Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Nice pic Nick..... Can you tell me where you got the mesh that you've made that cage out of? It would make a great yabbie cage.. It's a bit hard to work out exactly whats going on with those pipes, but is the one on the water surface for floating the whole cage? Great idea..

Hmm, looks like gutter guard or might be the small squared trellis stuff. Sorry Nick, just can't help having a guess.

The silver perch I bought today, which are only very small (say 3cm) have shown some interest in the small duckweed that is in my fish tank. The haven't eaten, but their interest, given their size, is promising.

Thye feb within hours of me getting them on some old frozen bloodworm blocks that I have had in the freezer for years. Hopefully they'll take flake within a couple of days.

VB,

My "lucky perch" thats inside is quite happy taking tropical flake

It will just take them a few days to get used to the idea! And don't be surprised if you wake up one morning to fine not a single leaf of duckweed left

Steve

the mesh is the square gutter guard that you can get from bunnings. The pipes that are running vertical are coming from and going to the filter above. THe horizontal pipes are indeed the flotation for the cage. the black polypipe is 19mm and there is a piece with ends shut at the bottom that adds aditional flotation. you could do it with the pvc pipe also if you wanted too.

the problem i see with having them as yabbie pens is that they would have to sit on the floor as this is where my yabbies get most of there food. If you had them off the floor you would be wasting food on the fall through.

the gutter guard in that size will keep large guppies in and thus could be useful for having two different sized fish growing in the same tank.

I was thinking that if you had a tank like murrays you could have two cages a metre square each and 60 cm deep allowing for three different fish sizes and yabbies or plecos (catfish) at the bottom. you could be growing up fingerlings, harvesting plate size in the other and letting some get to a good feast size at the bottom. This is the most exciting part of a tank the size of murrays.

Damn, of course, gutter guard..... I think I have three or four roll of it in the shed, bought while in a well meaning mood for the things I would do around the house, yet never did.... I am trying to think of a design for something along those lines but segmented, that can be dropped to the bottom of the tank as a yabby cage.... I'm gunna have to get my thinking cap on, how to turn gutter guard into a segmented yabby cage.. .. I like it, thanks Nick....

if you could get a false bottom for the cage such as a flat sheet of perspex you could attach the gutter guard to it with some zip ties which is how everything i have is connected. THe other issue is until they are a certain size they would be able to stick there claws through and possibly have others rip them off. I guess the issue is not important as it would take a lot of molts until edible and by this time the claw would of regrown to full size.

Will see what i can do tommorrow and get a picture of the idea. but in large scale could cover the whole bottom of the tank/tub. and you could get another product out of the aquaponics.

on steve duckweed link it says we can eat it direct. its tasty contains vit an and phosphorus
plucked some out of my guppy tank . in for a penny in for a pound

tastes half way between lettuce and grass.sticks in the throat a bit and if ive got the squits tommorrow i know wher it from.

You're my idol Thats the sort of shit i'd do! You beat me to it;)

Mmm. This threads great!

I added more than 5 % cow poop to one of my duckweed tanks ... (I was a little heavy handed!)

Sucked the water out of it . ... osmosis... two days .... dead as a dodo ..

anyway .. a lesson learned .. don't overfeed! Better to be stingy with any sort of nutrient as far as the duckweed goes. I have plently more in other buckes so no dramma, this suff knows how to reproduce quickly!

something it is yet to share with me - duckweed is currenlty on my "Can't grow" list, which is frustrating considering how easily it usually grows.

AM, my outdoor bucket is growing................VERY slowly, i think.

I think it may be the temperatures.

The ones n the tropical tanks seem to be doing better, but i think light intensity is an issue there..........one solution to both Problems.............. summer

yep, already resigned myself to waiting for warmer times to try again... even on ebay the duckweed is scarce (compared to a few montha ago - at one stage every second person seemed to be selling the stuff, now only 1 or 2 people are...

I really can't wait for summer! Hmmm, i recall that in about Feb i was saying "i can't wait for winter" humans..................