Something smells like fish...?

Markit

I know what you're all thinking and its not that! I'm building a new fish pond and I need some advice about what to stock it with. It's gonna have flowing water - not much but regular. I don't really want to stock it with Carp (Guramei) that the Balinese love, I think it tastes like mud. Trout would be great but I can't find any here so it's probably too warm. Perch would be good too but haven't seen any.What freshwater fish can anyone suggest that is tasty and available here on Bali? Not Catfish as already have them. Winners of this competition get a free fish dinner.

Markit

Mark that would be fantastic - where did you get them? We are talking live fish, here aren't we?

Lea

What bout Yabbies..??YUM...

Markit

Now that's also a thing isn't it? Yabbies, I had to google it so now I know what you mean - I've seen them in restos around the island and with my usual superiority looked down my nose at what (growing up in the US) we called Crawdads/Crayfish and to put it mildly, considered to be poor trash food. Frankly I would be interested in them too if they are good - me, I'll eat anything that won't eat me first. Can you recommend them? What do they eat? Not brown trout I hope? Where do you get them?

Adam

Markit,The biggest problem you are going to have if you want to grow some fish in your pond to eat is the fact that it is fresh water. Generally, fresh water fish taste pretty ordinary in comparison to their saltwater brethren. Having said that, you are in the land of plenty when it comes to spices to liven up their taste and will probably need every bit of extra flavour you can get your hands on to make them taste any good. I would be very, very surprised if you could get your hands on any brown trout in Bali. Too hot, simple as that. Your choices in my opinion are really limited to tilapia, gourami and catfish species (in particular lele). The problem with these species is that they are particulary invasive so generally dont mix too well with other species (ie one group normally ends up eating or beating up the other). Honestly, the best eating of the bunch is the yabbies/crawdads/freshwater lobsters as mentioned before. I'm surprised they are considered poor mans food in the US, in Oz we consider them a delicacy - the trick is in the cooking. They need to be purged thorouly before cooking/eating and cooked in generous amounts of salt (and a little sugar and margarine/butter/oil to make them easier to peel). Truly, a pile of sweet yabbie tails, some fresh buttered bread and an ice cold beers is one of lifes great pleasures. Alternatively, the peeled tails pickled in your favourite pickling mix is an awesome beer snack too. The problem you may face stocking yabbies (or more correctly redclaw crayfish, which I am pretty sure is the species I have seen here in Bali). is that they may be eaten by the catfish you already have in the pond. I would think that perhaps only the gourami would be peaceful enough to co-exist with the crayfish. You may have to completely restart with your pond stocking and do you best to exterminate any fish you currently have in there. Freshwater invertebrates are also pretty sensitive to chemicals and pesticides so hopefully you have a pretty clean water supply. One of the bonuses about redclaw is they love being harvested, that is, the little bastards breed so well you'll be doing them a favour but harvesting a heap so that the next generation can grow up. A lack of harvesting normally ends up in a tonne of stunted lobsters. Obviously your harvest rates will depend on the volume of water you have to play with. They also like plenty of places to hide so allow plenty of habitat in there for them (pipes, brick shelters etc).Honestly, I'd give the crays a go. They are a heap of fun to grow, heap of fun to catch and a heap of fun to eat. It may be a raging failure but you can only but try. This is something I've got a bit of knowledge on so if you have any questions fire away.

Markit

This is what I am planning/doing: [ATTACH]1454.vB[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]1455.vB[/ATTACH]I plan to have the bottom covered in earth and gravel with a statue and fountain with many plants (lotus, lily) where the rocks are there will also be fresh water falling from above into the left hand side. From the small brown man in the pool (Alit by name and nature) you can judge the size. I would appreciate a DIY on getting the right number and environment for the crawdads and a source for the Tilapia if anyone knows - do Tilapia and Crawdads live well together?

Dick Rector

Talking about lotus and lily's in a pond with running water, they don't like that very much so you better keep them away from a fountain or whatever and in a 'sheltered' corner.

Anbar

How about putting a fence around it and getting a couple of freshwater crocodiles.Fed weekly with a drunk ozzie tourist.Harvest time, some fresh meat and a nice sideline selling Handbags and Belts.Might want "Alit" to do the harvesting .:icon_e_wink:

SHoggard

If there's an aquatic conflict between species, 1 solution could be to string some form of netting barrier at the 'neck' between the 2 circular pond parts, just below the waterline to keep them apart

Markit

Well I'm gonna try to get Tilapia and the crayfish together and hope that of the 2 something good comes of it - will put some Girami in the pond that drains into the new pond. To top it all off will try and get the pond to drain into the veg garden with all those lovely nutrients in the water...?

Markit

Put about 8 Tilapia in the pond and the same number of Yabbies. After about 6 weeks Tilapia have had masses of babies and the Yabbies immediately died from embarrassment. No joke the crayfish were bought from a local supplier who services the restaurant trade and 20 minutes after I put 10 in the water 5 had gone towards the light (died). Of the other 5 no sightings yet. My guys said I should have first put them in a bucket of local water to let them get used to the "taste". Apparently the shock of the new water was too much. That's all I needed was some Gourmet crawdads with a death wish. [ATTACH]1501.vB[/ATTACH]

sherm

Markit

That's a good idea! Why don't the Balinese do that? Maybe they do, but all I see is them fishing for teeny-tiny little fishies?

kiwi

Supplied a membrane lined tank to a fish farm once, liner was approved for aquaculture use but ended up killing all the fish. Local temp caused the liner to leech something that did not agree with the fish.:culpability:

mugwump

Put about 8 Tilapia in the pond and the same number of Yabbies. After about 6 weeks Tilapia have had masses of babies and the Yabbies immediately died from embarrassment. No joke the crayfish were bought from a local supplier who services the restaurant trade and 20 minutes after I put 10 in the water 5 had gone towards the light (died). Of the other 5 no sightings yet. Did you use the water from your 4 meter well that smells like shit when you shower?My guys said I should have first put them in a bucket of local water to let them get used to the "taste". Apparently the shock of the new water was too much. That's all I needed was some Gourmet crawdads with a death wish. [ATTACH=CONFIG]1501[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]

Markit

Mugwimp- obviously you were so impressed with my post you just thought it needed reprinting? Sans comment.

Urban

Gurame Indonesia people like to eat.

Markit

Yeah but I'm not Indonesian and carp are pretty tasteless.

soul_surfer

Don't you live in the land of the cheapest food on the planet?I'd be putting Oscars in there, you can hand feed them worms and they will jump out to get them. Freshwater fish taste like junk.

Markit

What the hell are oscars?Oh and no food is not cheap here in Bali - maybe for the Ozzies that pay $8 for a beer and 7 for a cup of coffee but for the rest of the world the prices here on Bali are about median. i can get chicken or beef (good!) cheaper in the US or EU pretty much anywhere, bread is very expensive here and veg isn't that cheap. Fresh fruit is about the same as I'm used to from England but not the quality, I'm afraid. The one bright light is fresh fish from the fisher himself that is cheaper. Even rice isn't that cheap - I wonder how they can afford to eat it?