21Oct2012
10 Redclaw mixed arrive large & medium (now what do we do?)
Place some in aquarium & IBC , get pumps working
No chlorine in our water
Feeding them on pea corn & carrot mix by threading unfrozen pieces through wire (time consuming, but are able to remove uneaten bits easier) (Carrot is the least desirable out of the current food mix)
8Nov2012
PH & Temp meter arrived & tested
Aquarium PH 7.84 Temp 30.7
IBC PH 7.77 Temp 29.4 (only 1 IBC at this stage)
Feeding small handfuls of frozen pea & corn
9Nov2012
More arrivals, was late at night so didn’t grade, just got them into the ibc’s mixed
Didn’t keep record of tally so we could only guess how many we had.
2 X IBC with approx 25 Redclaw (mixed large & small)
Aquarium with 2male & 4 female + 1 berried.
Feeding small handfuls of frozen pea & corn. Purchased the only fish food in town that sank, Aniseed fish berley without any ingredients ratios (as it is not a foodstuff) So who knows what they are eating, but they really like it) Also found lupins in the pantry (cherax are meant to love em), threw those in (rock hard like dried corn) took a day or two before swelling & being edible) Many were still there after 3 days in IBC.
Have been researching all the 1000+ studies done on Cherax & have picked up little bits here & there on large pond growing but very little about IBC container growing. Aquaponics forums are great, lots have redclaw, but as for the Redclaw ins & outs & specifics that I want, we will have to find out ourselves.
Stocking ratios, feeding, cleaning, filtering, spawning, growout etc (bits of info everywhere)
17Nov2012
Collected all redclaw (34)
2 Berried Female (still dark green)
1 medium Female died during collection (stress??)
3 IBC’s cycled /cleaned / drained to 25%. (The new IBC had a few buckets of old water from the current 2IBC’s added to give it a more lived in atmosphere) (Water in the new #1 IBC has been standing for 4 days)
Aquarium cleaned – Have a total of 33 mixed Redclaw to sort
* Should of tested PH in the 2 IBC’s before draining & refilling but didn’t (kicking myself now).
How we split up/sorted the remaining 33 redclaw
10 Redclaw mixed arrive large & medium (now what do we do?)
Place some in aquarium & IBC , get pumps working
No chlorine in our water
Feeding them on pea corn & carrot mix by threading unfrozen pieces through wire (time consuming, but are able to remove uneaten bits easier) (Carrot is the least desirable out of the current food mix)
8Nov2012
PH & Temp meter arrived & tested
Aquarium PH 7.84 Temp 30.7
IBC PH 7.77 Temp 29.4 (only 1 IBC at this stage)
Feeding small handfuls of frozen pea & corn
9Nov2012
More arrivals, was late at night so didn’t grade, just got them into the ibc’s mixed
Didn’t keep record of tally so we could only guess how many we had.
2 X IBC with approx 25 Redclaw (mixed large & small)
Aquarium with 2male & 4 female + 1 berried.
Feeding small handfuls of frozen pea & corn. Purchased the only fish food in town that sank, Aniseed fish berley without any ingredients ratios (as it is not a foodstuff) So who knows what they are eating, but they really like it) Also found lupins in the pantry (cherax are meant to love em), threw those in (rock hard like dried corn) took a day or two before swelling & being edible) Many were still there after 3 days in IBC.
Have been researching all the 1000+ studies done on Cherax & have picked up little bits here & there on large pond growing but very little about IBC container growing. Aquaponics forums are great, lots have redclaw, but as for the Redclaw ins & outs & specifics that I want, we will have to find out ourselves.
Stocking ratios, feeding, cleaning, filtering, spawning, growout etc (bits of info everywhere)
17Nov2012
Collected all redclaw (34)
2 Berried Female (still dark green)
1 medium Female died during collection (stress??)
3 IBC’s cycled /cleaned / drained to 25%. (The new IBC had a few buckets of old water from the current 2IBC’s added to give it a more lived in atmosphere) (Water in the new #1 IBC has been standing for 4 days)
Aquarium cleaned – Have a total of 33 mixed Redclaw to sort
* Should of tested PH in the 2 IBC’s before draining & refilling but didn’t (kicking myself now).
How we split up/sorted the remaining 33 redclaw
#1 IBCLarge Redclaw
3 Male 6 Female |
#2 IBC
|
#3 IBC
Small Redclaw
5 Male 5 Female |
Aquarium
2 Berried Females
|
3 IBC's early November 2012 (before the revamp)
1. Put in new crate 2 story housing into #1 ibc (chicken crates)
Added washed sand & rocks to substrate
Pipes of 90 – 100 mm in size
2. Added second story to #2 bread tray
Rocks/gravel only added as substrate
3. Main housing is the freezer bin/tray filled with poly pipe & drainage pipe (50mm-60mm)
Sand substrate added & a handful of gravel/rock
4. Berried females split and placed in aquarium
added prawn trawler netting in prep for offspring.
Added washed sand & rocks to substrate
Pipes of 90 – 100 mm in size
2. Added second story to #2 bread tray
Rocks/gravel only added as substrate
3. Main housing is the freezer bin/tray filled with poly pipe & drainage pipe (50mm-60mm)
Sand substrate added & a handful of gravel/rock
4. Berried females split and placed in aquarium
added prawn trawler netting in prep for offspring.
24November2012 - potential disaster
Did the usual morning check and didnt hear the pumps running. Saw crays laying everywhere in #1 & #3. In #2 they had the air pump/stone on battery and access to the surface and were fine.
#1 has the largest crays and also access to the surface and were OK as well.
But #3 has the smaller ones with no access to the surface. There were 3 crays that were oxygen deprived (or showing the effects more than the others). After the pumps were turned back on and alot of swishing in the water to help re-oxygenate it the 3 worst re put through a cycle of holding them infront of the flowing water. One came good in 10 mins and wandered off from the muster point. The other took about half an hour & one didnt make it.
