Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I picked up 20 barra this morning. They were in a 80L esky with a air pump. when I got them home (20 minutes later) I noticed that some were upside down. This may have been the only way they fitted, but I was concerned that they were not in the best of health. I added some of the FT water to acclimatise them, but I decided that they would be more distressed by being in the esky than they would be in the strange water of my FT, so I caught each barra and put them in the FT immediately. I didn't add the water they were in because it was a bit murky and had what I thought was uneaten food in it

At the moment they are swimming slowly in the bottom of the FT. I'll check in them, and not feed them until tomorrow and have put the system on CF to make sure that there is enough oxygen but I don't know what else to do. The system was salted to 1ppt six months ago, so I don't want to add any more salt, and I think they've had enough of a change already.

My last water readings were pH 7, no ammonia or nitrites and between 40 and 80ppm nitrates. I haven't had any fish in the system since the end of October, so it is interesting to see that the nitrates haven't dropped. In addition, I emptied out half of the water in order to catch the trout, so the nitrate should technically have also halved. I wonder if the media attract the nitrate? I did vacuum the floor of the FT after the trout were out, so I don't think it is uneaten food on the FT causing the nitrate readings. Even more interestingly, the water has gone clear. Since I cycled the system in May with trout, the water has remained green, but with no strings of algae. So the nitrates are still up, but the algae isn't?

I also took the opportunity to clean out the GB and replant with the summer vegies, so the plants aren't using as much nitrate. Having said that, the two tomato bushes I grew from cuttings are enormous. They have reached the ground already. Now all I have to do is keep the stumpy-tailed blue heeler (see avatar) away from them (she likes almost everything we grow).

How your water temp BTB? That might be the main thing stressing the Barra.. I had new barra in my system a while back, most laying on their sides on the bottom looking like they were going to die. Water turn over and extra oxygen did nothing. Ran a hose from the hot tap on the laundry trough to the fish tank, added a couple of hundred litres of hot water and they picked up straight away.

The digital thermometer is 23.3 C. I would hope that is warm enough, because the 3kL FT will need boiling water to raise the temperature significantly!

I just topped mine up the once with hot water, after that they acclimatised. I think the place I got them from were running very warm water, maybe 25-28 or so..

That makes sense, the shed they were in felt warm - although I'd being picking up roadside rubbish for two hours, so I was warm already.

I've just put in 40L of hot water from the solar HWS (very hot), and the thermometer has gone up 1 to 24.5 C. The temperature should get higher during the day, it's only just past midday and the system is in full sun (with the FT covered). I'm very surprised - I thought the total thermal mass of the water and media would have been greater. I'll do the maths on the heat transfer, but that means finding out the HWS temp and I don't know if my thermometers will accurately read that high.

I added the water by bucket and poured it near the media guard around the standpipe of one of the GBs. I'm running CF, so it will get into the FT quickly.

The barra are all right side up, on the bottom of the FT and facing into the current. Hopefully they will be OK.

Hi BTB,

Where did you end up getting the barra from?? And how big were they??


Cheers
Sam

I've sent you a PM.

Barra bulletin update:

I put a 300W aquarium heater in the FT yesterday afternoon, and ran it overnight (when the electricity is much cheaper) to stop the water temperature getting too low. Early this morning (about 5.30) it was 21.5 C and didn't get any lower. This afternoon the temp was 26 C (although the digital thermometer is refusing to display in Celsius, so I have to do the conversion). The weather forecast for Perth is for lower temperatures, so the heater may be getting a workout until summer finally decided to arrive.

The barra are all clearly visible in the tank, not moving much, but certainly the right way up! I tried them with some 7mm pellets, but they weren't interested while I was watching. Apparently they were used to floating pellets, so perhaps they are still upset about the move. Any suggestions on getting them to eat?

Starve them for a couple of days. Hopefully they will eat when they get hungry.

This is my first time with barramundi, so I'm a bit nervous.

The weather doesn't look like it's on my side - maximums of 22, 20 and 22 for the next three days. I need to put more water in the FT anyway, so a few more buckets of warm water will be going their way.

The barra look fine - all swimming the right way up, but not interested in food as yet. I've just tried the 3mm pellets but they showed as much interest (ie none) as the 7mm pellets yesterday. However, looking at their size, they have plenty of resources to draw on, so I'm not too worried.

The heater overnight seems to work - the FT was 22 C early this morning!

I've planted the beds out for summer. Fortunately the recent storm didn't blow the plants away.

One punnet of spring onions, plenty of strawberries, lettuce, butternut and cucumber.


More lettuce, strawberries, curly parsley and...



a huge tomato that is trying to invade the next bed, as well as trailing on the ground.

The third bed of the 3kL system has another tomato X triffid:



The 1kL system has also been planted out:



The raised bed at the right in this photo had been planted out with potatoes. Here is the crop:

I haven't fed the barra today (I think it's too cold, even with the heater). Do they like worms - I've got plenty of red wrigglers in the garden if they need to be tempted? What else do barra eat besides pellets?

I've been tempting the barra with worms and then throwing in a few 7mm pellets. They don't show any interest while I'm looking (the FT is covered with three layers of shadecloth) but all the food is gone after 10 minutes when I look again. I've got secretive eaters! However, they don't seem to be worried when I look in, even hanging around the thermometer when I read it.

Today the water got to 25 C! With 37 forecast for tomorrow, perhaps my worries about the water temperature are over (to be replaced by another worry, I've got lots regarding barra).

Stop stressing Bythebrook Your making me stress!

Hopefully the warm and cold fluctuations are better preparing them and making them stronger. The bigger they get the stronger they will be.

Must be about time for some barra pics?