Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I am not sure what the minimum purchase is, but I have the impression it is 100. I had never asked the question because I always intended to get 100 to start with. The guy there was very helpful and keen to assist. He told me the Jade Perch were not as hardy as the Silver Perch, so I am a little surprised at the deaths of the Silver Perch. Anyway, tonight is getting very cold here, so I hope the Jade perch will be ok with the drop in temp. It will get down to about 12 tonight
Gee, I am sounding like a new Dad!!!!

Tomorrow I will wrap the tank with some insulation material, just to make sure for the cold nights ahead.......

I have always wanted some Jade Perch,but according to the info on the Qld Gov site re what you can keep and where, I am not able to have Jade Perch here....but today I discovered that one can keep species that are banned for farm dams and impoundments in your area - in a tank. So I am very pleased at being able to keep Jade Perch. I had rung ahead and ordered the 100 Silver Perch and only discovered that I could keep the Jade Perch when I was talking with the guy... He was more than happy to change my order on the spot and split 50 Silver and 50 Jade.
Murray

What's the attraction of Jade Perch Murray?

Overnight I have lost almost all my 50 Silver Perch --- very sad - only thing I can think of is lack of an aerator, which I have just put in there, most of the Jade perch are OK - funny thing that, the Guy at the hatchery told me the Jade were more delicate than the Silver. The Silver are very small , only about 25 or 30mm long, maybe that has something to do with it, very much a steep learning curve at this stage.

I have just finished cleaning out all the dead fish by using a syphon tube and I have lost 64 fish altogether. - 15 Jade Perch and all the Silver Perch. (except one which I can't see but it must be there)

I have a good source of air going into the tank now - so we will see if there are any more losses.

I feel sick !!! Anyway, it is all good experience.
It just goes to show, one reads all the stuff, but still there are knowledge gaps to be filled in.
I have spoken at length to the hatchery and it would appear that the aeration is the problem - big time.
Very basic stuff, but I missed it.
Also, according to the hatchery, the old gal tank could be a problem with the possibility of oxidisation of the metal giving off chemical traces. These factors combined with the smallness of the silver perch and the natural shock of them being transported adds up to the losses.
It would appear, according to the hatchery guy that aeration is absoloutly essential right from the first minute.
I wish he had told me that when I picked up the fish !!!!!! I intended to put the air in first thing this morning, but too late obviously.
The hatchery guy says that lack of aeration is much more of a problem at night than during the day.
I am putting this up on the Forum for the benifit of all, even though I feel like a bit of a dill.

Regards Murray

Condolences Murray, there I was reading through your posts getting all excited about the fact that you had your fish, only to discover that it all ended in heartache...

Though I am concerned at the fact that 5 had died before you even got out of the hatchery... Silver perch are tough. Out of the 130 I just bought recently not one has died, and when they first went into the tank there was no extra oxygenation, apart from the normal pump return which I guess does add a fair bit... It just doesn't seem right for all of them to die like that.....

What size tank did you put them into Murray? This isn't your fibreglass tank as yet I'm guessing.... Yes, he's right that the aeration is more of a problem at night, but that is only when you have some form of plant matter in your water, like algae. If the water is fresh and the tank was clean (no algae), it shouldn't make any difference, night or day as to the oxygen consumption..

Did you have any sort of pumping or water movement happening?

Well thanks for sharing your info Murray, it's good for everyone to learn from each others mistakes..... Though to me it does still sound a little fish that 5 had died straight away, of all the fish that I've bought over the years, I have never had one die whilst packing, transporting or during stocking. Within a couple of hours of stocking maybe minor loses, but I don't think you should be too harsh on yourself or your actions when they were dieing before you even got your hands on them....

Best of luck with the remainder...
Joel

Where did you get them from Murrray. Reason I ask is that South East Queensland Fish (out past Beenleigh) say on their website that the fingerlings are at least 50mm in length. I had thought you must have bought them there, but maybe not!

Hi V-Boy,

Yes I got them at that same hatchery and it would be stretching it to say these are 50mm long. As the day goes by, I have removed the fingerlings/fry from the old galvanised tank and placed them in a F/g Trough/GrowBed I have here 300mm deep x 1400 long x 530 wide = 200 ltr capacity.

Gave it a through wash out and put fresh tank water it it and , start again !!!
Got air coming from a spare 14 cfm compressor in the shed, regulated back and filtered, so there is plenty of air.

The Jade Perch that are ok are swimming around looking good, I have about 6 sick looking ones that are alive but are spending most of their time lying on their sides or upside down.....maybe some will come good, some will die, we will see over the next few days, then when it all settles down I will try again with a fresh lot of Silver and Jade Perch.

But I think I will ring around and get them from somewhere else.
I don't know enough about this yet to make any big announcement, but I don't think it is 100% my fault that I have had this massive disaster. (maybe 80% - not sure - but I sure am learning fast !!)

Murray

Murray - rang them myself today to check on minimum numbers. Was advised no minimum and would bag me up a single fish if that was what I wanted. I asked them about size and they admitted they are not 50mm at present. Unless given another option I will probably have to give them a go. Don't want to go all the way to esk and pay $2 per fingerling. Let me know if you find any alternatives.

BTW What is the attraction of the Jade Perch. Might have to try some myself.