And it is all my fault.
What transpired the night before was an observation of the crays by turning pumps off. Was excited to see a berried female in #2 & just forgot to turn the pumps back on. (As simple & as stupid as that) I still reckon I did turn them on, but obviously didnt. The hum & bubble of the air pump can lull you into a false sense of security.
Redundancy needs to be put in place
I'm still awaiting a 4 outlet airpump & a 2 outlet air pump to be running on a seperate UPS. (that would run continiously in conjunction with water pumps)
Need to enable #1 bin access to the surface with a few more bricks etc.
Electrical storms about. Power off for 1.5 - 2 hours in the late afternoon. 3 pumps ran for 1.5 hours on 1 UPS (had 4 for a while & then scaled back to 3)
25November2012
Time to checkout the Aquarium maternity ward with the 2 berried females.
Only partially cleaned the water last week & noticed that the sand substrate was looking brown & mouldy (white growth) grabbed a handful of brown sand and it smelt septic. It has to be the lousy "berley fish food" that is more than likely crumbling and turning to mud/slosh than being consumed properly.
Need to get proper pellets (Barra pellets)
Retrieved the females. 1 had no eggs at all, the other still had black eggs (this may be good or they may be unfertilized) I have no idea. Emptied tank & filled with rain water bore water mix & replaced berried female. Other female (small) went to IBC #3. Pulled them all from this container & had 3 females in berry. They went to the maternity ward Aquarium.
IBC #2 had 1 berried female & she was transferred to the Ward.
So the current tally is 32 redclaw
#1 has the largest crays and also access to the surface and were OK as well.
But #3 has the smaller ones with no access to the surface. There were 3 crays that were oxygen deprived (or showing the effects more than the others). After the pumps were turned back on and alot of swishing in the water to help re-oxygenate it the 3 worst re put through a cycle of holding them infront of the flowing water. One came good in 10 mins and wandered off from the muster point. The other took about half an hour & one didnt make it.
And it is all my fault.
What transpired the night before was an observation of the crays by turning pumps off. Was excited to see a berried female in #2 & just forgot to turn the pumps back on. (As simple & as stupid as that) I still reckon I did turn them on, but obviously didnt. The hum & bubble of the air pump can lull you into a false sense of security.
Redundancy needs to be put in place
I'm still awaiting a 4 outlet airpump & a 2 outlet air pump to be running on a seperate UPS. (that would run continiously in conjunction with water pumps)
Need to enable #1 bin access to the surface with a few more bricks etc.
Electrical storms about. Power off for 1.5 - 2 hours in the late afternoon. 3 pumps ran for 1.5 hours on 1 UPS (had 4 for a while & then scaled back to 3)
25November2012
Time to checkout the Aquarium maternity ward with the 2 berried females.
Only partially cleaned the water last week & noticed that the sand substrate was looking brown & mouldy (white growth) grabbed a handful of brown sand and it smelt septic. It has to be the lousy "berley fish food" that is more than likely crumbling and turning to mud/slosh than being consumed properly.
Need to get proper pellets (Barra pellets)
Retrieved the females. 1 had no eggs at all, the other still had black eggs (this may be good or they may be unfertilized) I have no idea. Emptied tank & filled with rain water bore water mix & replaced berried female. Other female (small) went to IBC #3. Pulled them all from this container & had 3 females in berry. They went to the maternity ward Aquarium.
IBC #2 had 1 berried female & she was transferred to the Ward.
So the current tally is 32 redclaw
IBC1
3 Male 6 Female 9 total |
IBC2
4 Male 7 Female 11 total |
IBC3
5 Male 2 Female 7 total |
Aquarium
5 Berried Female 5 total |
One of the berried females we thought was a male due to its red claw? Yes we know, it had eggs therefore must be a female. So then we also checked its gonospores which were on the 3rd legs... FEMALE.
Which brings us back to our initial sorting of male & female (we mainly did it by looks & not the scientific way of flipping them upside down & sexing them. So reality is the male/ female ratios may be a little out But our sizing in each container is spot on.
Solar panel on roof, but battery has had it & will need to source another soon. (It is part of our redundancy from 240volt)
Which brings us back to our initial sorting of male & female (we mainly did it by looks & not the scientific way of flipping them upside down & sexing them. So reality is the male/ female ratios may be a little out But our sizing in each container is spot on.
Solar panel on roof, but battery has had it & will need to source another soon. (It is part of our redundancy from 240volt)
28 Nov2012
Noticed 2 or 3 from IBC1 & 2 that may be berried. But will leave them spread out amongst the containers. One is our larger female which will be a good comparison of egg numbers to the smaller ones. Have not physically examined them but just observed their tails being curled up. These few have their tails tighter than the others and are extending them for any reason.
The IBC's sand is looking mouldy & stained. I really think it needs to be removed & just rocks left.
The IBC's sand is looking mouldy & stained. I really think it needs to be removed & just rocks left.
29Nov2012
Storm hit at 6PM tonight, rain & wind sideways for a while 35mm of rain. Went out to check the claws at 9PM only to find tree down, power down & no pumps working. Rectified power.
01December2012
The IBC's with the sand substrate smell a bit septic. They have black mouldy looking patches with white crusty trimmings. Time to remove the sand. We did try to make it homely for the redclaw, but some things just detract from the overall water quality. Mind you, the water was crystal clear, but under the sand surface it was black & smelly when disturbed. We will only keep pebbles/rocks in there for now.
Wired all the pumps into place now, so nothing to re-suction each morning after their climb.
Air Pumps fitted (the 4 outlet pump is good & quieter than the smalled cheaper one)
Need to move the aquarium out with the other IBC's....
