Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all, I'm new to the forum and have loved every little bit of it I've read so far.

Anyways after months of research I've decided I would like to give Brook trout a crack. I've spent weeks trying to find a supplier but haven't come up with any yet.

Could anyone on here point me in the right direction? Happy to buy a decent amount to make it worth it if needed.

Cheers

Ummm...

There is a hatchery in NSW and at least one in Tasmania but I've been told the NSW one doesn't post.

Noojee trout fame in Victoria has some - bit sure about fingerlings but they have them to catch and eat - and they breed them.

Wrong time of year to be looking for trout.

Good point Charlie, it will soon be to hot for trout.

They lay eggs May next year. Could expect them to be shipped june/july. Otherwise you would have to go on a long drive for some fry.

Brookies are a great fish, I call them freswater sharks. They will eat anything they can fit in their mouth. At a farm I used to work at we used to throw the dead salmon etc to the brooks and they would devour it everytime.

They are also great at eating off the bottom and never wasting food. Their ponds were always spotless and their bellies usually full of rocks.

Most people ive met that have had salmon, rainbows and brook preffered the brook by far for taste. Tastes marvelous smoked.

Should also mention that brooks are renouned for being the first to die due to temperature. Only farms that stay below 23degrees or maybe 24 are able to keep them longterm.

Hi, thanks for the replies. I got onto the hatchery at Gaden, but unfortunately they don't ship. I'll try them one in Noojee this week.

I've basically got my setup in a cellar which stays cool all summer, this in theory means I could keep trout all year round. I kept rainbows through a previous summer.

There is just something about the Brooks that intrigue me, haha. The eggs seem a great idea!

The lady at alpine trout fame (noojee) said they weren't actually a 'trout' they have another fin

Mountain Fresh trout in Harrietville has them and would be willing to ship an amount that is worth his time. His name is Dave and you can google their number or email.

But like i said wont be till june/july next year, every farm is the same, nobody manipulates spawning of brookies in australia. For eggs that is, i dont know if anyone would be willing to ship fingerlings.

As for them not being trout and "another fin" im not really sure about that. They are a char technically and are charactarised by the white colour at the front edge of their pec fins, pelvic fins and anal fin. But like all salmonids including trout they do have a adipose fin which is considered a "extra" fin with no real purpose.

What is a trout?

Brown Trout and Atlantic Salmon are from the same genus Salmo.
Rainbow Trout and the Pacicifc Salmons (more than one (Sockeye, Choho, Chinook, Hump back, Chum, etc.) are from the same genus Onchorhynchus.

As Gmturner said they are a Char (Salvelinus sp.) but there are many Salvelinus species that are called trout.

Like with many names/words they mean what people want them to mean. If two people agree on a name or a word then it means what they agree it means.

Often when someone comes out with a statement like:



It is often someone:

repeating something someone else said;
with a little knowledge trying to impress someone with less knowledge; or
with a lot of knowledge giving a simple true but incorrect answer or piece of information.

In fairness to people who fall into the last category they often do this because they have the social aptitude not to launch into a detailed discussion.

In fairness to people like me people are often less than satisfied with the answer "yes and no" to questions like:

I fished for alpine char in Europe. The locals call them .....trout after the name of the lake they live in.
All related to the Arctic char but land locked. Genetically different and characteristics and growth vary from one lake to the other.
As long as people call them trout, not browns, rainbows and so one I normally get what they mean.
A few years back I spend some time 4x4 fly fishing in the snowy mountains and setting up camp for New Year's Eve we passed a fellow fly fisher and I asked him about his catch. He said: nah nothing much here but up that creek is a pond where a big brown lives.
So 6am New Year's Day I have half a bottle of champagne and head straight for that pond only to step right on a big brown snake!!

Sounds like he had a dry sense of humour, can't say he didn't warn ya!

haha

Yeah she said they were different to the browns and rainbows - not sure what the discussion was but she said they were 'different' and ate more 'stuff' off the bottom. "sharks" she called them