breeding my own fish

[kate]

Hi all,
I am brand new to both aquaponics and this site. We have not yet installed our system - but soon hopefully! Any pitfalls I should be aware of as a novice?
I have searched the web for best fish varieties for the lower blue mountains - we do not plan to warm the water in winter. I have heard perch is good in cold water. I want the lowest maintenance possible. We have 3 x cubic metre tanks, and will convert our 20000L above ground pool as the main pond. Sound okay?
I have checked out finderling prices with a few websites - any suggestions there are welcome. What I am most interested in is being able to breed my own fish, so I never have to buy fingerlings again. It's not so much a finance issue, but we really want to become independent with our food production. It is an important goal for us.
So, which fish are most readily bred at home an an aquaponics system? How do I 'assist' - eg, stop eggs being eaten. How do I indentify male and female fish? Would i pull out a male and female and put them in one of the smaller cubic metre tanks for breeding, and then once the eggs are laid, put the parent fish back in the main pond?
Is there any literature that would support my forays into fish breeding? (Most of my seraches have come up with breeding goldfish, tropical fish etc).
Any help/advice is sincerely appreciated - and i hope oneday i am able to contribute something useful in return.
With thanks
kate

[Murray]

Hi Kate, you are most welcome here.
Ask as many questions as you like. You may not always get the answer straight away, but it will happen.
So much to cover.
Most Australian natives are particularly difficult to breed in captivity. The hatcheries use hormones at the right time to produce a result.
There are 4 day courses, one at Grafton TAFE that teaches how to do such things.
Some species are easy to breed in captivity but generally are not able to be eaten.
I recommend that you obtain "The Urban Aquaponics Manual" to give you a really good background in Aquaponics at home. The basics are covered there.
Silver Perch and/or Murray Cod would be best for you I feel. Water temp can become a real issue in winter. A good greenhouse to house your system will go a long way towards helping with temp issues.

PS, as Martin says, Yabbies are easily bred at home and are really good eating.

[Martin A1]

G'Day Kate and welcome! It's great to see more women getting onboard!!

Wow you have some ambitious plans there!

From most accounts, Silver Perch are your best bet I reckon'. You might also try a mixture of yabbies as well. I managed to breed some myself first season in so it can't be too hard see the thread on Yabbies under the FISH category

A great hatchery is here http://www.aquablueseafoods.com.au/. A further look into it and I reckon' you will find that there is a lot of science and investment on many levels that goes into fish breeding. As a novice I am leaving it to the experts.

But don't let me dampen your enthusiasm! Heck if you can prove a reliable way to breed your own fish then be sure to share the love with all on this forum.

Lastly, a 20,000ltr pool sounds awesome but rather scary for a novice like me all at the same time. I have struggled with getting my 1800 ltr system up and going (made some obvious mistakes in hindsight). I would recommend you start small and work upwards. Enjoy one last summer in your pool and spend the first twelve months getting your first few systems up and going.

There are plenty of people on the forum willing to share their ideas, knowledge and experience so you have come to the perfect place. Murray's recommendation to invest in the Manual by Gary is a good start. Trawl through the threads people have done on their new and established systems. You will get a lot of the good the bad and the ugly from the novice level like me all the way to guru's like Gary, Murray and Fishfood to name but a few.

What ever happens please keep us posted as your experience & contribution will be added to the collective pool of the forum for others to leverage!!

[echidna]

About the only fish that breed in farm dams are Sleepy Cod and Eel-tailed catfish and that seems to be a long-term proposition. Since for all intensive purposes you have a "farm dam" unless you want to get into hormone inducement, there's no current fish available except for the two I mentioned. Even then, you'll need to check NSW regulations as to whether they are acceptable species and whether your water temperatures will be within the acceptable ranges. As to becoming independent, perhaps you should consider that Aboriginal groups in northern Victoria practiced eel aquaculture for thousands of years and eels only breed in the ocean. Yes, elvers naturally found their way back to the water sources, but not having total control of the life cycle didn't stop a very long term and successful aquaculture industry.

[GaryD]

Hi Kate,

While I don't want to pour water on your ambition to breed your own fish, I would recommend that you get some experience at raising them first.

Aside from the specialised skills and knowledge you'll need to breed most native freshwater fish, you'll need suitable broodstock. Most hatchery operators are licensed to catch these from the wild.....and such licenses are difficult to obtain.

I love the idea of your use of a 20,000 litre pool to raise fish but, as Martin suggests, start off with something a little smaller until you develop your skills and confidence.....particularly since you already seem to have some smaller tanks.

.....and I endorse Murray's recommendation that you buy "The Urban Aquaponics Manual" (as you'd expect).

Gary

[kate]

Wow, I am very thankful for the time you all took to respond.
We bought an aquaponics manual a year ago, and have been preparing ever since (including moving house last december) - i will check if it is the one you recommend - my husband is hoarding it somewhere. If ours is different, i shall invest in the one recommended. i wish I lived near Griffith - I would love to do a course.
We are happy to use the pool as a swimming pool for this hot season - the 13y.o. daughter is also pleased by this news!
To state the bleeding obvious, fish breed - it seems to be an animal kingdom impluse! I wonder what conditions make it more difficult for them to do it in captivity? I still aspire to achieve this. . . one day.
How quickly does perch mature (ie, how long before we can eat one), and how long do they live? Eventually when we do include our 20000L swimming pool, how many could be kept in there for their comfort? And if we ultimately ran 23000L of fish water though our garden system, would there be a minimum amount of garden beds required to adequately filter the fish water?
I am sure these are covered in the book you recommend.
I like the idea of yabbies, and I am sure my husband will love that!
I will also check out the stock site you recommended.
Thanks again - and I do love this site. It is the first time I have ever got involved in an internet forum - but somehow aquaponics matters a great deal to me!
Until next time,
thanks
Kate

[echidna]

Have a look at these two pages to see some of the process of inducing native fish to breed.

http://www.nativefish.asn.au/hatchery.html
http://www.nativefish.asn.au/basstrial.html

It can be done, but it's complicated and can be very expensive so for most people it's just easier to buy fingerlings from a reputable hatchery.

[Mr Big]

Go to Richmond TAFE they have a course on aquaculture one night a week, and they also have silver perch and cat fish in the front dam. If you want to learn about hatchery stuff go to natfish and do the course it takes about a week at Grafton. I did the course a few years ago. I worked in your area a few years ago and was called on the odd time to go and pull fingerings out of pools because fish had spawned. It can be done but watch out for fisheries they are cracking down on backyard breeders that do not have permits or council approval.(because of koi breeders) If they spawn do not try to sell them in NSW without the permit. Keep them for your self and good luck.

Good book silver perch culture by Stuart Rowland you get it from Fisheries at Grafton

[Murray]

That is so right echidna, but "one day" it is one of those things I would like to be able to do, but I would possibly still buy them from a hatchery.
Thanks Mr Big for the book title, that would be a good place to start.
That is interesting about the Silvers spawning. I delivered some grow beds to a guy near Noosa a few months back and he had two dams with heaps of Silvers in them. He said that he put some in the dams several years back and they spawn every other year or two. He felt it was to do with rainfall and how much fresh flowed through the dams.
Is that a possibility ?

[Mr Big]

In 1967 Lake a Biologist from Nsw fisheries was able to induce a spawning in a pond by quickly raising the water level only 15 cm once the temperture had reached 23 c. If fish do spawn in a pond, very few eggs will be recovered.