05Dec2012
Moved the aquarium out to be with the IBC's. One air pump now does all 4 containers.
Of the 5 berried females in the aquarium 2 weeks ago, only 2 still have eggs!!
Maybe this segregation business isnt working.
Will now abandon future female segregation & only do swimmerette baby collection from the mesh after hatching. I need to examine the berried females closer as they appeared to have "parasites" with the eggs or it may simply be mud/sand.
Running total
01December2012
The IBC's with the sand substrate smell a bit septic. They have black mouldy looking patches with white crusty trimmings. Time to remove the sand. We did try to make it homely for the redclaw, but some things just detract from the overall water quality. Mind you, the water was crystal clear, but under the sand surface it was black & smelly when disturbed. We will only keep pebbles/rocks in there for now.
Wired all the pumps into place now, so nothing to re-suction each morning after their climb.
Air Pumps fitted (the 4 outlet pump is good & quieter than the smalled cheaper one)
Need to move the aquarium out with the other IBC's....
05Dec2012
Moved the aquarium out to be with the IBC's. One air pump now does all 4 containers.
Of the 5 berried females in the aquarium 2 weeks ago, only 2 still have eggs!!
Maybe this segregation business isnt working.
Will now abandon future female segregation & only do swimmerette baby collection from the mesh after hatching. I need to examine the berried females closer as they appeared to have "parasites" with the eggs or it may simply be mud/sand.
Running total
IBC1
3 Male 6 Female (1 berried) 9 total |
IBC2
4 Male 7 Female 11 total |
IBC3
5 Male 5 Female 10 total |
Aquarium
2 Berried Female 2 total |
09Dec2012
Grabbed a redclaw from bin 2 & it squished in my hand as it shot off. Obviously it has moulted & is VERY soft shelled (or non existent) at this point in time. Son grabbed another in PVC and we checked it. It was berried with olive eggs & a few that were more orange. Must of had several hundred eggs, the most we've seen so far. No photos , just put her back where she was from.
16 Dec 2012
Went away for a few days & they survived on their own. Only fed them just a little bit more on the last night (about half a cup of mixed peas & corn, for the 32) and back again on the 3rd night to feed normally.
The only issue was a dropped air pipe from the air pump (must of been a frog or rat that used it for a climbing tool)( So have learnt that this can occur & need to rectify)
The best part was that the water pump was still going & this gave it the fall back we wanted. Getting happier with the new redundancies in place.
Have now obtained the next layer of redundancy with tank fittings that will pipe the solar powered pumps on & off during the evenings from the battery (just need the time to set it up) (so if power fails we will still have a few hours of water movement in the evening during most activity)
18Dec2012
We obtained the barra pellets today & boy are they all active scrumaging around
( http://www.lauckemills.com.au/misc1.html ) They think it tastes better than the diet of peas & corn they have been digesting over the last 2 months. So hopefully mixing this with a few days of vegies will suffice. So far the drawback may be that the pellets turn to mush after a few minutes.
22Dec2012 (2 months on)
Cleaned out the IBC's, flushed any accumulated sediment away. Didnt look too bad until the hose stirred up everything under the structures.
Moved the females from the aquarium back into the IBC's
The Barra pellets are a little mucky, so must make sure only just enough is put in the IBC. Will use them as a supplement to the peas & corn.
Aquarium females only had 1 in berry. Orange eggs with eyes.(20-23 day stage)
Grabbed a redclaw from bin 2 & it squished in my hand as it shot off. Obviously it has moulted & is VERY soft shelled (or non existent) at this point in time. Son grabbed another in PVC and we checked it. It was berried with olive eggs & a few that were more orange. Must of had several hundred eggs, the most we've seen so far. No photos , just put her back where she was from.
16 Dec 2012
Went away for a few days & they survived on their own. Only fed them just a little bit more on the last night (about half a cup of mixed peas & corn, for the 32) and back again on the 3rd night to feed normally.
The only issue was a dropped air pipe from the air pump (must of been a frog or rat that used it for a climbing tool)( So have learnt that this can occur & need to rectify)
The best part was that the water pump was still going & this gave it the fall back we wanted. Getting happier with the new redundancies in place.
Have now obtained the next layer of redundancy with tank fittings that will pipe the solar powered pumps on & off during the evenings from the battery (just need the time to set it up) (so if power fails we will still have a few hours of water movement in the evening during most activity)
18Dec2012
We obtained the barra pellets today & boy are they all active scrumaging around
( http://www.lauckemills.com.au/misc1.html ) They think it tastes better than the diet of peas & corn they have been digesting over the last 2 months. So hopefully mixing this with a few days of vegies will suffice. So far the drawback may be that the pellets turn to mush after a few minutes.
22Dec2012 (2 months on)
Cleaned out the IBC's, flushed any accumulated sediment away. Didnt look too bad until the hose stirred up everything under the structures.
Moved the females from the aquarium back into the IBC's
The Barra pellets are a little mucky, so must make sure only just enough is put in the IBC. Will use them as a supplement to the peas & corn.
Aquarium females only had 1 in berry. Orange eggs with eyes.(20-23 day stage)
IBC1
3 Male 6 Female (1 berried) 9 total |
IBC2
4 Male 8 Female (1 berried) 12 total |
IBC3
5 Male 6 Female (1 berried) 11 total |
Aquarium
empty |
11 Jan 2013
Back after 3 weeks
Lost a big one from IBC1.
The filters were sodden with an almost grease substance (from the fish pellets) (will need to use detergent to clean properly.
Water clear, but in need of a purge & freshen up. Found only 3 spawn in the meshed orchid pot & were excited to see they made it past the fish.
During cleanup of water noticed more & more spawn in the crud. You just have to be staring in the right spot long enough to see a wriggler type movement) Stop everything & put out a filter (shadecloth) on the pipe exit. From IBC 2 & 3 we ended up with over 50ish live little crays in 2 distinct sizes (really small & really really small) (There were lots of dead ones too in the debris recovered in the filter). We did a 2/3 to 75% water change.
