What id the best fish at this point of time?

[BlueWolf]

Hi there
I read the whole thread, very interesting on the whole issue of breeding. However I'm still not sure what the best fish is to get started with. For me would be most important:
- easy to look after
- best eating and
- best money when selling

Any advice would be appreciated. My fish would need to like it in the Hunter Valley area of NSW

Regards
Wolf

[Murray]

Do you get frosts at Dungog ? You are back in the hills a fair bit from the coast......Silver perch may be your best bet.

[Dufflight]

Silvers are great. And catfish are fun but not sure how they sell. A lot of people tell me they are great eating.

[BlueWolf]

Hi again
Where we are, 20 's out of Dungog up on a ridge that is 250m above sea level we don't get frosts but it does get cool, down to 10 degrees or so and less overnight sometimes.
My main concern about silvers is that no one seems to know about them and I'm not sure how well they would sell, nor have I been able to buy any to have a taste.
I'm planning to get to what you seem to call a cottage size aquaponics system eventually (small commercial size) and see the selling of fish as an important income stream. Would it better to put my learning into growing Barramundis to ensure I have fish that are good eating and have a ready market?

Also I went to the Fish CoOp in Newcastle yesterday and they had farmed Barrington Perch. Anybody know anything about that species?

[Murray]

Barrington Perch is a trade name for Silver Perch.

It is a bit like the Barcoo Grunter which has been named Jade Perch in an effort to make them more acceptable to the buying public.

Barrington Lodge and other eco type tourist places have a certain air about them and I guess that is the idea to market things a bit better by creating a connection to that sort of thing. Make it a bit yuppie I expect.

Good on them I reckon... If it popularises Silver Parch, that is a good thing for all of us in the end.

See this website re Hunter Valley wine, Barrington Perch (Silver Perch) etc. http://www.hunterfoodandwine.com.au/barrington/perch.html

Not far from you either....so that would be an obvious choice I would think...

[GaryD]

Hi,

What about the growth limitation on Silver perch in tank systems? I keep hearing that often they will not grow out past 350g in recirculating tanks...and they're a two year grow out anyway.

I'd be inclined to consider Barramundi.....and you may even be able to grow a crop of trout in the cold season.

You need to reconcile your choice of fish with your climate....and with your preferred management regime. It goes without saying that, if you can't find a market for your fish, you might be better restricting your fish production to your own kitchen needs.

Gary

[Dufflight]

Most of my silvers are getting to the 40cm mark and I've had them for 6 months but they were large fingerlings. Not sure how much they weigh. They are getting rare in the rivers and I'm sure your not allowed to take them out of the rivers anymore. Might be a marketing angle. Plus they will live on aglae and that has to be cheaper with feeding. And small mouths so they won't eat each other.

[chobbzy]

silver perch are good in NSW, but if you are thinking of selling them you will need a licence or permit from the "DPI" department of primary industries
heres the link.
chobbzy
http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au

[BlueWolf]

Thanks guys, excellent info.
Who would have thought that Barrington Perch is actually silver perch. When I asked the guy at the fish coop if Barrington Perch are the same as Silver Perch he said: "No,no totally different fish".

I found this report on Silver Perch that is well worth reading:
http://www.australian-aquacultureportal.com/PDF/industry_finfish_silverperch.pdf

Also thanks for the pointer to DPI, a lot of good info there. Will need to look into the permit thingy.

[aussieap]

Next time you go into the fish co-op, get the guy to try and explain the exact difference between Barrington and Silver Perch. I'm tipping the only difference will be the retail price point of the two.

[Outbackozzie]

If you can keep your temps up during winter, Silvers would be the go. They really suffer much below 12 degrees of water temp.

[BlueWolf]

Thanks for the advice. I'm now seriously considering silvers. I'm going to buy one next week to eat as the final step of my decision making process. At the end of the day the fish has to taste good, doesn't it.

Wolf

[aussieap]

trust me, silvers taste good. Make sure it has been purged before eating. It will get rid of any pond/pellet flavours that may still be in their system.

[BlueWolf]

How do you purge them?

[Outbackozzie]

In a tank of clean water, with no food for 2 weeks or so. Gets rid of the pellet flavour. Aparently.

Some people swear that you have to purge them. Others say that AP fish dont require purging because of the cleaner water (than pond raised fish).
I am yet to get to the purging stage with Silvers.

[jack@badflas]

Can't say about silvers, but for tilapia it makes a huge difference even in pristine water. My tilapia get a lot of belly fat. They live off that for the week I purge them. Without purging they are pretty gamy. After a week, they just lose the fat, not the meat, and they taste awesome!

[aussieap]

Blue, I found 4-5 days in a salt solution of 5ppt was fine. You need to run ur water thru a bio etc as normal and just drain back to the tank. They empty their gut the first day and get those potential off flavours out of their system over the next 3-4 days.
Silvers have a pretty good salt tolerance so if you wanted to try and impart some of that saltiness into the flavour of the fish, you could bump up the purge concentration a little higher.
For this reason, I reckon purged aquaponic trout in high salt purging tanks would be brilliant. Trout can handle fresh water thru to seawater. I will be giving this a thorough testing in my commercial pilot.