Feed amounts for trout fingerlings

BNDYBEAR

Any ammonia is toxic to fish, A cycled system should show little to no ammonia reading, but as you increase the feed rate and fish load on a system then it can take a small ammount of time for the filtration to catch up with increased load.

rsevs3

How did you go about your fishless cycling firey10_0?

firey10_0

I had all 3 grow beds running the water and plants in 2.i used about about 5 capfulls of seasol concentrate to start the system and then a capfull each day till I got the fish,which again is what Murray Hallam advised on his video.

rsevs3

seasol contains almost no ammonia. I dont think it will properly cycle your grow beds. I will leave one of the more experienced peeps to say for sure.

BNDYBEAR

I have not heard of cycling a system on seasol alone, you would need some form of ammonia input to really start the biocycle. Try a search on "cycling" and have a read of the many different ways you can cycle a system.

But since you now have fish it seems that you will be cycling with fish which can be dangerous without constant monitoring. You have a test kit right?

Start feeding slowly at first and test regularly, what your trying to achieve is an ammonia reading that is quickly converted to nitrites. Its all covered in many times over just try searching this forum. It is a very helpfull wealth of knowledge.

DunderOZ

I'll put in my two cents worth :wave1:

The fastest way to grow your trout is to feed them as much as they will eat, and feed them often.
As Charlie said, always feed less instead of too much.
Too much food will kill the fish - every time!

An amount of trout/fish, per system size, is not the consideration. It is the amount of waste produced, that is the issue. 50 small trout in an IBC will be fine for some months, until they get larger, and produce more waste than the system can filter.

Last year, I hatched and raised more than 300 brown trout in a 1.8 metre, 360 litre aquarium.
I kept the whole lot until such time as I could not keep the water clean, and then started to reduce the number. No problem at all.

The main problem you have is that your system has not cycled. You are going to get an ammonia spike.
You need to get yourself a large quantity of beneficial bacteria ASAP.
The easiest way is to get a large surface of something that has been in a mature system, and place it in your system, as the bacteria is surface dwelling.
For example, if you have an aquarium with a bio-filter, run that filter through your AP.
You could go to your local pond/farm dam, get a heap of weed, and stick that in your AP.
Bits of trees that are seating and roting in a farm dam would be great.
You need to get that bacteria in your AP now :thumbright:

Don't wait for it to grow!
Wishing you all the best :thumbright:

firey10_0

Thanks guys for all your help,I wasn't aware of this part at all.i feel stupid now,I thought I was ready for fish,I now know that that might not have been a great decision.what are the ammonia levels I should be concerned about and how do I tackle them when they rise. I have a pond with tadpoles and water lilies and other water weeds,if I place this under inlets to grow beds will this help,how long will it take to establish the required good bacteria this way,thanks agin for your help

DunderOZ

firey10_0 wrote:

I have a pond with tadpoles and water lilies and other water weeds

You're on a winner there Firey :thumbright:

Get you pond water into your AP system and AP water into your pond. Change about one third per day, if possible.
Also place any surface that can be shifted from your pond, into AP. All your plants would be great.
Any gravel/rocks from pond, place into a bucket and place bucket in AP :cheers:

Get some compost worms into your growbed's media :thumbright:

There's no reason at all to feel stupid. You have asked the questions and you now have the answers. :thumbleft:

Smart people ask the question :thumbright:

firey10_0

Thanks again,I did water change of aprox 100 lts with pond water and have place a couple of water lilies from pond in sump,so hopefully this helps with cycling of system. My water figures before I added pond water were. Ph7.8,ammonia1-1.5ppm,nitrites0.25ppm and nitrates 0ppm.i know ammonia is up a little but at what point should I consider changing out some of the water.are the other figures ok for now???

firey10_0

And I forgot,should I keep feeding my fish or stop it/cut it back till ammonia levels start to decrease???

julia_bites

Hope this helps, its on a few posts in the forum.

________________
I was once young and stupid, i'm not so young now

Charlie

yea stop feeding, the cycling process has begun - ammonia and rites will continue to rise then should see rates develope and amm and rites will come back down - then you can start feeding again as the system will then be "cycled"

DunderOZ

firey10_0 wrote:

And I forgot,should I keep feeding my fish or stop it/cut it back till ammonia levels start to decrease???

I never check my 'levels'

If my fish look well, thats good enought for me. I have not experienced any loses to date.

I would place all your pond plants in the sump. Keep them in there for at least six weeks. If you have any rocks/gravel in your pond, stick some of those in the sump too.
Dont be shy about adding your pond stuff to your AP. You need as much as possible and your sump is a great place to keep it for now. Keep your water pump running 24/7, for now.

Place some compost worms in your growbeds. Not many, just 50 per growbed is enough. The number will increase with bio load.

Feed the fish as much as they want to eat, or a bit less. You need the ammonia to feed the beneficial bacteria. You need to keep a close eye on the fish and their behaviour. If they are not well, they will not feed much or at all, thats when you cut back. When they are feeding, you know they are well.

100 litres per day change for at least one week would be good :cheers:

There are more ways then one, to skin a cat

firey10_0

Ok all thanks,looking at this chart then my ammonia level has just started to reach toxic level and I carn't really see fish that well as water has gone a bit dirty from pond plants added,if ammonia starts to creep upto around 2ppm is it worth changing some water in fish tank or not till it gets worse,I just don't want to loose any fish if I can help it,thanks again all

DrLuke

always err on the side of caution.

You will be growing out these fish for months....ammonia spike come hard and fast....nothing is gained from one or two days extra feeding. i.e. do montior your levels, but dont go like a bull at a gate just because your system becomes cycled. An new system is still less likely to cope with spikes than an established system with a strong bacteria colony. If you are constanly teatering on the edge with amm levels, will will not handle a spike if something goes worng..

I have almost the same volume of FT, GB, and sump as you in my brand new fully cycled system, and I feel nervous putting 25 trout in there! By the 3kg per 100lt GB rule I should be able to run over 60x300g trout in there.

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