We placed these newborn in the aquarium with airpump only & shelter (put in all recovered debris).
They appeared to be living out amongst the other redclaw in the IBC's & not taking shelter in the mesh to avoid being eaten. (So was the mesh shelter a waste of time??)
Either way we have finally achieved our first cycle & are now monitoring the aquarium again. (27.9C temp) with a mix of old water & bit of new.
The aquarium page has updated info on the goings on with newborn crays
06Feb 2013
The most disappointing crays for breeding so far are the largest ones in IBC 1. The best breeders are the smaller mix of 11 in IBC3.
It has taken 3 months to get to a stage where we have a cycle of crays, in berry, almost hatched , hatched & some 2-3 weeks old.
More infor at the Aquarium page for Feb - March
16 March 2013
Its been 2 weeks now since we added the next IBC for the spawn from IBC 3 (the teenagers)(They are by far the better breeders, if I was game I'd just eat the largest ones in IBC 1 as they are totally useless after 5 months)(It is obvious they do not like their surroundings or companions) During the last shakeup we added "Dave" from IBC 2 into the larger ones and 4 days later he had died.
So now we do not know how much of a breeding influence Dave had on IBC 2.
We had several hundred wrigglers & larger ones collected from the IBC3 & given a new home to themselves. They seem to be going well after 2 weeks with just an aerator bubbling away. We have included several of our teired structures to give the impression of more floor space.
There are photos on the housing page of our structures created for this IBC
23March 2013
More disasters over the week. Air off in 1 IBC after the bread crate dropping and pinching the aerator supply. One lifeless female carrying babies with a week or so to go. Managed to do resuss for 2 hrs & get her into another oxygenated tank & she came good, but 3 days later was able to catch by hand without issue, so there may be some damage to her. (Found her dead without babies, captured many of her spawn alive but just as many dead)
Rats or frogs again have pulled the hose out of the aerator as it hangs down the wall. The NEW IBC with all the babies in it is a mix of lifeless pasty redclaw and alive blue ones. Tally was 100+ big ones (1cm - 3cm) (in photo) & another 100+ smaller ones, so over 200 dead redclaw!!
Back after 3 weeks
Lost a big one from IBC1.
The filters were sodden with an almost grease substance (from the fish pellets) (will need to use detergent to clean properly.
Water clear, but in need of a purge & freshen up. Found only 3 spawn in the meshed orchid pot & were excited to see they made it past the fish.
During cleanup of water noticed more & more spawn in the crud. You just have to be staring in the right spot long enough to see a wriggler type movement) Stop everything & put out a filter (shadecloth) on the pipe exit. From IBC 2 & 3 we ended up with over 50ish live little crays in 2 distinct sizes (really small & really really small) (There were lots of dead ones too in the debris recovered in the filter). We did a 2/3 to 75% water change.
We placed these newborn in the aquarium with airpump only & shelter (put in all recovered debris).
They appeared to be living out amongst the other redclaw in the IBC's & not taking shelter in the mesh to avoid being eaten. (So was the mesh shelter a waste of time??)
Either way we have finally achieved our first cycle & are now monitoring the aquarium again. (27.9C temp) with a mix of old water & bit of new.
The aquarium page has updated info on the goings on with newborn crays
06Feb 2013
The most disappointing crays for breeding so far are the largest ones in IBC 1. The best breeders are the smaller mix of 11 in IBC3.
It has taken 3 months to get to a stage where we have a cycle of crays, in berry, almost hatched , hatched & some 2-3 weeks old.
More infor at the Aquarium page for Feb - March
16 March 2013
Its been 2 weeks now since we added the next IBC for the spawn from IBC 3 (the teenagers)(They are by far the better breeders, if I was game I'd just eat the largest ones in IBC 1 as they are totally useless after 5 months)(It is obvious they do not like their surroundings or companions) During the last shakeup we added "Dave" from IBC 2 into the larger ones and 4 days later he had died.
So now we do not know how much of a breeding influence Dave had on IBC 2.
We had several hundred wrigglers & larger ones collected from the IBC3 & given a new home to themselves. They seem to be going well after 2 weeks with just an aerator bubbling away. We have included several of our teired structures to give the impression of more floor space.
There are photos on the housing page of our structures created for this IBC
23March 2013
More disasters over the week. Air off in 1 IBC after the bread crate dropping and pinching the aerator supply. One lifeless female carrying babies with a week or so to go. Managed to do resuss for 2 hrs & get her into another oxygenated tank & she came good, but 3 days later was able to catch by hand without issue, so there may be some damage to her. (Found her dead without babies, captured many of her spawn alive but just as many dead)
Rats or frogs again have pulled the hose out of the aerator as it hangs down the wall. The NEW IBC with all the babies in it is a mix of lifeless pasty redclaw and alive blue ones. Tally was 100+ big ones (1cm - 3cm) (in photo) & another 100+ smaller ones, so over 200 dead redclaw!!
If you want to have a hobby of pain and suffering, you will try to grow redclaw in IBC's !!!!!No doubt with the concentration of young in one IBC it may of already put a strain on the oxygen levels in water before any such incident, as the documents show they can survive in poor oxygenated water. The redundancies I have previously talked about in other IBC's were not in this IBC. (The young made no real attempt to get to higher levels like the older ones do)Its the eggs all in one basket thing again...... follow it.One observation I have is the growth rate of stragglers in the main IBC's. The little ones just seem to grow bigger quicker amongst the seniors than in with their peers.July 2013
It is now the dry season and the water temp is chilly.
Did a full clean of the performers tank and as expected there was no-one in berry.
We have (for the last few months) had everything going well.
