Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I got 25 Silver Perch fingerlings a few months ago and they were about 3 to 4 cm or so long when I put them in. I started feeding them on 2 mm sinking pellets and so far we haven't had any of them go belly-up (touch wood). There seems to be some that are growing a bit quicker than others and I reckon they are now between about 5 cm and 9 cm long.

Anyway, I was initially getting the feed from our local fish shop as I just wanted a couple of small jars until the fish were big enough to eat the 3 mm food that I originally bought before realising that it was too big. The jars of feed are very expensive (about $23 for a couple of hundred grams!!) and so I ordered 2 kg of 2 mm feed from Australian Native Fish Enterprises and had it delivered from Brisbane to Melbourne for a grand total of $31.35!!

So now I want to change them over to the bulk food and so I have started mixing it half and half but they only seem to be eating the sinking food and all of the floating food is just sitting on the surface and expanding.

I have never seen any of my fish ever swim up off the bottom of the tank. I have 90% shadecloth covering the sides of an IBC fish tank and the fish always seem to hide up the back (where it is darkest) and only come out towards the front of the tank when I throw food in (they swim out really quickly, grab some food, and then swim back and they do this as a pack).

So how do I get them to eat floating food? I considered just stopping with the sinking food and figured that sooner or later they would get hungry enough to come up to the surface and look for food but I am not 100% sure that this will work and I don't want to lose any of them.

Has anybody had a similar issue? Advice?

Cheers,

Gags

SP are sooks.

Just go the floating, they will eat it if they are hungry.

Yep don't feed for 3 days or so, throw a tiny bit of food in. Of they eat, slowly ramp the quantity up. If the don't, repeat till they do

Also try standing back from the tank a bit when you feed them

Mine are 3 years old and are the biggest sooks. Stay right to the back of the tank and never eat if I am looking at them. Once I move away I hear them leaping for the floating pellets. I bought some floating plant baskets about a month ago as I noticed at BYAP that the silvers are so friendly. Since giving them some cover at the front of the tank they have become more curious and secure and have been eating while I have been standing there. Also they come up to eat the roots of the plants under the pots.

Thanks for the replies.....looks like it is time for a bit of tough love!!

I was actually thinking of getting a floating basket or two, catching all the fish and putting them in the baskets to force them up near the surface for a while until they get used to the idea of looking up for food but it sounds like it will be a bit simpler than that.

Think I might finish off the current jar of sinkers and then start them on the floaters.

Cheers,

Gags

Yep mine are three years old and I just throw the pellets in and shut the lid. They hit them as soon as the lid is down

That is so strange about them hiding. My silvers have learnt that when someone comes up to the tank they get food, so they are almost jumping out of the tank before I throw any food in. Then as soon as the pellets hit the water they smash them.

I agree with the floating pots, I have 3 and my fish love them - somewhere to hide and some extra food.

If you are stuck with a heap of sinking pellets, you can train them to get used to your face bobbing around above them.

You'll look like an idiot...but do this anyway.

Grab a handful of sinking pellets. Extend arm over tank. Dont stick your face over tank. Stand like statue...... Without moving too much, drop a few pellets in. Slowly peek over side of tank to see if they are taking them.

Once they start taking them, you need to continue feeding like this, until they trust u. Each day move your head further over the tank some more. Then introduce a bit of movement. Until you can approach them naturally with food and won't freak them out.

Mine will now let me drop pellets right in front of my face and swim directly up towards my face to grab them.

Like bigwill my Silver Perch were all friendly and had associated me / my shadow with food ..... UNTIL they grew too big for the tank and I had to relocate half of them.

The little suckers are pretty swift but I eventually got the required number and transferred them to my (then) recently constructed IBC tank

Since then they have behaved like others have reported : hiding whenever they see me or my shadow; attacking the food when they think I've gone

Funny critters those Silver Perch

I wonder what they taste like ..........

I rate them over trout any day.

I've had mine under a month; they came in at maybe 3 or 4 cms and now would range from about 5 cms to 8 or 9 AND they are getting fat - I wasn't expecting such a rapid growth. At first they were a bit shy but after maybe a week they'd come to the front of the IBC and stay low as the food sank to them.

After a few days I started adding some larger floating food in the mix and it would sit on top and soak, but in the morning it would al be gone. I've cleaned out the tank just after I started them on the bigger food and there was none in the muck in the bottom so they are eating it. Now I have some catfish as well so they should get anything that makes it through the fish cordon. *grins*

Now I tap the tank and drop a small bit of food in and they rise almost to the surface for it. I've got a 200L barrel beside the FT with a yabbie in it - some insects have been breeding in there so I started scooping up the larvae and putting them in the FT - the fish are almost following the net as I wash the larvae out of the net. They love them!

They also seem more comfortable generally now - at first they'd hover around the back of the IBC and I'd be lucky to see one - in fact the yabbie was originally in the tank and I thought she must have eaten almost all of them, which is why I cleaned the tank and took her out into her own place. Now I can stand looking into the FT and they just swim around unconcerned.