Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thanks guys...

It's about a 6yo little automatic Canon Charlie (PowerShot A550)... It's that old I'm having a hard time finding memory cards for it!...

P.S. I took the Trout to a family BBQ on the weekend, didn't have the time to find smoking chips (or the inclination), so simply smeared some butter on some alfoil, wrapped the fish in it and cooked them in the webber until the tails pulled out with a little gentle coaxing, took them off the heat and opened the alfoil straight away to limit the cooking... they were sooo moist and tender... and tasty... even my aunty who doesn't normally eat fish enjoyed some.

they look superb!

Lloyd

I have ~ 50 12" koi that is starting to get active now that water temperatures are increasing. These will "take over" from the trout.

Also have some Silver perch but they not yet active


I don't stock Barra because i cant get them to a decent size in Perth in one season.

Hi all,

some great pics of trout. I dont think mine will be quite that big

1'st time with aquaponics so still learning.

A question. I'm in Perth and the hottest my water has been to date is 17deg. Its currently about 11deg. I'm using an IBC and a below ground fish pond which is probably helping to keep the temp down.

I was planning on harvesting when the temp peaks about 22c, does that sound about right ? Somehow it feels late given many of you seem to be harvesting already. I'm hoping for about another month if I'm lucky.

Trout have really only picked up feeding in the last 6 to 8 weeks. My min temp over winter was about 4c.

SP are still pretty quiet. Water tests are showing 0 on all but ammonia which is about 0.5 how high should this get before I stop feeding for a while ? I suspect its peaked a bit due to replanting the growbeds.

Cheers,
Andrew

Hey DA,

Replanting the GB's may have an affect on the Nitrate level, but not the Ammonia or Nitrites.

The elevated Amm level means you are overstocked with fish, or don't have enough gravel grow bed... which is the same thing really. You don't really want to stop feeding your Trout at this point, especially if you want to put some size on them in the few weeks we have left in the season.

You need to make a decision to cull some of your largest Trout, or add extra gravel capacity before the SP's start feeding... otherwise the Amm levels are only going to increase.

You won't have to cull many, as an example, I had 12 Trout in my IBC system, which are all plate size now, consequently the Amm had gradually increased over the last few weeks, to the point where it was sitting at 2.0ppm last week, the water was cloudy and the fish were going off their feed... on Saturday I culled 3 of the large Trout and by this morning (Monday) the water was clear and the Amm had dropped to 0.0ppm... it hasn't been 0.0 since I put the Trout in as advanced fingerlings in May. The remaining Trout took three full feeds of pellets today.

Hi Damage,

Thanks for the info. All makes sense. I think I'll do a small cull as suggested. The larger ones are not too bad and it'll give me a chance to see how big they are out of the tank.

Harvested my last 2 trout today, both swimming a little lethargic on this consecutive hot day here.. didnt feel right to keep them any longer. Both fish looking very healthy, minimal fat content in the gut cavity so the lean diet they had over the past couple of months has done them well. Both little fella's approx 450g. Got the young bloke to show the toes so they look bigger of course

Noice!

Do you break their necks?

Cheers, Yabb's. yea mate, crack the neck back every time, I find it quick and easy. Sadly the young fella finds great joy in the act.... kids eh?

Whats your method mate?

Tried to upload a vid for you Charlie... can't figure it out... too hard... have a Matso's that needs more of my attention...

Mate Im half tanked so no help sorry. heheheh

Yeah my 3 yr old daughter was cheering me on when i whacked our first trout on the head. She said she wanted to eat the eye and the tail - a real connoisseur!

Muzza's hard work is making me hungry , thought I would go for a lucky dip......

Couple for my Granny , couple for dinner tonite , and the rest (8) in the Bradley
Big variation in size this year due to reduced feeding me thinks , this 100 haven't gone thru 50kg yet...

Enjoy your dip...

19 left
This one was bigger than the others at 550g