Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Had my second pair of rainbow trout for dinner tonight and was disappointed . A month ago the first pair tasted great, but tonight they tasted a bit swampy and the flesh was drier and tougher ( they were cooked the same over hot coals, but with different flavours in cavity). The first ones were 300g and just under 30cm, tonight's ones were a little larger but still plate sized. I started them as yearlings in a newly cycled system in late March.

What has changed? Well, I have been struggling with high nitrates and doing water changes to get them down, but still over 100ppm. Water looks and smells good, slightly fishy but clear and with only a little solids in the corners of the FT. Ammonia and nitrites are between 0 and 0.25ppm for months. I have to constantly add woodash and dolomite to keep tne pH above 6. I changed feed from what was supposedly skrettings sinking pellets to definitely skrettings spectra floating pellets a couple of weeks ago, and the flesh has an orange tint now. It has got really cold over the past few weeks.

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced changes in flavour and quality of their trout and what may have influenced it.

How high did your nitrates get? And for how long were they elevated? This is most likely what effected taste, but perhaps someone else can chime in as to how long it takes to effect taste. As for the flesh being drier in not really sure.

Before the last lot of water changes a 1:5 dilution was reading at least 80, so could easily been up to 400ppm nitrates. I have been battling high nitrates for several weeks. Thats why I am eating some fish because I am over doing water changes and plant growth is too slow in the cold weather to keep up. I am thinking of building a RFF to see if removing some solids from the system helps. I only have 21 trout now in a 1000 litre IBC FT.

Arg, I am hopeful beginners luck gets me through my first year at least.

No such think as luck boss, it's your inner ability.


I found my 1000kl ft and 500l gb system water quality deteriorated quite quickly with only 15 small trout in it. The water was still quite clear but not nearly as clear as the larger grow out system.
We've always smoked our rt's and the different marinade concoctions can really change the taste and texture.
The smokers going to see some action tomorrow in fact.

hehe, I got them Madskilz and on top of that I pushed myself into my second prime of life. Hitting bottom a decade ago and managed to come back swinging, at least I hope

Hi
Couple of points to consider: stop feeding two to three days before harvesting, after dispatch place immediately in ice water.

Thanks for the responses. Both lots of fish were iki jimed then immediately cleaned and refrigerated until cooking an hour or so later, so that should not have affected the quality. The swampy taste and texture was very similar to the trout I caught at the trout farm when I picked up my yearlings - the pond it came from was soupy and smelly.

I think it must be the water quality, particularly the high nitrates and other wastes that we don't measure, even though the water is clear. The large amount of solids that must be breaking down in the GBs may be contributing. It could also be taint from the algae growing in the netting where light gets in around the tower planting holes or in the tower header pipe.

In the interim, it looks like more water changes and less food, then add a RFF and reduce the fish numbers further.

I hope they improve, otherwise it would be easier and cheaper to catch carp and purge them in ghe AP system and smoke them than fussing over swampy tasting trout.

Up around 400 (and higher) is typical for aquaculture I think (?). And the muddy taste you talk about is often why people don't like farmed fish, thats why aquaponics is good as generally the level stays well below 100ppm

Arc en Ciel trout farm don't feed for the final 10 days before harvesting.

I'd just cut the feeding way back then harvest a few, then increase a bit, but keeping an eye on your Nitrates. I hit ~400ppm Nitrates recently, but cut feed right back for a few days and got it down to under half that in 5 days.

Thanks Gordon, they got nothing today and will be on short rations for a while. There was a bit of fat in the body cavities, so they can live off that for a bit and I will eat a couple more next weekend and see what happens to the nitrates.

Great news! Had another two trout for dinner tonight and they were delicious.

Well the trout have been on very short rations, maybe 1/2 a normal feed only twice a week for 3 weeks now. I have also done a few major water changes. pH holding steady at 6.6, ammonia and nitrites 0, and nitrates were ~80-100 this morning (yes its high, but a big improvement on the ridiculous levels previously), so did another big water change. Had 2 trout for dinner tonight and they were delicious. No sign of the swampy flavour or unpleasant texture of the last batch.

They had also grown a bit despite the short rations (tails hanging out more from the BBQ grill) and still had a bit of fat in the body cavities. Both were females. One had much pinker/orangier flesh than the other. I can now net a couple with minimal disturbance and have them killed and cleaned quickly with little mess and clean up. As they say, 'practice makes perfect'.

Pics, or it didn't happen!

Congrats on fixing issue!


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Excellent news that you got to have some great tasting home grown trouty goodness Joc

I had my first trout tonight as well (a bit earlier than planned through)!

Quite tasty!