We had our first Rainbow Trout harvest last month. I have Bluegill, Hybrid Stripped Bass and Trout in my tank. I'll raise more Trout next go round, they grew fast and taste great!
There are a couple of local national suppliers but the smallest quantity they sell is 50lb bags and I don't want the pellets to spoil, so I'm buying my food from Aquaticeco.com the F2C 1/8" floating and F2E 1/4" floating. they have smaller for fingerlings, but I bought my trout at 3-4" size. Right now they are over 2lbs and 14" or so long. I was concerned that they would not do well in the warmer water as summer comes, but I'm told by my supplier that they may slow down on eating but they will go through the summer fine. My system is in a greenhouse and last summer the tank temperatures stayed below 75. The tank has risen up to 72 degrees a few days this spring and so far the trout have coninued to feed strong (as the picture posted by Rupert shows). When you feed, be prepared to take a bath.
hi everybody,
I haven't started to grow anything yet, (still fine tuning), as im in ireland i may be raising trout, it gets cold here. I would really appreciate any advice about trout, feeding, temperature, water, or any info that might help me, useful links would be great also, thank's.
Well, trout are carnivorous so they require a feed that is high in protein. They also like cool - cold temps (below 55F) and loads of oxygen. Anyone else with thoughts?
They are great eating, the only downside is that plants like warmer termps, and cucumbers and tomatoes won't grow or set fruit below 68. But from a pure fish perspective, Rainbow Trout are my favorite to eat, and the grow fast. From what I've gathered, they can survive down to close freezing (although they won't eat.) and up to 77 , but like 50-64 the best. I'm trying to keep them 68-70, a balance between the needs of the plants and the needs of the fish. They do require higher O2 levels than many others, with 7-8ppm for good health and growth. In my case, I had to double the aeration in my system to get the O2 levels up.
Trout are looking perfect for my area (zone 1- can't grow tomatoes without a greenhouse) as my water has been barely over 70 even after a week of full sun. I want to build another system out in the trees, and Chris has convinced me that Wasabi would be a good cash crop at my elevation. It's love of shade and cold running water makes it look to be a perfect match for rainbow trout. I'm resigned to only trying to grow cool weather/high elevation crops anyway- the standard garden fair just isn't working here.
I have Tilapia in my system now but am looking into Trout as in Santa Barbara the water is hard to keep up to 75 Degrees. I can easily keep water at 65 degrees. I am looking into starting another 350 gal tank for the trout. There are several suppliers within 150 miles of my house, so stocking is no problem. What do I have to do to start trout--more aeration, ph, H2O circulation???
Thanks in advance Andy
Jordan, when I had my trout bin I just focused on springtime crops like you have indicated below. I"m pretty certain all those plants survive spring snow here, so you should be fine. You might want to add spinach and snap peas to your list!
Jordan in my experience they did tolerate crowding so long as you provide sufficient oxygen levels (trout are more sensitive) However, my experience also says that if you are just running a home-hobby system .5lbs per gallon of any fish is to much. You can do it, but without extra filtration, the solids will plug up your grow beds. My next rotation for my personal system will be at 1/2 the density of the last time. At the lower levels the gravel beds are able to break down the solids and provide good filtration. Yields will be lower because there are few species that grow as fast as Tilapia, or that tolerate such a wide range of conditions as Tilapia, but in my experience, trout are a great second choice (and for hobby systems, I think a great first choice).
Jordan, there are folks in Australia that advocate switching between cold weather and warm weather fish depending on the season, but I don't know if anyone is actually doing it. The problem is that requires that each fish grows to marketable size in 6 months - which is a pretty tall order. From what I've seen and read, trout are marketable in 9 - 12 months from fry, and the fasted growing warm weather fish will take the same amount of time. Unless you can figure out how to grow them faster, or start with a bigger fish to begin with, you will have too much overlap between fish types to make seasonal adjustments viable. Sorry
Theoretically it's possible to do so Sylvia, at least here in Australia, as we do have species which can be grown out in 6 months, Trout and Barramundi.
