I use these contraptions to feed and breed my fish.

the first one is a devise I made up to feed my fish.

It consist of a length of tie wire and a cork float, this system of feeding does many things it first allows me to supplement the natural food the fish find for themselves and to make sure fish are well fed it also allows me to check on the health of the fish. if fishes come up to near the surface and feeds vigorously then all is well. the wire is soft and easy to bend if a fish did get caught it can easily release itself. the cork is a leftover from my previous trade it is a natural substance its actually the bark of a tree its stuck together with latex adhesive witch is water based and cannot in any way hurt the fish.

The picture above shows a breeding box its made of ply wood and nailed together its about ninety by ninety  in diameter and six hundred in length   the long stick is so it can be fixed at a depth I generally keep it shallow these fish seem to prefer to nest nearer the surface usually less than a metre deep. I did use polypipe but decided to go with all natural products to try and imitate nature as closely as possible.

this is the kind of food I feed the blackfish this is a large Yabbie ( cherax destructor ) he was born and bred on this farm this one has been in a fight with another yabbie and has lost the tips of his nippers. wood grubs and moths are also used when available.

hi to mark in FNQ.

 

I should point out that fisheries have allowed me to sell Yabbies to the public this is to offset some of the cost of power and other resources used in breeding the River Blackfish this really only affects local readers ( proximity) of this blog and they are only for bait not eating if any one would like some yabbies I have about five dozen at the moment but as it warms I will have more. you will need to call 0407843998

below are some winter yabbies I got this morning they are to big for bait but are a good size for breeding so they went back into the bottom dam. I should also point out that if you want yabbies to grow to this size in your dam you need to feed them, these yabbies are fed on silage, the silage was placed into the dam early in the autumn.

For all those people in Australia and  around the world here is an update of the new dam.

Notice the bird wire in the background covering 2/3/4 ponds.

I think the no 1 problem facing fish farmers is birds, some birds will catch and eat the fish others will leave that many droppings that it can affect the water quality so to keep them out I have constructed a bird net over ponds 2/3/4 I set the net at about 2.3 metres so as to allow access under it.

this is before the net went up

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this after the net went up

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I just have put a some along the front and create a doorway for access and it will be complete .

 

The new dam is filling nicely and should have fish by the end of summer.

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Vegetation will be next both in the water and alongside, a shelter will be built over the flat rock and the track around will have sandstone gravel on it.

I will stock yabbies and shrimp for food this along with insects will be a good start, all things going well I will have a dam full of blackfish in a few years.

I have started to erect  bird wire over  2/3/4 ponds today, I stood up 14 posts  with the help of a local bobcat driver and I will string fencing wire over the top of the posts to eventually support the bird wire.

We had good rain overnight this made the ground soggy but I am grateful for the rain, it will help fill the dams tanks and ponds.

The large green bundle on the deck of pond 4 is the bird wire.

I have taken the opportunity during this fairly quiet  time on the farm to empty and refill pond no 1 this is the pond where the first fish I bred came from. the fish in this pond were sourced from a farm dam and the genetics were a concern so to take away those concerns I will populate the pond with fish from nearby streams not all from the one place so as not to impact to heavily on a small population, somewhere from six to ten fish to make sure I have a breeding pair.

 

As you can see I doubled the air and added more breeding boxes, weed growth is good and there are plenty of yabbies as well copepods water beetles and so on. the pond itself is about 2 metres deep sloping at each end, length is about 8 metres and about 5 metres wide. if the rain keeps coming it will be full in a couple of days.

UPDATE: I would like to thank all the 1744 people who view this blog it is my view that awareness will be all important in the fight to save these iconic fish.

I have attained  a permit from fisheries to sell my Blackfish to the public . On a personal note I am also thrilled to  be acknowledged by fisheries to be the first to breed and rear Blackfish in a aquaculture system.

Because I now hold this permit it will allow me grow the farm and produce more Blackfish.

Any one who has tried to grow and breed  blackfish will know that they are notoriously hard to farm so there are no guarantees however all things going well I should have plenty of fish to sell this season ( around Christmas ) I will have to record to whom I sell so names and addresses will be needed the price will  $20 for fingerlings and $100 for yearlings if available.

 

 

Habitat is without doubt the most fundamental element to have in a waterway, in these pictures I show both natural and artificial, both will do the same job however the natural one looks better and imparts nothing to the water, if you are replacing habitat in a natural stream or river then looks become important in a farm dam or pond then not so much.

Above is a natural hollow log.

The depth of habitat is also important I place mine at different levels starting at just 600mm and going as deep as 1.5 mtrs oddly enough the fish prefer the shallower one I suspect the water surface temperature  plays a part in that.

During the winter months I start the process of producing food for the young fish that will hatch in the spring , firstly I plant lots of insect attracting plants in or near the water, l place solar lights close to the edge of the water to attract insects, I have clumps of limestone in the water this helps keep the P/H down, later I will introduce some nutrient such as cow manure or blood and bone this will encourage algal growth and along with the sun this will produce plankton which will feed the young fish.

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As you can see the dam is coming along, the grass on the bank is doing ok it would do better if I fertilised it however some of that nutrient would flow into the dam and contribute to the growth of algae, there will be enough nutrient in the water that enters the dam because it comes mainly from farm land.

In the foreground you can see native grasses that we planted today this grass is by far the best way to filter water.

Also in the video you can see a soaker hose secured to the dam floor this will act as an aerator once the dam fills.

We have not had enough rain to fill the dam yet however both of the bowls are holding so we wait for rain.