Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi VB,

I must confess the weights I've suggested are purely guesswork. I reacted to your concerns about the stress that your fish experienced when you moved them. When I build up the courage, I'll attempt a more empirical approach to fish weights.

AA....thanks for your kind words but I suggest we hold back on the 'pioneering' accolades until I confirm the fish weights. AP fruit trees will certainly feature in there somewhere but, at the moment, so many prospective projects and so little time.

Gary

Aquaponic fruit trees. My lemon tree has been in a month now since transplant has only lost a couple of leaves the two fruit that it started with have doubled in size its in scoria and gets water 3 min in the hour and drains straight away

Hi,

I just caught six fish and weighed them.

They averaged 218 grams with a low end of 160 and a top weight of 300.

I don't believe that I caught any of the biggest of them (and nor did I catch the lone Silver Perch that's masquerading as a sardine) so I'm settling on 220 grams at this stage.

Premised on 220 grams, I have 9.68kg of fish in 600 litres = 62 litres of water per kg of fish. I'm still happy with that.....at this stage.

Gary

Hi,

Thanks for the info on the lemon tree, F&F. Lemons will be one of the first trees I plant aquaponically.

Gary

PS......can a Moderator remove the duplicate post for me. I've buggered it up. Thanks!

Edit: No problems Gary, good looking fish!

Hi,

On a more sombre note, my maggots have left.

That's right.....they packed their kit and departed during the night.

When I examined the lid on the container in which they were housed, I found that it was slightly bowed. While I knew that worms will often leave if they get pissed off (or during a heavy rainstorm), I didn't know maggots would do the same thing.

They were probably unhappy about my frequent attempts to observe and photograph them. I probably didn't help any when I stirred up the worm castings and the bait to get rid of the mould that was beginning to form.

Anyway, they're gone.....the ungrateful little sods.

Watch this space, for maggot trial Mk 2.....starting today.

Gary

PS......there were about 10 larvae that were late leaving......too late. One outcome of my trial is that fish definitely eat maggots.....quickly!

How rude of them. Did you talk in front of them too often about where they were ending up?

On a serious note, do you have another container they can't get out of as easily?

Will they get bigger Gary? My Tilapia seemed to max out right around the same size as that Barra you have pictured even though the tilapia are capable of twice the grouwout size. If you read my last big update I suspected my growth was inhibited by several factors in the end, chiefly not enough bio filter grow bed space. I'm not inferring your fish is small, just curious how big that one will get or if that is the max size?

Jaymie......I can't see my last photos......they seem to have disappeared with the duplicate posts. If it's easier remove the entire post and I'll re-post it with the photos.

As for the maggots.....I'll be trying a different system altogether. This morning, I plan to buy a beef heart. While it's a departure from the more benign bread and milk bait, I'll focus on getting useful quantities of fly larvae first and worry about how to make them less offensive later.

Michael.....these little guys are nowhere near full size.

Our Department of Primary Industries says......"In recirculation systems, Jade perch have been reported to reach 450 g after 4 months and 800 g in 7 months from an advanced fingerling size.

Maximum densities are usually about 40-50 kg per cubic metre. Live fish marketing suggests that fish should be sold in the 650 to 1000 gram size, however, no detailed market studies have be done."

I'd suggest that the difference between Tilapia and Jade Perch (in a grow out sense is that Tilapia get to thinking about breeding while still quite small. From my understanding, Jade Perch don't get to thinking about it at all, until they get injected with a hormone. Sexually precocious behaviour limits the growth rate of many species. That's my guess.

Incidentally, this species has the highest recorded concentrations of Omega 3 oils of any seafood tested thus far.

The more I learn about them, and the greater experience I gain, the more impressed I am with them.

Gary

When I read the top line, I thought they had turned to flies - two steps forward, one step back, nice to know the cycle is only days rather then weeks/months.

I can't see your latest photos, did the appy mod stuff up on delete?

Another ques - I thought you mentioned the type of milk you used but I can't find the reference (want to see if I can duplicate your tests )

Gary - if you e-mail me the photos I will put them back into your original post. Will PM you my e-mail address.

Les......I just used full strength cow's milk....out of the plastic bottle.

My first though was that they might have flown away, but they never pupated, so I guess they just walked.

Gary.

sorry about the stuff up Gary. Thanks for offering to fix it VB
All I did was delete the second post, honest How embarrassment...

No problem......all sorted.

Did something else eat your maggots Gary?

I've been looking for a way to breed maggots and found this:
http://www.fishsa.com/gents.php
Its not a self feeder but it sounds like an easy and non-odourous way to do it and it would be easy to set up a rotating system where you would get 1-2 feeds a week.

I dont know if I would ever be allowed to do this!