However, both have temperature tolerance ranges that mean in reality you need to be prepared to heat, in the case of Barramundi, or possibly chill in the case of Trout, your tank water.
Trout fingerlings when stocked are actually "yearlings", 9-12 months old, and can easily be grown out to plate size (400-500 gms) in six months.
As can Barramundi, if you can source them early enough above 100 mm and you get a good summer temperature range, and/or heat them.
All fish are oxygen dependant, but Trout are highly dependant.
I pump, via 12 air stones, 6000 L/H of air into my 7-7500 L Trout tank.
It is possible, as myself and a few others have found, to grow Trout well beyond the 1 kg mark, even through summer.
But only with highlevels of oxygenation, careful water management, low or no feeding, and constant observation.
The trouble is, as your tank temperature rise through summer, the oxygen carrying capacity of the water naturally diminishes, at the very time when the size of your stock, and fed rates are approaching their highest level of oxygen demand.
RupertofOZ, good to have an example of an Aussie who is actually doing this. I don't think I was saying it was not possible, but rather that you need to "start with a bigger fish to begin with". Your plan of starting with yearling fish is certainly an importantl factor here.
Now you ask the hard questions, can you make money in temperate climates. I know my hobby system is expensive as winter heating is my #1 cost. Nelson and Pade are in the same climate, but I haven't seen any data from their demonstration greenhouse. Probably your best bet for info is to visit GrowingPower.org, they claim to be doing it. They are next on my list to visit.
Looks like I'm on my way to killing off my latest batch of trout.
I have a small (150 gallon) tank in the basement and this is my second try with the trout. I kept most of the first batch alive for about 4 months.
The water tests I can do with the test kits (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, pH) all look pretty good. The water temp is 64 F. The fish initially were feeding aggressively. But now the fish have stopped feeding and I've lost about half. Several of them had pale spots and had lost scales. Does this sound like a problem with DO levels? The aerator setup I have seemed to work OK for the last batch even though the water temp got over 70 F for the last month or so. But obviously something is out of whack and I don't have a DO test to check this.
I'm Brad out of Oceanside, Ca. starting up my system, going to be using two ibc 275 FT w/ a 300 gal sump, four raft beds - 4' x 8' eight 1/2 barrels w/ gravel, flood & drain ten vertical towers. FT's one trout, one catfish. trout tank will have 2" rigid foam insulation board on sides & top. cooled by 316 stainless 1/2" soft tubing 100' long ran through a small refridgerator. ( thats my plan anyway) still workin the bugs out .this is my first try @ aquaponics, so its a learning experence 4 me, any feed back would help !!! my ft's are cycling for the first time, so I have a couple weeks or more to finish build. will post pic latter when more is donehttp://www.bkserv.net/images/Grin.gif
Good luck with your project. I wasn't real happy with the last batch of fish but I have to say trout are an awful lot of fun (when they aren't dead).
I don't know how hot the temperatures get in Oceanside, but keeping the water cool enough for trout during the summer months even with insulation may be a challenge for your refrigerator. It sounds like an interesting project though. Good Luck!
Hi Brad, just a thought 1 year in raising cats and trout, I am considering dividing up my system into 2 systems so that the trout fts flow thru a bio-filter and to raft beds and a separate sump as those don't soak up the sun's heat the way media does. That way your fridge or in my case chest freezer (with overide T-stat) idea might stand a chance in Summer. The cats and others can have their warmer water. Who knows I might even break down and try Tilapia with such a set up using an insulated sump as our grnd temp is between 55 & 60F here (great for trout). Also planning a 3rd system which will use compost tea and no fish. There is no end to the possibilities.
