Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

It's starting to warm up here, 38C today and heading for 41 on Monday (not quite as hot as Perth). My water temp hit 24C today and the trout are really struggling at the surface gulping for air. I wanted to harvest a few just in case I lost them all in the heat. It was the easiest fishing I've ever done. The fish are so lethargic that they are just sitting on the surface and all I had to do was scoop them up. I picked up 8, most of them around 28cm, and a total weight (gutted) of 1.5 kg (ave. 187.5g). There was one dead one who looked partly eaten and was covered in a fungus-like fur. I've still got about 8 trout left but I'm prepared to sacrifice them in the hot water as an experiment to see at what temp will they die. I'm getting some golden perch next week and if they are successful then I wont bother with trout next year.

How are the other trout people getting on now that its warming up?

The dead one...

Gross me out

Your plants would be loving that a lot more than our eyes!

KE14 - what did it smell like?

I found like you that at 23-24 degrees the trout were not so happy and rather than lose them they were all harvested, gutted and frozen.That was in mid Oct- Perth. It was also kinder, don't you think? I can't wait to grow Trout again next winter because they were so much fun to feed and grew quickly. They taste beautiful as well, with their delicate pink flesh.

Yuck , can't un-see something once its been seen.

Thanks for that, I think I'll skip breakfast this morning.

As for the trout versus goldies, It comes down to taste.. I like trout but only on the odd occasion, unless it's ocean trout (grown out i salt water). where as the goldies I could probably eat every other day.

However, the fish that I preffer over both is the Silvers, so I'm still hopeing to get more of these.

BTW nice work to get them this far, reading around you may be the last with winter stock..

H.

Wasn't very good. I double bagged it and I still had the smell up my nose.

VB - you say how grossed out you are and THEN ASK for descriptions of SMALL? You're a masochist!!! :-) in a good way I'm sure... I guess you're a sadist for letting us all hear the description of smell to associate with the picture.

KE, I harvested the last of my Trout last week as I was going on a few days holiday and saw that the hot weather was on the way. As it turned out it was just as well as my water temp was at 26.5c when I returned.
I have found that trout will survive at 24c ok as long as the water cools down again that night. Usually if you get just one hot day followed by a cool change you dont have a problem but with the forecast you have I would be harvesting them all now.
Your trout are very small for their age, dont you feed them?? Mine were between 700gm - 1kg when I knocked them on the head last week.

could you rig up a cheap cooler by running a hose through an esky filled with ice and circulating the water through it ? A bunch of water bottles cycling through the freezer should keep you with enough ice.

Many people keep cold water marine aquarium fish this way. Excepting that they use a small bar fridge or freezer and run the water through that.

Ice wouldn't last a day I wouldn't expect...

a few hours at best KP and no more than 20 minutes at 44c

How about that, a piece of the lamb tandoori i'm eating looks EXACTLY like that rotting fish.
*barf*
How much for trout fingerlings from a WA supplier? they seem to be fast growers and their a tasty fish