others have said the trout go off there food if there is a low on the barometer
Where they used to hit it on the top before now they waite for it to sink before they grab it

Havent thought to try them with worms but will give it a try tomorrow. Got a compost bin that I put the spent brewing grain in that has thousands of fat red wrigglers
They have been grazing on lettuce leaves but not interested in pellets

Interesting thought.... Ours have just about slowed their feeding down here.. Just threw in some pellets now but there weren't very hungry at 10 degrees..

I threw in a 20cm ish earth worm today. I could see it sitting on the bottom of the pool before a small silver dragged it away.

I have had my tanks at 8 deg the last few days got me a little worried. Both goldies and silvers don't come to the top of my tank unless im not there and since being under 10 they don't really bother with food unless its sinking to the bottom which can take almost all day.

20 cm Jeez - obviously something wrong with your fish Duff, specially given how long it would take for a worm to reach the bottom of your setup ! Did you throw it in the 6ft end?

So, throw some worms in !

ill have to hunt to get mine... no compost bins here.
might have to go visit the big B

Deep end. There are some big silvers in there, 2-3kgs. But it was a smaller fish that took off with the worm.

Too fat to move - think James Packer !



Packer wannabes

There doesn't seem to be an obvious reason why some slow down and others dont. I have one broodfish pond here where the Silvers are still feeding vigorously on the surface every day and other ponds where I hardly see anything move. I have a few thousand small ones (around 40mm) in a tank that is at 10C and they are still rising up to take pellets everyday. Sure, there not eating as much as in the summer but still eating.

so could it be that my batch were just stupid, because the worms would have time to wriggle across the bottom and find some cover under a pipe without a SP even looking like they got the scent two winters in a row

They are laughing at you BB, cause they know your a fisherman and they aint gonna get conned with a worm