Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

My trout are not hungry, they are only little but at first they would jump all over the food now just not interested, silvers seem fine but don't eat much in the cold.

Water seems to test fine. Anyone have any ideas, would appreciate suggestions.

Maybe they are full, mine hammer the floating food if I have not fed them for 24 hours, but when I feed them twice daily they seem to be happy to only eat the pellets as they sink.

What feed are you using?

How long have you had them?

Jackied what are your water tests like, how much and how often have you been feeding the fish, what are you feeding the fish and water is the general condition of your water like (clear bottom of tank?).

Maybe post a pic of your system too if you have one!

Thats 2 poeople in Perth saying their trout aren't feeding much lately, perhaps it's been the rain putting them off.. Though it's been fine the last few days...

mabey its the moon...

I noticed that when the water got a bit cold recently (below 10C), my trout were less interested in feeding. I'm only feeding once a day at the moment, and I've decided to feed them in the early afternoon, when the water is warmest. So far, so good.

Jarrahdale can get pretty cold in winter (relative to the rest of the metro area). Could water temperatures be the cause of the trout not feeding?

Hi everyone, thanks for your replies.

I was also wondering about the cold, but hey how cold is it down south where they are bred?

I also thought about the rain, but I cannot see how that would worry the fish, it surely would contribute to cleaner water, the only way the rain can get into my tank is through the grow beds, so it is more or less going through the system to reach the fish. I have also been pulling the excess out to keep levels roughly the same, mainly to help the vegies in an effort to keep the nutrients up.

I am now beginning to think that I have had a small oxygen moment. Although my system is a solar system I do remember on the second day of the power outage (that we just had), I did have to switch my system over to a generator, but it was not out for very long. Certainly much less than 1 hour. It did catch me by surprise because I thought the battery would have lasted longer, but I did not realise just how overcast the sky was for two whole days....live and learn I guess.

Anyway this morning I got a deadun, and there are a few others swimming near the top of the tank.......grrrrrrr

So far the Silvers seem ok.....fingers crossed.

What is your system volumes, stock quantity and are you pumping aditional air?

Water temperature change is dependent on mass of water and surface area, so even though the fish might be bred in a colder region (D'outh) the minimum temperature of the water there might be higher than water in your AP system in the "warmer" region as your volume of water might be significantly less and the surface area wrt volume comparatively higher. Large, deep ponds and lakes will have a smaller daily temperature fluctuation than a AP FT, which in turn will have a smaller daily temperature fluctuation than a glass of water. Also, during the coldest period, you're probably still pumping water through the GBs, further increasing the surface area of the water and its exposure to the cold; GBs are, in essence, massive heat exchangers.

Trout can be prima donnas sometimes, scourging all of their feed one day and then ignoring the same feed the following day for no apparent reason. At each feeding, I throw in just a couple of test-pellets, if these get hit hard then I chuck in more, if the first pellets only meet slight interest I only add a few more for those fish interested in eating. Always scoop out any uneaten food.


Scott

Trout may be able to tolerate cooler water - doesn't mean they still want to eat.

Given trouts "Aussie" origins stems from Tasmania I seriously doubt cold is a major issue over in W.A. From what I have read the colder the better with trout happily feeding and growing in water that is near frozen.

Jackied, what are your water tests showing and what is your setup. Trout definitely need their oxygen as they are energetic, plus you might want to stick your pump on continuous for a few days.

I noticed my trout had backed off slightly from their feed some time ago and like most things that happen slowly I hadn't really picked up that the tank wasn't overly clean. Further investigation led to me finding the ammonia was high and there was excess food on the bottom of the tank. I put another pump in to circulate the water, switched my main pump onto continuous flow and backed off the feed. The water is now showing good levels and is nice and clear (this would now be some 7 weeks later). My trout are getting big and love their feed (wouldn't put my fingers in the water during feed time) though I do monitor their behaviour closely. Cold weather doesn't affect them at all. My tank is 2300 litres so maybe temperature fluctuation range is minimal.

Swimming near the top you say! maybe your system is lacking oxygen now that the trout are getting bigger but the water volume is staying the same.

What is your stocking rate/ water volume

How are you providing aeration

What is your sytem set up ie, continuous flow, timer, autosiphon etc

wow what a great lot of replies.

I have 23 Silvers, about 1 year old, and I had 10 trout, now 9.

My FT is about 1000lts, I run one air pump with two stones, a 15min timer pump cycle, I also have a auxiliary 800ltr per hour pump which has a 500ml spraybar, which the little tikes have been upsetting during the night, so that the pump ends up on the bottom of the tank doing bugger all.

My main pump cycle stops around 10:30pm I think it is, then restarts around 8am, so during the night I am relying on the air pump and the auxiliary pump which only operates in the FT.

Today I bought another auxiliary and I have now mounted them so that the fish cannot upset them.

I could not believe it today, when I was fitting the pumps up, there was a fish which leapt out of the water, it must have gone up 6 inches, then it did it again, I think it was a silver, but it was impossible to tell. I have often heard the splash this makes but not seen what has happened. Frightened the life out of me. I hope that is not behaviour due to being stressed.

I am worried about my silvers, they are a year old and a few of them are getting quite big, I hope that they have not been affected, so far they seem to be behaving ok.

I bought some more trout today because I reckon that there will be a few more fall by the wayside.

I also re-salted, using about 1kg of salt.

All water tests seem ok and I have no problem seeing the bottom of the tank. Seems clean enough. As I am a newby I also do water tests at least once a week. If I am in doubt I will at least test for Nitrites.

What size are your grow beds.... and have you done any water tests...

Trout can live under a frozen lake surface - cold is not your problem here.

I suspect you're overstocked/underfiltered. That many fish in 1000L is only going to work with a good amount of filtration.

You said your water tests were OK - what does that mean ? Even a small amount of ammonia can kill fish, in the right conditions. The fact that the water is clear doesn't mean anything.