Murrays Aquaponic systems

[nick]

murray are your big jades feeding at the moment, mine are 20cm long (maybe?) and seemed to have completely stopped feeding.They have slowed down enough that I can catch them with a small net. any way keen to here what yours are doing?

[Murray]

Hi Nick,
My bigger Jades are not feeding much. I feed them every second day with a very, very few pellets. I have duck weed in their tanks most of the time and also giving them lettuce and so on.
They take what they want of the green feed.
I have allowed the duckweed to run down in the tanks because of the "Afternoon in the Greenhouse" this Sunday....so the participants can see the fish....but it will be more duckweed come Monday.
I am keeping the water temps at or above 15 with the aid of the gas heater and some aquarium heaters in the smaller tanks.

Just came down (3:30 am) to check on the fish. Main tank and two other systems hooked together for the winter and being heated by the instant HWS...water temp 17.5

Hospital tank with 300 + fingerlings = 20.8 deg

Outside air temp = 6 deg

One other Jade tank has a couple of 300 watt aquarium heaters and is struggling a bit this morning at 12 deg.

I have noticed in previous winters if the water temp gets below 15 Jades will really slow right down...but if they have some size on them they seem to get through the cold ok.

[Murray]

Moving a system is much easier with a forklift.
We have another show to do and it is a pain trying to set up a decent display for a 4 day event. Hopefully this time we can transport a complete system without disturbing it too much.

[Byron]

home show at RNA this weekend?

[Murray]

Yeah, and we are no where near ready.
Big panic right now trying to get a kit to be able to be there by 7 am

[Byron]

shoul have just left it there after the Ekka

[Murray]

We wanted to but they would not let us do that.
We started this morning at 4 am to load the system and get it in there to the Home Show.
Finally finished setting up at 10:00 am. It was a bit stressful but all ok.

Hope the fish survive the poor treatment in moving we were rushing so much. This is the second trip in there for some of them. (the ones that escaped the cooking demos at the Ekka)
Maybe they will get used to being moved around.

[Byron]

maybe after this time you can 'store' it at my place im only just up the road hehehe

[bill newton]

when you get to heaven murray - there'll be a big jade perch behind a barbeque waiting for you - he'll have an apron on and a fish slice in his fin and an evil grin on his face -he'll be saying "hello murray - i've been waiting for you!!"

[Castaway]

Ha! Ha! I reckon the Jade's will get their revenge on Murray too. They have his face on a wanted poster (like Pol Pot) in Jade Fish heaven!