We have aerators now instead of water filter/pumps. (We had the cheaper 4 outlet nice looking plastic covered aerators, but they sooner than later have issues and fail) The air pumps we have now look/sound like proper air pumps/compressors with the raw metal casing and do the job well.
We also have a 12volt aerator that comes on after sunset for 6 hours during peak activity. This is hooked up to a battery / solar panel and is our contingency plan in action.
We also have water pumps that just push a little flow around the tank, but watch out for claw marks in the cables.
We have had no deaths for months and have several hundred redclaw at various stages of growth. (There could easily be 400+) Still feeding them barra pellets & siphoning the pods out every few weeks with a top up of water (bore water)
We have not yet seen a growth rate like we were led to believe (size), however we are ready to hit the ground running as the weather warms up and they get breeding again. The biggest ones have been eaten (yummy) so technically our brood stock base is less, however the big ones were the most useless breeders in our conditions. I cannot see the newborns from over the last 9 months being big breeders yet, so we will be continung to rely on last years performers for the coming warmer months.
01 September 2013
Went to clean tanks yesterday as water level had dropped by about 100-150mm in all 4 tanks. Ended up just topping them up & stirring up all the muck. (There is always tomorrow)(Big mistake after nearly 6-7 weeks & no water maitenance)
Went back today and had casualties everywhere (not many, but they had been in distress in all tanks).
Lost all 15 Cherabin in tank 4 plus 2 redclaw as the airline was pinched & reduced bubbles in what must of been a fairly concentrated nitrate laden tank. (stirring up the water levels with warmer water would not of helped) From my understanding the nitrates may sit at a certain level within the temperature layers.
This tank was getting more sunlight & was noticeable warmer than the others. Cherabin , being a prawn & not a cray are not as resilient to poor oxygen levels and crowding as redclaw. (But I had some of these for over 3 months).
I pushed the limit of poor water change techniques & paid the price. Must reduce water level & top up at least monthly. Should always go back an hour later & check the status of air/water flow. If you start a job, follow through & finish it properly.
On a positive note we had a female in Berry with bright blue eggs (over 3-400+). My guess it is the two females I saw the night before on top of each other with a male head on?, maybe in process of an egg/sperm transfer.
The new bore water is warmer in the tank than the cooler dry season temps of the last few months & as the daytime air temp is getting near 37C again , this will spur the critters on to get ready for the breeding season. The water could already be 6-7C warmer than what it was yesterdayas the water temp will head towards 30+ in the coming months.
22 September 2013
Spent several hours 21sept siphoning muck & using hose to concentrate it in areas to siphon again. All looking good. Next day adjusted some bread racks and the whole system looked like it had not been cleaned in a while. So bit the bullet & did a full clean on 3 IBC's.
So 3 weeks is about the limit between cleans as the water warms up.
Graded about 25+ (10cm sized ones) into their own IBC (#4 was recommissioned into use) (This is the fishing bait holding tank)
Had 3 in berry, 1 had dark brown bordering orange eggs & I reckon it was the one with day old eggs 3 weeks ago. (They didnt quite fit my chart correctly) One threw 95% of eggs in the cleanup & didnt count her.
So it looks like the change in temp is about to kick in with a new breeding season.
The redclaw went through some stress again in the clean up as there was a substantial temperature change in the old & new water. As well as removing the majority of them with a net to a 2 inch filled holding facility and giving all plastics a scrub & a hose down. But in monitoring them for the last few hours , there have been no casualties, so they are quite resiliant.
We have lots of juveniles in all IBC's, so in the next few weeks there will be a need to bring more IBC's on line to spread the load. Which means aerators & PVC hides & actually extending the roof of the shed to keep the hot sun off them.
Been at this for 11 months now. So hopefully we are poised to maximise our output in the coming season as we hit the ground running & already set up. (Famous last words)
15 October 2013
Lost about 10 redclaw in a sprinkle of sizes over the last week as the temps hit 40C+. Noteably we lost a large male & are now unsure how many producing males we have in what tank. (records are a bit lax?).
I have no real reasons for why we are losing a few. Could be the heat change. May be something else going on. We need to clean the tanks again over the coming weekend & take stock.
Noticed a handful of newly hatched larve only a few days off their mum in bin1(I only checked the empty netting 2 days ago). So we are off to a good start already for the season and 1 week shy of our 12 months doing this. (We didnt get any survivable young until January 2013 and then we killed most of them by inexperience) So at this point I think we are 3 months ahead (in terms of last breeding season)
Also noticed another female laden with eggs in bin3.
17 October 2013
Did the clean of the 4 tanks.
A nice batch of larve in tank 1. And at least another 3 still in Berry. Didn't want to disturb them too much (as you do when you drain 95% of their water & keep hosing) Only noticed 1 male in tank 1 & tank 3. That is a big worry as not much will happen without males.Have to look into obtaining a few more males, as I cannot keep swapping the male out between tanks when the time comes of losing one more.
Didnt do the full audit like I wanted to (on my own), so still have no real idea about the numbers.
26Oct2013
Another semi drain & clean of crud
A few more dead over the last week, all about the 5 cm mark (size without claws)
The average temp for the month is 39.3C.
19Nov2013
13 months on and the new tank is in place. It is only 1.7metres in diameter making it about 1.6 times the square area of the IBC (so not a massive difference, but needed for the next year of expansion)
Cleaned out 3 IBC's and tried for a proper sorting/count
Technically it was a big shake up/cleanout of the young.
It is now the dry season and the water temp is chilly.
Did a full clean of the performers tank and as expected there was no-one in berry.
We have (for the last few months) had everything going well.
We have aerators now instead of water filter/pumps. (We had the cheaper 4 outlet nice looking plastic covered aerators, but they sooner than later have issues and fail) The air pumps we have now look/sound like proper air pumps/compressors with the raw metal casing and do the job well.
