Types of fish for Adelaide

[Erich]

Im loving Aquaponics, I get excited when people come around and just want to talk and talk about vegies, fish and fish poo - makes my day

I will be expanding soon, to a multi Blue barrel system (have secured >25) so GBs and filtration is sorted. I will run 3 x 500 litre FT's (and have 3 x IBCs on standby) and put in 25 Barra in each - 75 in total (again, I will have a lot of filtration and getting rid of fish every week when ready). My 40 trout are going great, havent lost 1 so far - but Trout are my winter stock.

Im looking at something we all need to do and most would already do, that's keeping the continuous "poo machine" happening. So for me, im thinking Trout in March and Barra in Oct. There will be cross over and 2 different systems allows me to do that as Barra like >22 and trout like <20. I would like to add something extra as well, having a few smaller tanks allows me to do this.

What fish is suited in our Summer (with Barra but in different tanks) and the same in Winter with trout? Any help with temp ranges for the fish would be really great

[bigdaddy]

Hi Erich,

What about Jade perch in a different tank to your barra in the summer and maybe, silvers in a different tank than trout?but I believe it more like a 2 year grow out with your silver perches,so be prepared to keep them over summer which is OK because they are not as sensitive to higher water temps as trout(but still not a tropical fish).

Cheers.

[Erich]

cheers Big Daddy

Im not "to" fussed re grow out times, its the vegies im mainly after. Would like to grow 2 different lots of fish at the same time so that combination looks good, I just need to look at temp ranges of these

[RayH]

cheers Big Daddy

Im not "to" fussed re grow out times, its the vegies im mainly after. Would like to grow 2 different lots of fish at the same time so that combination looks good, I just need to look at temp ranges of these

The following is a direct quote from the Queensland DPI brocure on Jades.

"Aeration and water exchanges need to be increased when pond water temperatures exceed 30°C. Many farmers cease feeding when temperatures fall below 16°C. Growth rates decline rapidly when water temperatures fall below 20°C. Handling fish below 17°C may cause mortalities. Large-scale mortalities have occurred at temperatures in ponds below 13°C."

I hope the info helps.

RayH

[Erich]

Cheers

I have heaps of aeration cos I run trout now, and they are air hogs

The rest is interesting so it just proves I need to research more on this

[bigdaddy]

Sorry Erich,

Thanks for pointing that out Ray,I negleted to mention that Jades are more of warm water fish simmilar to barra but not as intolerant to lower temps,I'd be heating the water trying to keep it above 16C for those cold nights particulary say after March and before October.Barra don't want to be any colder than 20 C and once again with plenty of air which you have.My tank ocasionally gets down to 18 C for my barra,but that is pushing it IMO.

Cheers.

[GaryD]

Hi BD,

In SA, I'd go for trout in the winter, barra in the summer (in preference to jade perch - largely because you've can buy them in Adelaide and they also have a lot less bones than jades)......and silver perch (or possibly even catfish) for year round production.

While they won't grow much in the cold weather, they'll eventually provide you with some good food......and they're fairly robust.

Gary

[Erich]

Thanks BD and Gary - appreciate your feedback

[Erich]

Reading about Silver Perch - Temperature tolerance ranges from 20°C to 35°C. Optimum growth rates occur between 20°C to 30°C with negligible growth below 12°C. So whats a safe minimum?

Murray Cod looks like they can handle colder but suffer at >30C

[bigdaddy]

Hi Erich,

With your silver's temperature reading,I think that might be a bit to high,by memory.I reckon read up a fair bit more about the temp range.I remember last summer I moved my little tropical aquarium outside and did not take much notice of the fish on the real hot days ie 45 plus,remember?Until I cast a glance over one evening and saw I lost my Pakistani loach and my clown loach was just about on his last legs.I threw him into my barra tank(the barra were about 100 mm)took the temp of my tropical aquarium and it was 35 C !The barra tank was cruising at 32 C and the barra were fine.the next morning and a couple of 20 per cent water changes later I threw the clownie back in and he was as right as rain.Point is,these were tropical fish and they did not like 35 C water so I doubt the silvers would like it any where near that temp,I would suggest up to 28- 30 by memory but could be a bit off.I also think you could go down a lot lower than 20 that is the bottom end of my barra range.

Hi Gary I agree with you 100 percent on fish choice around here,I would/have chosen the same.Didn't know about the extra bones in the jades though,thanks for the tip.

Cheers.