Brad, just as a follow up in case I didn't mention it, I have had far better luck with the trout so far. Lost most of my cats over time. Haven't figured out why yet. Could even be a contaminated tank or something or the cat and bluegill source fish farm (4 hr rnd trip). The water there was nasty whereas the trout come from a local trout farm with pristine mountain water. I'll try cats and bluegills again but I think I'll wild catch them this time around and I'll separate them into the 2 temp zones I mentioned. Even the plants will appreciate 2 zones for sure and it just works out that the raft crops tend to be cool lovers. Nice when things work out the right way for a change This 2 zone thing just came to me this weekend. Changing the plan AGAIN.
are you going to keep water around 59* in raft beds? or going to mix in swirl tank with the warmer ft? I was going to mix as to not shock plant & so i could gerinate in gravel beds than move to rafts & towers. whats your thoughts?
Brad, I think you'll find that once you mix you'll have a hard time unmixing. You'll end up with one temp real quick and have to run way too much refrigeration to keep the trout cool. I'm keeping the hot veggies in the media with the warm FTs and colder in the shadier raft bed with the trout tanks. All separate. I really think it will be easier all around. Stay tuned.
I'm new to all of this AP stuff and don't have anything up and running. I'm still drawing up plans. I love trout and char so I plan on raising them only. I want my pond to be part of the landscape pumping into a sump in the greenhouse. The temp thing I'm stumbling on. I thought of getting a small under bar frig and pluming a 100 ft coil of pex pipe in one side and out the other and back to the pond having the temp set at 40 or so having the beds dumping into the ponds with the water that has been heated up I think it would be 50-55. I think this would cool the water to keep the fish happy. My other fear is eagles and blue Herons and the racoons.
Anthony - I'm not a refrigeration expert, but I think you and Brad may be over-estimating the amount of cooling a small refrigerator can manage. My large chest freezer was heating up from the demand of trying to cool water for two 150 gallon tanks. From what I've read, char and trout grow best at around 60 F, but growth slows and the fish don't do as well with temps in the mid to upper 70s. 60-65 F is probably a more reasonable temperature target for a well insulated and shaded in-ground fish pond system if the weather doesn't get all that hot there. Looking at some marine tank chillers might be worth the time just to get an idea how much cooling you are talking about in terms of the FT water volume and comparing the chiller and refrigerator BTU capacity.
I fish in the NW for trout and our rivers seem to run 50-55 f in summer months. I know that they can run 29 -33 f. In our lakes the trout only taste good in the early season as warm water trout taste muddy. Our smaller lake may hit 60 f. If the water is 60 f then the fish would be unmarketable I would think
The "Warm water trout" discussion from a few years ago talks a bit about temperatures and Matthew Ferrell posted a nice chart of growth rates. From other comments on this site, I would guess the typical temperatures for aquaponic systems are probably between 55 and 70F. The trout I grew in my system were very good tasting and my water temp was never below 60F. If you can keep your tank water between 50-60F in the summer, I'm sure that will be good for the fish and make it easier to keep the oxygen levels up. However, my experience is that, while I have had other problems with growing trout, the temperature being over 60 did not hurt the taste of the fish we raised at all.
Sorry for jumping into this conversation late but I'll add my two cents worth. I have raised brook trout, rainbow trout, and lake trout. Lake trout and brooks grow best at 50-55 degrees. Rainbows grow well at 60 degrees. The flavor of the fish has nothing to due with temps. It has everything to do with what you feed them. Trout taste much better if you purge them 2 to 3 days before harvest. Hopes this helps!
Neal Westwood
Feb 17, 2010
RupertofOZ
Yep, they're certainly a great fish for Aquaponics... feed like piranhas and grow like crazy....
What size did you get your Rainbows to, and how long was the growout?
Mar 1, 2010
RupertofOZ
Mar 1, 2010
Sylvia Bernstein
Mar 16, 2010
Neal Westwood
May 11, 2010
kevin darcy
I haven't started to grow anything yet, (still fine tuning), as im in ireland i may be raising trout, it gets cold here. I would really appreciate any advice about trout, feeding, temperature, water, or any info that might help me, useful links would be great also, thank's.
May 11, 2010
Sylvia Bernstein
Well, trout are carnivorous so they require a feed that is high in protein. They also like cool - cold temps (below 55F) and loads of oxygen. Anyone else with thoughts?
