Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Make fish food out of lupins? Or high-energy granola bars?

i thought that too but ya never know

If you crack the kernels when harvested bf, you get a better protein yield. Dunno why but read it recently.

yeah janet guessed correctly. go to the top of the class.

i want to experiment with lupins as fish feed. had a shopping bag full of lupin seeds from the uwa breeding program just sitting there. i believe they were bred for their protein content but not positive. i've had little time to plant out vegies however have a few cucumber, tomato and chilli plants amongst the lupin. i wanted to put a heap of lupin seeds in as i had them on hand and they were easy enough to plant. just threw a few handfuls of seeds in each bed. they seem to be thriving under the conditions. i will be planting more fruit and vegies when i have the time. the beauty about the lupins is they are taking up a lot of nitrates just in time for the barra.

so basically the lupins are being used for fish feed experiments and nitrate uptake. unfortunately i lost my nitrate test kit so can't test the levels. may need to get a new tester before i get the barra to be sure.

so what is a comfortable nitrate level for barra? any idea's? my ammonia levels should be good but will check tomorrow. if necessary i will do a water change however don't feel it will be a problem. the goldies are looking fabulous and thats as good an indicator as any.

hmmm, sounds interesting. any idea where you read about it?

From the article....



There's a table listing element and protein values for whole seeds and kernels.

hi all,

just did some water quality tests.

ammonia- 0
ph- 7.6
temp- 22

so by the looks of it i should be good to go.

just need to get a nitrate tester today then off to get the barra tomorrow.

woohoo.

Woohooo to you tooo

Hey, Rupe, thanks for posting that link.

Bio, did you grade them into your tanks, given you have 3-4, or were you just trying to keep 'em alive and didn't have time to think about it?

they haven't been graded as there was no time. when i pick my ones up in a weeks time i will grade them into my system. i have opted to lower the number to 50 and use 2 tanks for them. i will use 100 smaller silvers in the other 2 tanks. i intend to grow out the silvers all year and use the other 2 tanks for barra in summer and trout in winter. this way i should always have something on the go.

ripper plan

perpetual harvest. once i get my act together i'll do the same with the plants. been focusing more on the fish at this point. perhaps fill half the bed with perennials and the other half with annuals. this way the system is always taking out enough nitrate for optimal fish health.

finally my big (can't call them little) beauties have arrived home. never thought the day would come. they enjoyed their stay at uncle joel's however are happy to be home.

it was a very interesting expirience netting them out of the tank. unlike my stubborn goldies some of the barra were almost eager to be netted. i think its probably a testament to the supplier who treats his fish with much care. they almost seemed trained to enter the net. having said this there were a number that were very keen to stay in the tank.

what are other peoples experiences like with netting barra?

one thing to note is i was using a new net which is rubber rather then fibre. it worked a treat for handling the fish with minimal stress. only problem was some smaller ones were getting caught in the mesh, so not good for smaller sizes. its an absolute ripper net though and i'm glad i found it.

will take some pics of the barra and the new net soon. im stoked things went so well today after last weeks expirience.

and so the journey begins (finally).

Where did you get the net BF... and how much.... pic would be nice also