Hi Veggie Boy,
The attraction of Jade Perch is that they grow out to table size 20 to 30% faster than Silver, they are higher in the Omega oils and they look nice having a distinctive "Jade" colouration along their topsides. Evidently they are easier to breed than Silver, evidently they come to sexual maturity easily when grown out in tanks and have high rates of success in this area. I am not currently interested in breeding my own fish stocks, but you never know where this crazy thing called "Aquaponics" will lead you. (It's all Joel's fault)
I have been talking with another hatchery that still has stocks of Jade and Silver and frequently ships to Brisbane via McCaffetys bus service. Cost of shipping and packing is 28.00 I will buy another lot of Silver and Jade in about 3 to 4 weeks when I have overcome my tendencies to "Slaughter" fish and I have everything working well in this small F/g tank.
You are in the Brisbane area VB aren't you ? Perhaps we could share a shipment from this hatchery at Childers ? I am thinking of 50 Jade 50 Silver ..... perhaps we could go 50/50 or 60/40 split - whatever suits your needs........they appeared to be very willing to help...I am sure they will bag them up for us however we want and get them into one box...save on freight.
The guy at this hatchery in Childers was very informative re my fish "slaughter" - problem , 1- lack of air,
2 -Poor prep at the hatchery, the tank the Silver was held in at the hatchery was undoubtly very much under aerated to start with.
3 Using an old Galvanized (metal) tank. (he made it very clear that it is his belief that fish should never be in galvanised tanks, although Joel obviously uses steel tanks.)
4 - The hatchery holding tank for the Silver was in a temp controled room, so the first night in my gal tank with no air was just too much for the Silver. - The Silver are also a bit small so all these factors added up to disaster.
On the other hand the Jade are bigger and came out of an outdoor pond with better aeration.
Sorry about the long winded reply....Aquaponics makes you like that !!!!
Murray

Another update on my fish kill - found that the beautiful tank water I used for the Fish tank is off the end of the scale for alkalinity, so I am in the process of correcting that.
Water temp dropped last night to 10 C which doesn't help - installed a water heater today to bring the temp up.
Small things !!! but they are fish killers !!!
Murray

My Galv tanks have an aquaplate lining in them Murray, as in they are made specifically for storing drinking water..... So I don't think that the water actually comes into contact with the steel at all.

Must admit that I'm still quite amazed at the price and quality of the fish your getting. I must have just had a fantastic deal here I guess from where I got mine. All fish welll over 200mm, averaging close to 300g each, not one death, and $2.60 a fish....

What my Fault......? It can become quiet adictive.....

Hi Murray – sorry to hear about your problems.

I would certainly be interested in sharing a shipment, but maybe not this time around Murray. Reason is that I will only be getting a few fish this time (20 or less) because:

1. I am still operating with a very small tank (350 litres)
2. I have a tiny grow bed while I await your fantastic fibreglass beds to be ready
3. Unless I was picking up my first fibreglass bed from you at the same time, it would not be a worthwhile exercise coming out to Maclean to get the small number of fish as well as paying for sipping and handling. I am on the Northside about 25 km North of city.

I will probably give SEQ fish a go. Because of the small number of fish I will be getting and the small size of my tank, it may be viable for me to provide some climate control for a week or 2 to acclimatise them.

I like the sound of the Jade Perch. Will probably get some of them myself. Will be interesting to compare them and the Silver beside each other to see the true growth rate differences etc.

Temperature is still a real concern for me. My place is obviously colder than yours. It got down to 10 degrees in the shed last night. I may well have to build some sort of greenhouse and/or set up some sort of solar heating. Also, it is clear to me now that I should be getting the biggest tank possible – which will help in minimising temperature fluctuations. I think I will look to get 5000 litre tank and just operate on a low ratio of tank to bed. There is always the possibility then of continuing to add more grow beds as budget allows.

Am very interested in a couple of things about your proposed new supplier. In particular, how much are the fingerlings each?

Hi VB,
The prices are the same - 1.00 each for the Silver and I think 0.75 or 0.80 for the Jade.
I won't be getting any more for a month or two at this stage, wait a bit to see how things pan out with the few "poor little mongrels" I have left, and I want to finish the first F/G fish tank for my own use. It will have 25mm of PU foam on all sides and bottom with F/g over the top of that to provide good insulation. It is very important to maintain ideal temps, I am beginning to realise.
Take a look at the photos of the first grow bed in the section on equipment - earthbound put some up for me this afternoon.
That one can be yours if you like.
On earthbound's advice I am changing the outlet pipe to a larger size and will be making up the distribution grid in the next few days, then I will pop a few out for my own use and for anyone who wants them.
Murray

Hi Murray & VB,

Give this company a go,

the owner brought down 66 silver perch for me with him on a domestic virgin blue flight! (don't mention this i think it was hush hush and wouldn't expect him to do it again )\

The reason i mention it is that they were sealed 33 per box (polystyrene) and probably went through hell on the flight. i had 100% survival rate. Some times where the fish come from and how healthy they are can be a real factor. All it takes to tip them over the edge if they are not healthy is a bit of stress, dumping them into a different water temp and or PH that what they were shipped in.

And their website is VERY good, lots of info.

And bruce is a VERY nice guy

http://www.ausyfish.com/introduction.htm

hope this helps

Steve

Thanks Steve, i will give them a try when I next get some Jade Perch
Murray

Damn they have some great pics on their website...... Thanks for that Steve.. The work experience pics show some amazing things, I'd never heard of an Australian lung fish, and they are huge.....