Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

It took a few days but my Barra are feeding heavily now. They wont touch the pellets during the day but once it goes dark will come to the surface for a feed. They shy away from any light.

Have you looked at your tank temperatures? It might be that at night the tank temperature is higher in the evening than during the day.

After installing my thermometer readout I've noticed that in the morning with the tank temperature at 22 or so, they don't like feeding, but in the evening at 25 degrees C they will smash the food.

I was just about to ask whether that is normal that they only like feeding in the dark. Temperature and shyness may by why rather than light level on its own?

Mine have been in a Q tank for 2 days so will try some feed this evening as well...

How long is it taking other peoples barra to start feeding after picking them up? I picked mine up from GP last saturday and still no appetite (6 days ago). They are all mooching about on the bottom of the tank.

Tank had dropped to 17 degs this morning (eek!) hope that does not upset them too much ! Should come up farely quick today (one of the probs with a 500L quarantine tank!) They all are swimming upright and sitting in the flow and still have there white nose stripe - does that go away in juveniles?

When I had Barra last year I found the optimum feeding time was just on or after sunset.
If I fed morning or during the day the pellets would just float there.
If I fed on sunset you got to spend the next 5 minutes listening to that sweet sound of splashing and gulping

I also told my cousin up in NT my experience and apparently she is now vastly more successful fishing for Barra...

yeah - I tried last night on sunset though no takers so had to scoop the pellets out 30 mins later...

How are the BYAP ones coming on Faye/Joel/Nat...?

Nat says, they feed slowly and then run away.
Mine at home are boring, but you can tell when they take the food because of the vacuumous sucking sound. ( New word )
Joel confirms they are eating right now

think mine have been taking the odd pellet now (or they are hiding them well!), not heard any vlurping though will listen out

The white stripe indicates stress. The saleswoman where I bought mine from told me to salt to 3 ppt, which I did and they started feeding in a couple of days. The stripe is still visible on a couple of mine, but it's quite faint.

Mine feed violently whenever I drop some food in (usually at the end of the day when I get home)... lots of splashing and silver flashes I think they're growing a bit as well. They'd have to with the amount they're eating!

Unfortunately a couple of the smaller ones succumbed to their cellmates... a bit disheartening to find a floater that is minus the eyes, stomach and fins

Are you using 3mm pellets? How big are your fish?

I've yanked the strawberries out of the GB and salted to 3ppt this morning. Mine still are not feeding after 9 days and 5 of the 6 still have very strong white stripes.

They are housed in a tank under a GB that is covered with 80% shadecloth so I would have thought they would have felt reasonably secure in there.

I've been throwing in about 10 pellets every day, then having to scoop them out 30 mins later when they are not eaten, but that's the only disturbance they have been getting.

Mine are about 25 to 30cm - been trying either 6mm or 8mm pellets.

well, they are still looking stressed - I'm going away for the long weekend - how long can Barra go without food? By the time I get back it will be 16 days!

My barra which I collected from GP will not take feed whilst they think they are being watched. I chuck in a small scoop of feed twice a day and walk away. If I look back into the FT 30 minutes after feeding, the food is still there floating on the surface. I look back into the FT 60 minutes after feeding and some of the food is still there, now very soggy but still floating. By the time I add the second scoop for the day, there is no food on the surface, so it's either been eaten or finally sunk. As there is very little debris/waste on the bottom of the FT, I'm going to guess the food either gets eaten from the surface by some of the fish, picked off the bottom by some of the other fish; nothing is getting up by the pump and deposited in the GB.

Chuck in some feed and leave it. If the fish are hungry, they'll eat. If they're not hungry, then a few uneaten pellets on the bottom of the FT is not going to do any harm.

Check your water temp. Having most of the FT covered with shade cloth might not allowing enough warming sunshine to get to the water so only provide a little shaded corner; fill your FT to the max as the larger thermal mass will remain at a more constant temperature.

Thanks - I'll try leaving some feed in... don't think water temps are a prob - the last few days have been 22 degs at 6am and 27 degs at 6pm.

Good luck buying fish from GP

You can buy a battery operated air pump for $10