May 11, 2010
Neal Westwood
May 11, 2010
Shawn
May 11, 2010
kevin darcy
May 12, 2010
Andy Smith
Thanks in advance Andy
May 17, 2010
Sylvia Bernstein
Oct 26, 2010
Neal Westwood
Oct 27, 2010
Sylvia Bernstein
Oct 27, 2010
RupertofOZ
However, both have temperature tolerance ranges that mean in reality you need to be prepared to heat, in the case of Barramundi, or possibly chill in the case of Trout, your tank water.
Trout fingerlings when stocked are actually "yearlings", 9-12 months old, and can easily be grown out to plate size (400-500 gms) in six months.
As can Barramundi, if you can source them early enough above 100 mm and you get a good summer temperature range, and/or heat them.
All fish are oxygen dependant, but Trout are highly dependant.
I pump, via 12 air stones, 6000 L/H of air into my 7-7500 L Trout tank.
It is possible, as myself and a few others have found, to grow Trout well beyond the 1 kg mark, even through summer.
But only with highlevels of oxygenation, careful water management, low or no feeding, and constant observation.
The trouble is, as your tank temperature rise through summer, the oxygen carrying capacity of the water naturally diminishes, at the very time when the size of your stock, and fed rates are approaching their highest level of oxygen demand.
But it can be done...
Here's a couple of photos of 1 kg + Rainbow Trout
Oct 27, 2010
Sylvia Bernstein
Oct 27, 2010
Neal Westwood
Oct 28, 2010
tallim
Is anyone growing Rainbow Trout in Orlando, please
can you give me some tips.
Feb 13, 2012
Derrick Kerr
Does anyone know of anyone is selling trout fingerlings north of Seattle, WA?
Oct 27, 2012
Tom OBrien
Looks like I'm on my way to killing off my latest batch of trout.
I have a small (150 gallon) tank in the basement and this is my second try with the trout. I kept most of the first batch alive for about 4 months.
The water tests I can do with the test kits (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, pH) all look pretty good. The water temp is 64 F. The fish initially were feeding aggressively. But now the fish have stopped feeding and I've lost about half. Several of them had pale spots and had lost scales. Does this sound like a problem with DO levels? The aerator setup I have seemed to work OK for the last batch even though the water temp got over 70 F for the last month or so. But obviously something is out of whack and I don't have a DO test to check this.
Jan 13, 2013
Brad Moreau
Hello
I'm Brad out of Oceanside, Ca. starting up my system, going to be using two ibc 275 FT w/ a 300 gal sump, four raft beds - 4' x 8' eight 1/2 barrels w/ gravel, flood & drain ten vertical towers. FT's one trout, one catfish. trout tank will have 2" rigid foam insulation board on sides & top. cooled by 316 stainless 1/2" soft tubing 100' long ran through a small refridgerator. ( thats my plan anyway) still workin the bugs out .this is my first try @ aquaponics, so its a learning experence 4 me, any feed back would help !!! my ft's are cycling for the first time, so I have a couple weeks or more to finish build. will post pic latter when more is donehttp://www.bkserv.net/images/Grin.gif
Apr 13, 2013
Tom OBrien
Hi Brad,
Good luck with your project. I wasn't real happy with the last batch of fish but I have to say trout are an awful lot of fun (when they aren't dead).
I don't know how hot the temperatures get in Oceanside, but keeping the water cool enough for trout during the summer months even with insulation may be a challenge for your refrigerator. It sounds like an interesting project though. Good Luck!
Apr 13, 2013
Jim Fisk
Hi Brad, just a thought 1 year in raising cats and trout, I am considering dividing up my system into 2 systems so that the trout fts flow thru a bio-filter and to raft beds and a separate sump as those don't soak up the sun's heat the way media does. That way your fridge or in my case chest freezer (with overide T-stat) idea might stand a chance in Summer. The cats and others can have their warmer water. Who knows I might even break down and try Tilapia with such a set up using an insulated sump as our grnd temp is between 55 & 60F here (great for trout). Also planning a 3rd system which will use compost tea and no fish. There is no end to the possibilities.
