Janine Milne
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Suggestions on types of crayfish or freshwater fish that would be suitable in a school farm aquaculture system?

Hi,

Chasing some information about the set up of an aquaculture system on my school farm. The school farm is located at Caboolture - north of Brisbane.

Looking to build the system and have it in operation by Feb/ March of next year for student use in curriculum. Really any information would be greatly appreciated - I want crays or fish that are fast growing so that students can at least harvest once a year and have fish and chips (we are also growing some potatos).

Have a great week and I hope at least someone is getting a bit of rain somewhere.

Cheers

Janine

1896 days ago

2 Answers

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Hi Janine,
Some responses from our social media followers that may be of use:

@vbiggles - "Silver Perch - can't go wrong. Very tolerant of temp and ph changes"
@thomasmoyle - "Barramundi / silver perch / Murray cod / Trout - I have my own little backyard system and have worked in the industry for ten years if you would like any assistance in setting up"

Airlie
-Founder Farm Table and Mixed Farmer

1888 days ago

Hi Janine,

Crayfish are a great resource for schools and small systems. We grow Cherax destructor in our school system, they are suited to our climate in the NSW Hunter region. Benefits include short reproductive cycle, in a good summer we can get a female to go into berry 2-3 times. Growing out timing to eat is determined by water temp, which would be more consistent in your region. We grow for dam restocking purposes here, not food. The other benefit is animal welfare restrictions in schools with harvesting stock with students. Please look into this prior to choosing a species, vertebrates have more restrictions than invertebrates.