Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Trout spawning season is upon us in southern OZ, and eggs will soon be available.

If anyone is interested in raising trout from eggs, this website is worth visiting -


Link to - TROUT in the CLASSROOM

Thanks Dunder,

Not this year, but maybe in a year or so. Where are you sourcing your eggs from?

In the past, I got them from my fly fishing club's hatchery.

They are available from IFS, Tasmania.

Contact for IFS trout egg sales is -

Brett Mawbey

Brett.Mawbey@ifs.tas.gov.au

What ratio of succcess do you achieve from this out of interest Dunder...from past experiences that is

thanks

The first time I tried was in 2010. I had 50 brown trout eggs.
All hatched
One died after approx 5 weeks. it was not feeding and looking poorly.
Another died approx 6 weeks old. It ate a pellet that was too big (my fault) and died the next day. All the others did very well. The largest was about 100mm when I took them to the dam.

Last winter, I had approx 320. When I picked them up, they had hatched a day or two earlier.
Over the first 7 weeks, I lost approx 30. Did not loose any more and stocked the rest in a farm dam. As I had so many, in my six foot aquarium, I only kept them for approx 2 months.

The most fun though were the rainbows. I got about 25 albino rainbows and a few normal ones, and grew some of those to approx 200mm. They ended up large enough to eat my dog's dry food pellets. I also had a 'maggot pod' that I made. This produced lots of maggots and flies, which they loved. As you can see in the photo, they large tummies

I so want to do this next year, but fear it is not cold enough for long enough in Sydney. Do you use a chiller Dunder, like the trout in the classroom suggests? I think when I converted their recommended temps to celcius I found it was colder than I would expect to maintain without one.

Thanks for all the info Dunder

Do you have a farm nearby? Its good to see you are taking the time to raise the trout and stock a dam.

I plan to do this with Marron in my area.

The farms are about one hours' drive from my place. I have access to many properties as I belong to two fresh water fishing clubs.

Ah ok, I should have worked that one out.

How lucky are you to have that kind of access, Im very jelous!

A shame we dont have that kind of thing here where I live.

Start a fishing club in your area. Go to your local farms and ask them if you can have access to their dam.

That's how it all starts..

lol.......Id love to Dunder but I am 400km from the coast.

....and there is no farming in my area like you would be used to, just wide open desertous plains with small amounts of cattle. No green fields and running streams. Just dry, dead, dusty barron land.

you can now understand my enthusiasm for your luck

I've often wondered as to the possibility of stocking trout in some of the old unused pits in the goldfields that have filled with water. In some of the deeper ones the water remains cold, even over summer, surely the fish could find a thermocline that suits them.

I know some are super-saline, but some also have potable water. Out behind the Sunrise camp (but not on their lease) there was a small but deep pit that had filled with water that was potable, even though the water in the Sunrise pit only a few k's away was super-saline. Anglo were trying to get the lease so they could use the water for the camp. Some of the guys told me they would go out there for a swim in summer, but you couldn't stay in the water for long because it was too cold.

Bumpidy bump

In the past, I have kept them in my back 'sun room', which I do not heat. Water temp at time of placing eggs in egg basket was 13 degrees, last winter. A bit high but only lost approx 10% over the initial 7 weeks of growth.

I suspect that the temp in the AP will be lower, in July. It is currently 17.

I do not use a chiller. If I had to, I would not bother.

The ideal temp for growing rainbows is 18 degrees.

When they are at the egg stage though, higher temps means higher bacteria and fungal attacks.


Chuck in some weed, to give the invertebrates a good home and a place for the fish to hide and the fish will be fine.



Maybe one day, when you move house.

I want to and live in NZ. Plenty of water and fish there.

those albinos look interesting, are they very common? I had never heard of them before.