Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

My jade perch were not much bigger than that when I bought them in around August Tim. They are now quite big as can be seen on my thread. The silvers on the other hand have not grown as quickly. I got some tiny silvers from a pet shop that was selling them as feeder fish. Their growth has been extremely slow. This could be attributed to several reasons:

1. They are stunted due to having their gills burnt early in life due to excessive ammonia/nitrate.
2. They are not silver perch. I netted all my fish yesterday so I could move my ponds. The original silver perch (probably got them April last year) are still only about 12 cm long. A beautiful slim fish with a lovely silver appearance. Look nothing like my otehr silver perch that you should not have to worry about as you are getting them from a proper source .

Any way - as you are getting them from a proper source - you will have no probs with eaither of these things.

Just dawned on me that I haven't answerred your question cause the proper silvers I have, I got in an advances stage. Their growth has been lackluster, with many of the the Jades (which I bought at the same time as fingerlings) now being bigger than the silvers.

Yeh - I can't help on growth rates either with SP (only had ~ 2 months), but they are very active, especially at feed time so they are a good advance indicator for trouble brewing - have noticed my goldies are putting on the grams tho

jades will cwertainly grow quicker than silers given the right temperature, but i am done with them (jades) for now, melbourne is simply not the right climate for them. My first silvers were great, they ate goldfish flake, native pellets, a slice of bread, whatever! In comparison, i also think they are more hardy.

i miss them

Weight loss:

[glow=red] Well, he certainly lost some weight ofter being banned [/glow]

Did the get a chance to eat spam?

Tim, I would check with the Fisheries Dept before ordering any fish from the eastern states. I think you will find that they wont let you bring many fish species into WA from over east anymore to prevent the spread of disease. I have also heard that when they do allow them to come in fisheries take (kill) a sample to test before they give the all clear for the rest of the order. I know they do this with Barramundi coming in from SA or Qld.

thats considered cruelty to animals rofl.............and humans

Thanks troutman... I will have to look into that. Problem is if I inquire about it with them they will be on the lookout, if not I might get away with it. I will email our guy at livefish.com.au he may know... plus I want to know if these silver perch are safe for human consumption... when they are big enough!

Tim, you're a quick learner

Livefish seem to sip to all states except TAS

I learn from the best... I have avoided many a fisheries officer in the past. Think Great Escape, scaling fences, but no motorbike, just a bucket full of marron (size though, just too many).

What are the best (human friendly) treatments other than salt to ensure disease free fish ie Quarantine? I heard copper sulfate is one.

Steve pictures a cylon on a motorbile holding a bucket of marron just before jumping the fence...................lol

lol MY spam comment was in reference to the post above it from BLACJOHN unless I'm mistaken its an advertisement for weight loss? Need weight loss? Eat more AP veggies, there done deal.

pic edited and removed by mod

OK mods wake up, aint no time to be sleeping!

thanks Monya, that was a bit much to see first thing in the morning