We also have a 12volt aerator that comes on after sunset for 6 hours during peak activity. This is hooked up to a battery / solar panel and is our contingency plan in action.
We also have water pumps that just push a little flow around the tank, but watch out for claw marks in the cables.
We have had no deaths for months and have several hundred redclaw at various stages of growth. (There could easily be 400+) Still feeding them barra pellets & siphoning the pods out every few weeks with a top up of water (bore water)
We have not yet seen a growth rate like we were led to believe (size), however we are ready to hit the ground running as the weather warms up and they get breeding again. The biggest ones have been eaten (yummy) so technically our brood stock base is less, however the big ones were the most useless breeders in our conditions. I cannot see the newborns from over the last 9 months being big breeders yet, so we will be continung to rely on last years performers for the coming warmer months.
01 September 2013
Went to clean tanks yesterday as water level had dropped by about 100-150mm in all 4 tanks. Ended up just topping them up & stirring up all the muck. (There is always tomorrow)(Big mistake after nearly 6-7 weeks & no water maitenance)
Went back today and had casualties everywhere (not many, but they had been in distress in all tanks).
Lost all 15 Cherabin in tank 4 plus 2 redclaw as the airline was pinched & reduced bubbles in what must of been a fairly concentrated nitrate laden tank. (stirring up the water levels with warmer water would not of helped) From my understanding the nitrates may sit at a certain level within the temperature layers.
This tank was getting more sunlight & was noticeable warmer than the others. Cherabin , being a prawn & not a cray are not as resilient to poor oxygen levels and crowding as redclaw. (But I had some of these for over 3 months).
I pushed the limit of poor water change techniques & paid the price. Must reduce water level & top up at least monthly. Should always go back an hour later & check the status of air/water flow. If you start a job, follow through & finish it properly.
On a positive note we had a female in Berry with bright blue eggs (over 3-400+). My guess it is the two females I saw the night before on top of each other with a male head on?, maybe in process of an egg/sperm transfer.
The new bore water is warmer in the tank than the cooler dry season temps of the last few months & as the daytime air temp is getting near 37C again , this will spur the critters on to get ready for the breeding season. The water could already be 6-7C warmer than what it was yesterdayas the water temp will head towards 30+ in the coming months.
22 September 2013
Spent several hours 21sept siphoning muck & using hose to concentrate it in areas to siphon again. All looking good. Next day adjusted some bread racks and the whole system looked like it had not been cleaned in a while. So bit the bullet & did a full clean on 3 IBC's.
So 3 weeks is about the limit between cleans as the water warms up.
Graded about 25+ (10cm sized ones) into their own IBC (#4 was recommissioned into use) (This is the fishing bait holding tank)
Had 3 in berry, 1 had dark brown bordering orange eggs & I reckon it was the one with day old eggs 3 weeks ago. (They didnt quite fit my chart correctly) One threw 95% of eggs in the cleanup & didnt count her.
So it looks like the change in temp is about to kick in with a new breeding season.
The redclaw went through some stress again in the clean up as there was a substantial temperature change in the old & new water. As well as removing the majority of them with a net to a 2 inch filled holding facility and giving all plastics a scrub & a hose down. But in monitoring them for the last few hours , there have been no casualties, so they are quite resiliant.
We have lots of juveniles in all IBC's, so in the next few weeks there will be a need to bring more IBC's on line to spread the load. Which means aerators & PVC hides & actually extending the roof of the shed to keep the hot sun off them.
Been at this for 11 months now. So hopefully we are poised to maximise our output in the coming season as we hit the ground running & already set up. (Famous last words)
15 October 2013
Lost about 10 redclaw in a sprinkle of sizes over the last week as the temps hit 40C+. Noteably we lost a large male & are now unsure how many producing males we have in what tank. (records are a bit lax?).
I have no real reasons for why we are losing a few. Could be the heat change. May be something else going on. We need to clean the tanks again over the coming weekend & take stock.
Noticed a handful of newly hatched larve only a few days off their mum in bin1(I only checked the empty netting 2 days ago). So we are off to a good start already for the season and 1 week shy of our 12 months doing this. (We didnt get any survivable young until January 2013 and then we killed most of them by inexperience) So at this point I think we are 3 months ahead (in terms of last breeding season)
Also noticed another female laden with eggs in bin3.
17 October 2013
Did the clean of the 4 tanks.
A nice batch of larve in tank 1. And at least another 3 still in Berry. Didn't want to disturb them too much (as you do when you drain 95% of their water & keep hosing) Only noticed 1 male in tank 1 & tank 3. That is a big worry as not much will happen without males.Have to look into obtaining a few more males, as I cannot keep swapping the male out between tanks when the time comes of losing one more.
Didnt do the full audit like I wanted to (on my own), so still have no real idea about the numbers.
26Oct2013
Another semi drain & clean of crud
A few more dead over the last week, all about the 5 cm mark (size without claws)
The average temp for the month is 39.3C.
19Nov2013
13 months on and the new tank is in place. It is only 1.7metres in diameter making it about 1.6 times the square area of the IBC (so not a massive difference, but needed for the next year of expansion)
Cleaned out 3 IBC's and tried for a proper sorting/count
Technically it was a big shake up/cleanout of the young.
IBC 1
Breeders 7female & 1male 3 in berry |
IBC2
1mth - 6mths Approx 200+ Will need to add an IBC |
IBC3
Breeders 7 female & 2male 1 in berry |
Tank
45 redclaw bigger than 3 inches (9cm) Still not breeding size. |
IBC 3 still disapoints with the lack of females in berry.IBC 2 is fairly top heavy & we need to bring another IBC on line to spread the load. This IBC has lots of netting and is purpose built as the nursery.
IBC1 had good results again with girls in berry creme brown eggs, dark eggs & opate. (It was getting dark & we were rushing the clean) Spawn in the netting, but not teeming.