Apr 14, 2013
Jim Fisk
Brad, just as a follow up in case I didn't mention it, I have had far better luck with the trout so far. Lost most of my cats over time. Haven't figured out why yet. Could even be a contaminated tank or something or the cat and bluegill source fish farm (4 hr rnd trip). The water there was nasty whereas the trout come from a local trout farm with pristine mountain water. I'll try cats and bluegills again but I think I'll wild catch them this time around and I'll separate them into the 2 temp zones I mentioned. Even the plants will appreciate 2 zones for sure and it just works out that the raft crops tend to be cool lovers. Nice when things work out the right way for a change
This 2 zone thing just came to me this weekend. Changing the plan AGAIN.
Apr 14, 2013
Brad Moreau
Jim
are you going to keep water around 59* in raft beds? or going to mix in swirl tank with the warmer ft? I was going to mix as to not shock plant & so i could gerinate in gravel beds than move to rafts & towers. whats your thoughts?
Apr 14, 2013
Jim Fisk
Brad, I think you'll find that once you mix you'll have a hard time unmixing. You'll end up with one temp real quick and have to run way too much refrigeration to keep the trout cool. I'm keeping the hot veggies in the media with the warm FTs and colder in the shadier raft bed with the trout tanks. All separate. I really think it will be easier all around. Stay tuned.
Apr 14, 2013
Anthony Payne
I'm new to all of this AP stuff and don't have anything up and running. I'm still drawing up plans. I love trout and char so I plan on raising them only. I want my pond to be part of the landscape pumping into a sump in the greenhouse. The temp thing I'm stumbling on. I thought of getting a small under bar frig and pluming a 100 ft coil of pex pipe in one side and out the other and back to the pond having the temp set at 40 or so having the beds dumping into the ponds with the water that has been heated up I think it would be 50-55. I think this would cool the water to keep the fish happy. My other fear is eagles and blue Herons and the racoons.
Apr 16, 2013
Tom OBrien
Anthony - I'm not a refrigeration expert, but I think you and Brad may be over-estimating the amount of cooling a small refrigerator can manage. My large chest freezer was heating up from the demand of trying to cool water for two 150 gallon tanks. From what I've read, char and trout grow best at around 60 F, but growth slows and the fish don't do as well with temps in the mid to upper 70s. 60-65 F is probably a more reasonable temperature target for a well insulated and shaded in-ground fish pond system if the weather doesn't get all that hot there. Looking at some marine tank chillers might be worth the time just to get an idea how much cooling you are talking about in terms of the FT water volume and comparing the chiller and refrigerator BTU capacity.
Apr 17, 2013
Anthony Payne
I fish in the NW for trout and our rivers seem to run 50-55 f in summer months. I know that they can run 29 -33 f. In our lakes the trout only taste good in the early season as warm water trout taste muddy. Our smaller lake may hit 60 f. If the water is 60 f then the fish would be unmarketable I would think
Apr 21, 2013
Tom OBrien
The "Warm water trout" discussion from a few years ago talks a bit about temperatures and Matthew Ferrell posted a nice chart of growth rates. From other comments on this site, I would guess the typical temperatures for aquaponic systems are probably between 55 and 70F. The trout I grew in my system were very good tasting and my water temp was never below 60F. If you can keep your tank water between 50-60F in the summer, I'm sure that will be good for the fish and make it easier to keep the oxygen levels up. However, my experience is that, while I have had other problems with growing trout, the temperature being over 60 did not hurt the taste of the fish we raised at all.
Apr 21, 2013
Jay Wolf
Sorry for jumping into this conversation late but I'll add my two cents worth. I have raised brook trout, rainbow trout, and lake trout. Lake trout and brooks grow best at 50-55 degrees. Rainbows grow well at 60 degrees. The flavor of the fish has nothing to due with temps. It has everything to do with what you feed them. Trout taste much better if you purge them 2 to 3 days before harvest. Hopes this helps!
Apr 22, 2013