Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I forgot - I have a solitary marron in my FT. I introduced it at the same time as the Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and Silver Perch (Bidyanus bidyanus) fingerlings.
You are right, Charlie, in that I have no idea how my marron is getting on, or if his long empty carapace is laying in a crumpled heap on the bottom of the tank. He and the Silvers have that much in common - they have been MIA since April!
I will see if I can scoop up a couple of fish tomorrow and photograph them for this thread, not that they are really bragworthy. I would be interested, however, to know others' opinions on the relative size of my fish.

Yeah, well, you can't account for some people Simo


I'm with Rupe - it doesn't make an ounce of difference to the flavour as far as I can tell.

I've seen perfectly healthy white fleshed trout so don't think it's a major health issue for them either.

My 300g trout were eating 800g marron who had some pretty good hides, first they dart in and take out the eyes, as was evident by seeing live eyeless marron, next the legs of the now blind and helpless decapod were systematically removed from the body, then they flip them over and gouge on the meat of the soft underbelly and juicey guts and brains.

IMO trout and marron do not mix well in a tank situation.

PLJ a physical barrier stopping the trout getting to the bottom 10 to 20cm of the tank would keep the marron safe while still letting them clean up the trout poo.

Wow - thanks Simo - good learning

Going by your very graphic description of trout v marron carnage, Simo, I am confident I now have zero marron in my FT! I imagine the situation won't be much different when I have Barramundi (Lates calcarifer) in there instead of trout, so a barrier as you suggest is a very interesting idea. It would take a bit of material and work to do it but is certainly worth mulling over because Marron (Cherax cainii, C.tenuimanus) are great tucker. I might be in a position to start a '2013 Marron brag thread' if it works out.

Had another whip around the tank and came up with this one. Its 150gms heavier than the last one and still not the biggest.






After the disparaging remarks about my obese trout I had a closer look at the guts and found that are very fatty. It was just like the adds we have here in the West warning that the fat around your vital organs is a health issue. Luckly this one made it this far But seriously I can see why their bellies are so big with this amount of fat - possibly up to 50%.

They are all on a diet now 'cos I'm not paying good food to go to waste!

Thats insane Marc! Cant say Ive ever seen one that fat.

Have you got your water swirling in your FT? Might need to step it up and give those guys some exercise

Just for curiosity sake, how much had you been feeding?

I think the idea of feeding them as much as they will eat was started by the trout!!

I have 3 of the returns going into the tank so the water is always moving. I think the buggers are swimming with the flow rather than against it!

The irony is it's the biggest fish I have ever caught

I have been feeding up to 1.5kg a week over 28 fish. Sometimes they wont eat that much.

So far this year I have used just under 20kg of food. It might be a bit more or less as I moved from the 5mm to the 7 mm a couple of weeks back and still have the remains (3kg?) of the 5mm left.

Nitrates are way off the scale

Ummmm... my 50 trout would be lucky to get 1Kg per week.

I think we need to start comparing the weight of the cleaned fish to stop people's AP set ups turning into fish fat farms, we might start attracting the attention of the RSPCA, the government is already looking at charging the parents of obese children with child abuse, we could be next

I have no idea why mine are such pigs. They are only fed twice a day until they stop eating.

The general advice is to feed them often and as much as they will eat. If i did that they would all look like Jabba the Hutt

Hahaha jabba the hutt trout....

I will be chuckling at that all day.

I was wondering why your trout were so rotund around the middle. Know i know.

Never seen a trout shaped like that before

it's called a Skretting belly. 2 out of 2 have been like that
maybe they are suffering from water retention