Almost starting to see colour in the new males (red) claw at 3 inches.
Looking at the figures, you might say the totals are a bit on the light side after 12 months of work.
We are hoping that this is the stepping stone for the next year.
Worked out that we must of killed 500+ due to stupid mistakes during the 12 months (not counting a thousand eggs thrown by mishandling)
Even with all the attempts to expand, I am still thinking of combining the breeders into 1 IBC (from 1 & 3), thus ensuring a better ratio of males to females ( 3m - 14f ), however I also want the redundancy of females being split in case of disaster. My compromise will be another IBC on line to split the 200+ in IBC2.
27Nov2013
Established the next IBC (our 5th one in service) & transferred about 50 redclaw from IBC2 size 5-7cm cm (body not including claws). Checked it overnight and most of the cherax were on the move trying to climb the walls & just did not seem settled. (They were all in another container the weeks before & didn't behave like this).
Hopefully the remaining spawn in IBC2 & other smaller crays have a bit more room to move about & not feed on the smaller ones.
The breeders in IBC 1 have not been active at night, hopefully they are all berried and staying in their pipes. The netting has new spawn in it & that will stay put for a while.
I just wish IBC 3 would kick into season with more girls in berry.
It has only been 9 days since last check/clean & I know that I should just leave them alone to do their thing and not disturb the process.
IBC4 has a 3 dozen Cherabin (Freshwater prawn) and they are going well, ready for the next fishing trip.
01December 2013
Curiosity got the better of me. I had to rip into IBC1 & see why the Redclaw had gone into hibernation for the last 2 weeks or more since last clean. They were not active at night apart from 1 that had moulted and was a nice blue colour (So She was noticable). Even the male was missing. Last count we had 3 in berry (19Nov). So after investigation , this time we had none in berry? Had to struggle to get them out of their hides to check. It was just not the normal activity I am used to seeing & have no answers as to why. On the plus side there are spawn in the netting, so they have gone through with the cycle. (Not hundreds but dozens) So maybe they are just having a rest?
The other breeders in IBC3 also had dozens of spawn in the netting (not hundreds as hoped), and none in berry.
02 December 2013 - More disaster !
Saw them gasping on top of the bricks in IBC4 this morning with many lifeless on the bottom of the container.
Also in IBC2 the bigger ones were up out of the water & The Cherabin were doing the same thing in their IBC. What did I do wrong this time???
The 2 IBC's that were affected the most had the least water in them. I had also ramped up the feeding (since they had a clean out). I gave them a sprinkle of barra pellets in the morning & arvo & the tipping point would of been the powder mix. ( The powder mix is the crushed/bits & pieces from the actual barra feed pellets) I had basically overfed them and the water possibly lost its ability to hold oxygen as it mixed with the mush created by the barra pellets/powder.
Remember the old saying "Less is more".
So lesson learnt, slow & steady wins the race. Overfeeding will just wreck the balance in your water.
14Dec2013
Emptied the round tank (was on 300mm depth) & refilled back to 360mm depth). It hadnt been touched since 19Nov, so with a clean & extra water one would hope it will survive 3 weeks on its own over the xmas break. It will get a clean /partial drain & then top up in 1 week time. But did the full drain today so I can monitor over the next week. Extra water also means more bricks & raising shelters to a level that enables access to air. But the main reason for extra water is the ability to better buffer any nitrate issues/water fouling that may arise
15Dec2013
Major milestone reached.
Located one of our own bred redclaw with babies dropping off her. Guessing this was one of our first spawn from Jan 2013. This one was a stray (of 5) that I hadnt transferred weeks ago from the Cherabin tank. Collected approx 80 little spawn all crawling (in sieve ) that had already left mum & when transferring mum we noticed at least 50 still crawling under her tail.
This means we have finally had a full cycle after 13 months of our breeders having babies survive, and the babies maturing & breeding.
The amazing thing is that this small female had as many eggs / spawn as our bigger ones twice her size.
We also have hundreds of green treefrog tadpoles that have been growing at an increasing rate over the last 3 weeks. (Back legs appearing). It was noticed that they were eating the sinking pellets like seagulls fighting over a chip. So not sure if the redclaw are getting a feed at all. The tank with the larger redclaw have had the tadpole tails mauled.
21Dec2013
Finalised the tank cleaning that started last weekend (only had 2 to go) however prepped all tanks with a partial siphon / drain & refill to ensure the water quality survives the 3 weeks unmaintained. (But fed & monitored by others)
Noted a berried female in IBC3 having trouble fitting folded tail into 40mm pipe (still) even though I added bigger pipe during the week.
Majority of frogs have back & front legs now (still with full tail)
Still have 6-7kg of barra pellets left after 12 months & after giving some away. Good investment
12 January 2014
Back from 3 weeks holidays and all is well. Looking a bit mucky in some bins but all seem to be functioning.
All IBC's emptied & cleaned. Total of 8 berried females ready to go within days to a month. May of also had a few more babies from our babies as we collected a few very small spawn along with others that are 3 weeks old in the filter. Didn't go hunting in the mesh for any more, maybe later. (3 hrs + of bending over cleaning has its limits)
Have 1 large female without claws & has issues staying upright. Found her last night thrashing about on back & helped her on to feet & now today she is berried & lets hope they are fertilised.
Overall with 8 berried females it is kicking off to a good year ahead.
Tadpoles have all hopped away (an extra 150+ green tree frogs are out and about)
13Jan2014
While helping a cray that appeared stuck in the prawn trawler netting (in the bigger tank) it took off leaving about 20 spawn swimming for shelter. (Great grand children!) Adding to our 3 generations bred over the last 13 months.
