Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I think the main problem was feed, they just wouldn't take to pellets.. Plus I seem to remember them having fairly slow growth rates?? For memory.....

You might be able to catch some wild "fingerlings" Mantis.... but AFAIK.... nobody actually spawns/raises fingerlings...

Well not in Australia anyway.... there is a mob in NZ that sell the eggs....

Yeah, wild caught is what I was refering too. Just got to find the right river pool or lake outflow pondage at the right time. I dont get out enough to know where they are but I know folks who do

Charlie go have a look on the hotbite forum, few guys on there had gotten stuck into them and named rivers etc they got them from. Im pretty sure there is a gov site that shows where they are too

thanks mate! will do!

Wild redfin were my test subjects for the AP system, didn't care if they died.
They took to pellets slowly after a week and full on in 2, They will not come to the surface so I used sinking skretting, they will pick it off the bottom and when it suspended around half way.
I think there classed as a pest now, so that will be the last of them.

And the best tasting freswater fish.

So Ive heard...

Where did you get yours from Lyndon?

Lake Hume, about 10 mins away....

Hi Charlie

Drakes brook Dam . 1 inch red curl tail jigs , very light jig head . Cast and retrieve or from a kayak . Even after being drained and refilled it is still chocker with them . Mostly runts at 10cm or less .
Beware the closed season which may or may not apply to certain waters .

thanks prawnz, very helpful!

For what it's worth I spoke with one of my nephews today who has a degree in Auqa-Something or ther about Redfin and he said:
Red fin Perch are a introduced species and considered a pest,
One of the best fish he has ever tasted (Fishes a lot),
Should do really well in AP,
Not allowed to be bread for sales,
Can be caught in rivers, lakes and dams. He has heard that in rivers in the east they use small trout to catch them. He has caught them in many places including the Warren River which has the biggest ones.
Can grow up to 5 or 6 kg.

I am going to put up a IBC system over summer and stock it with Redfin my nephew catches and see how they go.

Good luck Thommo, many have discussed this and some have tried.

Sent from my GT-I9100T using Tapatalk 2

Go for it Thommo - they are one of the best eating fish I've ever had

Keep in mind the experience some of us have had on here;

- don't keep the smaller fish for this, they tend to be stunted from over breeding and once they are they just do not grow any more

- very hard to switch over to pellet feed

- lotta work (or cash) to keep them fed on live foods

- can't keep them with any other fish - too aggressive in small space

- not particularly fast growing.


They are very popular in Europe, with good reason, however they are happy to eat them very small (100g - 150g is market size).

I kept 20 odd in my tank last year. They would also only take live food.


I go canoeing down the Warren once a break this time of year. It's beautiful down there amongst the tall Karri trees. Went 3 weeks ago and caught 9, 4 weeks before that we caught 12, going down again Thursday week. We also catch them in the Capel river 8kms away.
We use 80mm Squidgie, Slick Rigs soft plastics. Their great for getting off the snags from out of the canoe.

My oldest daughter caught this one, during Marron season this year on the Warren, 44cm

Nice fish Muz