howdy from ohio

[Keith Rowan]

Hi,

I'm keith, from northeast ohio (about 30 miles from cleveland on lake erie)

started an ap system outside 2 years ago, moved into the basement that fall..

just ordered gravel for my expansion.. 3 yards delivered wednesday

i have yellow perch, bluegill, local crayfish, one marmokreb, rosy red minnows, glass shrimp, scuds, daphnia and greenwater cultures

[Keith Rowan]

i filleted the yp that died today, pretty sure it was eggbound..

[Keith Rowan]

i had to make a crowding net to harvest the fish, and a cover, and a few recent growbed pics

that's what i call gb3, here's the treillis for it;

[Keith Rowan]

gb1 and 2;

 

[Damon Polta]

keith, we meet again! lol.

are those gammarus i spot on the green mesh there? did you add them into your system or did they just appear there?

one of these day's we'll have to have a meet up. im locked to my city for now until the girlfriend gives birth... given the size of the baby in the womb, she could pop as early as the middle of next week or it could take as long as the beginning of july... i don't want to be too far away for the next month or so...

take care and enjoy this moderate weather that we're getting... it'll be over before next week... oh the joys of ohio, lol.

[Keith Rowan]

good to see you again damon!

yup, those are gammrus

i made 1 purchase.. got the marmokreb "free" with the order... expanded that to 3 cultures, and added some to all the tanks/gb's

good luck with the upcoming baby!  my son has one on the way as well...

i'll be out of town for a week later this month, but after that, things will calm down i think.. a meet up would be great

 

 

[Damon Polta]

Grandpa Keith... lol.

What are your impressions on the gammarus? Not many people know what they are let alone use them or will go out of their way to get them...

Ha e you had any solid fish waste problems after the cultures took hold?
Any cloggining in the media beds?
Any damage to the plants that you've noticed?

There's more misinformation about them than factual information. Now I've seen these guys in action, but I'm just one person. If these guys work as well for you in Ohio as the species of gammarus worked in Hawaii, they just might help reduce the cost of system construction and reduce the need for complicated mechanical filters.

[Keith Rowan]

my "old" barrel system had some definite solids buildup, and when i emptied them i didn't really search for scuds but did see a few, i don't think they did too well in the flood and drain gb's that emptied completely..

but there were tons of scuds int he filters -scrubby pads (2x5 gallon bucket filters), which i think helped quite a bit..

my ft's have bunches, but i think the tilapia have pretty much cleaned them out of their 2 tanks

i'm sure that my new growbeds already have gam's, as i put a bunch in the sump.. my ibc's don't drain all the way, so when i built them i left a length of split drainage tile in the bottom/middle of the totes, and each tote/gb has an airstone so i think they will do quite well

[Damon Polta]

They're largely aquatic but can't spend a small bit of time out of water and still survive... that being said they'll try to stay in a place that stays wet consistently and only risk the open air if their initial environment starts to dry up...

Lol and yeah, the fish love em, there mainly seen in the fish food market as treats or high class diets for most fish, so them not being in the fish tanks is no surprise.

I'm pumped to see some one else using them and not trying to remove the gammies from the system. More often than not people think they're Lara cites when really they'll feed on poo and dead plant matter before they even attempt to eat the living material in the systems...

[Keith Rowan]

been very busy with my job, the system's been neglected.. i planned on harvesting some fish a few times, but something always came up,, yesterday i managed to move my 50 nile tilapia to the pool from the single tote system, moved 5 blue tilapia to the single tote system - one was carrying eggs but lost them in the transfer, and ignored them in the "move tank"

next time i harvest, i'm going to have to get help.. just to much of a pita with the crowding net by myself..

so i harvested 11 yp, a couple are from my first batch, and the rest are probably from the second batch

 i couldn't decide what to make, so we had yellow perch 3 ways;

first is egg wash, then dipped in a mix of cornmeal, italian seasoned panko, and romano cheese

 

 

second is baked in a parchement paper pouch with a little white wine, butter, dill from the ap, salt and pepper

 

 

third was a quick salt and sugar brined, then smoked with some tea/oak and cherry chips

 

 

when i cleaned the fish i found 3 egg sac's,, i added a little butter to the pan that i fried the fish in and gave them a quick fry.. i thought they were delish,, the wife found them a little to "fishy" but i bet she'd love them in scrambled eggs!

[Keith Rowan]

i'm on a few different message boards, one is an ohio game fishing board.. a user asked for 6 "live gamefish", and i offered him some yellow perch - turns out he's writing a book, and wanted to dissect some fish for it.. he tooks some great pics and shared them with me.. he said it was ok to post the pictures, so here you go;

 

 

 

 

 

[Jon Parr]

Thanks for sharing, Keith. I wish I could have YP in Cali. 

[Keith Rowan]

harvested 15 tilapia, these were 1" last july, still 30+ tilapia left, and lots of yellow perch

 

i had them cleaned by a local bait shop, 15 fish, and i got 10.2 lbs of skinless fillets.  froze 3 bags, but for dinner i smoked some. soaked the fillets in a salt and sugar brine, dried, then into the smoker with cherry, maple, and tea leaves, seasoned with salt, pepper and sumac flower, topped off with a slice of lemon.. it went over well with the better half