Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I just tried some bait worms from a tackle store, and the silvers went nuts for them.

I had fish fighting over worms with two fish having a worm end each.

It also seem to get the active. They were patrolling around for an hour afterwards, even though there were 3 uneaten worms in the water.

I'm going to try a selection of different feeds.

They always seem to eat lettuce during the night.

Water temperature was just under 10c. First thing this morning the temp was 5c!

I think I'm going to have to run a small heater.

My silvers have only just started eating again after the wormfest.

I think they spent 3 days just lying around, groaning, holding their bellies

Tank is averaging around 8-10 but in the next week Melb temps are all bottoming out under 5deg, coldest yet this winter...its gonna be chilly. Good time to go skiing

Our tank is now down to 8˚c, they all seem happy if not a bit cold.

They had been nibbling on the lettuce I have floating but that has stopped lately.

I just dropped a hothouse over my little system.

12c day saw 33c in the hothouse.

Its hard to be a grouch when you are writing your blog in the tropics even though it brass monkey weather outside

FT gained 6 degrees from a typical day and woke the fish up to a feeding frenzy @16c. (silvers)

I forgot how active fish are when they are not freezing

I bought the 100$ walk in hothouse from bunnings. Better structure than I was expecting. With a blue barrel half on top of the other half, there is plenty of space on the shelves for NFT lettuce, and some space left over for a milk crate seat and a laptop

Now I can say I've worked up a sweat after a long day at the office

Would love to see some photos.

Ok, so found this info on native silver habitat Murray Darling Basin.
Based on distribution here: http://www2.mdbc.gov.au/subs/fish-info/native_info/silverPerch.html selection point 19 - Ovens River which is the highest previously found site for SP in the Murray tributaries

Then looking at temp charts from the Ovens river avaiable here: http://riverdata.mdba.gov.au/sitereports/403241a/mdba_403241a_site_report.html

Here is the temp chart for the last month:

For the last Year:

Sawn Hill:


It would be fair to deduce that Silvers should be ok for low temps to 7 deg for July. Some sites go down to 6deg.....

bb

(My tank went to 9deg last night with low of 4, seems to be holding around 10 deg for most of the time. I havent changed pumping and pump 15 mins on 60mins off every night.)

thanks bonsaibelly

Mine are still loving the worms and its good to see them eating

Got no idea what my water temp is.... but the perch are rising to the feed.. twice daily...

How big are your perch Rupe?

There's a few that are well over the kilo mark.. getting close to maybe double that...

I'll try and grab a video of them tomorrow... with all the rain... the tank is crystal clear...

Ok here they are... waking up this morning 08:00

Bloody ell, they are some nice looking silvers. Being that fat its no wonder they dont feel the cold