Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Is it a large percentage that are deformed? Is that normal in even optimum conditions?

yes its normal, even in temperature controlled systems we still get quite a high percentage of them. ive never actually counted it properly but it would be somewhere around 5%. like pretty much everything it is higher in salmon than trout.

We dont usually have the manpower to pick them all out of 2 million alevins, they usually die not long after first feeding because their digestive tracts arent properly developed and they cant swim very well. You usually get some 2 headed ones and 3 headed ones.

Next stage: fry
Almost all are now free swimming and I started feeding a week ago. I am feeding on the hour during daylight and have great fun watching them.


I am really pleased how it all went.

From egg to alevin I had 70% survived
From hatch to swim up fry 80% survived

I also have a couple of really light coloured ones but I don't think they are full albino (red eyes) and will try to catch one to have a closer look.
A few more days and I let them out of the floating tray and swim free in the 400l tank.

This is awesome! There is no way I could get these through inspection here in Hawaii.

What sort of inspection would that be?

Dept of Ag requires all those who travel into Hawaii fill out a form of declaration regarding plants and animals. If you've flown to Hawaii you had to fill out the form on the plane before your arrival. They also have dogs who sniff luggage and cargo for alien invaders. Hawaii has a very fragile ecosystem and they try very hard to limit the amount of invasive species introduced into the state. For instance, there are no snakes in Hawaii. People do try to sneak them in as pets and they do turn up from time to time but you can wonder through the jungle and not have to worry about snakes. Fish are a very touchy subject as you might expect in an island state. As far as I know there are no salmon here and I'm quite sure they aren't planning on bringing them in.

the albino trait only seems to work well in trout and can be reproduced magnificently with 100% success. We do see the occasional albino'ish looking salmon, last year was the most i had seen i think there was about 7 in a tank of 100,000. They never seem to make it to a size where we can do something with them, they either die or perform so badly they they get graded out as runts and killed, i only see them till about 2 grams and then they are lost in the processes.

There is also another elusive varient that is a really silvery blue, beautiful looking fish and rare to find and anyone thats grown to size has always been sterile.

Great work Ben, how long would it take to grow them out to 500-600gm
?

There is good reason that there are no salmon in HI. The water is too warm. Salmon, like trout, like it cold.

BTW, my elementary school had a salmon hatchery. By that I mean a very large aquarium set up in the common area near the entrance. The point was to give the fry a better chance of surviving to the Jack stage, at which point they were released back into the creek the parent salmon were caught.

I hope to grow them to a consumable size in 12 to 18 month. Next year spring is most likely the end of my cold system capacity(.. Good excuse to expand)
In my fly fishing days I caught AS around the 500g mark and whole, hot smoked like trout.
The best thing I ever tasted.

I had my hands full with them the last few days. Feed on the hour and playing with water flow in the tank.
I just can't get the flow right to self clean the bottom of excess feed and at the same time maintain a very gentle current in the tray.
Also have the very small slots on the slo clog up with biofilm if I don't clean it twice a day.
The high nutrition value of the starter feed is visibly appriciated by the plants if I could just manage to get it there.

Anyone with a suggestion? Turning the slo into an airlift?



On top of that we had two month worth of rain in three days throwing the ph around.
Water test and feed time now...
Photos I load in my next break;)

Does anyone in the states recommend a salmon hatchery that will ship a small amount of eggs (~1k or less)? I found a couple that will do trout but no salmon.

Brian, have you hatched trout in ap before?
If not do so and use that experience for salmon.
Hatching in a classroom as done in many places is a world away from hatching in ap!
No water changes, no antibacterial additives and no fungicide....
Cheers Ben

I do plan to do trout first. waiting until oct/nov to order some eggs, but still planning ahead to try salmon but that's a moot point if i cannot source them

Gmturner, the blue silver ones show much slower growth, I hope I can get at least one through.
They seem to react less to my shadow over the tank. Makes me think their eyesight must be poor.