So with the "grand children" breeding (as well as at least 8 children in berry at present), I have no idea what explosion of small prawn we will have over the coming months. We already have 6 containers being aerated to "thin" out our existing crays, running off of one pump. I envisage having to run another pump (the current spare backup) with several more containers. No big deal, however consuming a few more watts of electricity for what real gain? (apart from lots of crays to look after)
05Feb2014
Still have not cleaned the tanks for 3.5weeks. Curious to get in and check the status of the girls in berry.
Suspect that for some reason not many followed through as there are not many spawn in the nets. I expected it to be teeming. Maybe I'm over anxious.
09Feb2014
Cleaned all 5 IBC's & rainwater tank
Found lots of spawn in IBC1, it just wasnt in the netting as expected.
The biggest surprise was at least 5 berried females in the rainwater tank (our very own). There were also lots of spawn up to 1 inch in size with lots of new smaller ones so breeding has been taking place steadily without notice. 2 Females were fully laden with the spawn ready to leave mum in the next week.
IBC3 with the other breeders was OK with action happening there at a steady pace. IBC 3 & 1 (with our original redclaw) are not exciting me as much with breeding.
06March2014
Just checking the blog to work out when I last cleaned the tanks (nearly 4 weeks). They are looking OK as the weather has been fairly cool due to the Wet Season rains.
All tanks are doing well. Lots of little critters about in the netting. IBC 3 is still a underperformer, but will know for sure when I clean again. Nearly time to mix the bigger ones of 1 & 3 together.
23March2014
Six weeks is a long time without a clean, but all knocked over in a few hours.
Merged IBC 3 into IBC 1 as the elderly redclaw are now non performing & will be eaten over the coming months. This leaves IBC3 to spread the load with the rest of the juvies.
Didnt notice any in berry in any of the tanks, but wasn't really looking.
29June2014
Over 3 months without a clean, and all was well. Probably pushed the limit by a month & should be more diligent in regular cleaning of the water. Only noticed 1 berried female (a very small one). Nothing really to write about. Water was muddy & smelly when stirred up, but crystal clear until messed with. Weather cold at night & the water temp is cold. Didnt help with the bore water temp being warm, so may lose a few due to temp stress.
28September 2014
Another 3 months without a full clean. (We did a partial empty & refill of water 4 weeks ago.
Only one berried female seen (large one). So getting ready for the coming months of warmer weather.
So Water emptied (which was cool shady water) & hosed out & replaced with warm bore water. There was a fair bit of temperature change, but no noticable casualties (just the usual finds during a clean).
23Nov2014
Nearly 2 months without a clean. All going well as the weather warms up into the 40's a few times over the last week, but 37C+ every day for over 6 weeks. Water in tanks were quite cool, compared to bore water refill. Lost 3 originals redclaws last week when air line came off, only have 2 left & they are now redundant.
Lots of berried females & spawn in the netting as the season just begins.
Scaled back to 3 IBC & the bigger tank.
After 2 years of doing this and not really seeing a big change over the last year. May have reached peak?
15March2015
Finally a fully clean on all tanks, nearly 4 months. A month back did a quarter topup. Nothing to really report. Just ticking over fine.
IBC1 had good results again with girls in berry creme brown eggs, dark eggs & opate. (It was getting dark & we were rushing the clean) Spawn in the netting, but not teeming.
Almost starting to see colour in the new males (red) claw at 3 inches.
Looking at the figures, you might say the totals are a bit on the light side after 12 months of work.
We are hoping that this is the stepping stone for the next year.
Worked out that we must of killed 500+ due to stupid mistakes during the 12 months (not counting a thousand eggs thrown by mishandling)
Even with all the attempts to expand, I am still thinking of combining the breeders into 1 IBC (from 1 & 3), thus ensuring a better ratio of males to females ( 3m - 14f ), however I also want the redundancy of females being split in case of disaster. My compromise will be another IBC on line to split the 200+ in IBC2.
27Nov2013
Established the next IBC (our 5th one in service) & transferred about 50 redclaw from IBC2 size 5-7cm cm (body not including claws). Checked it overnight and most of the cherax were on the move trying to climb the walls & just did not seem settled. (They were all in another container the weeks before & didn't behave like this).
Hopefully the remaining spawn in IBC2 & other smaller crays have a bit more room to move about & not feed on the smaller ones.
The breeders in IBC 1 have not been active at night, hopefully they are all berried and staying in their pipes. The netting has new spawn in it & that will stay put for a while.
I just wish IBC 3 would kick into season with more girls in berry.
It has only been 9 days since last check/clean & I know that I should just leave them alone to do their thing and not disturb the process.
IBC4 has a 3 dozen Cherabin (Freshwater prawn) and they are going well, ready for the next fishing trip.
01December 2013
Curiosity got the better of me. I had to rip into IBC1 & see why the Redclaw had gone into hibernation for the last 2 weeks or more since last clean. They were not active at night apart from 1 that had moulted and was a nice blue colour (So She was noticable). Even the male was missing. Last count we had 3 in berry (19Nov). So after investigation , this time we had none in berry? Had to struggle to get them out of their hides to check. It was just not the normal activity I am used to seeing & have no answers as to why. On the plus side there are spawn in the netting, so they have gone through with the cycle. (Not hundreds but dozens) So maybe they are just having a rest?
The other breeders in IBC3 also had dozens of spawn in the netting (not hundreds as hoped), and none in berry.
02 December 2013 - More disaster !
Saw them gasping on top of the bricks in IBC4 this morning with many lifeless on the bottom of the container.
Also in IBC2 the bigger ones were up out of the water & The Cherabin were doing the same thing in their IBC. What did I do wrong this time???
The 2 IBC's that were affected the most had the least water in them. I had also ramped up the feeding (since they had a clean out). I gave them a sprinkle of barra pellets in the morning & arvo & the tipping point would of been the powder mix. ( The powder mix is the crushed/bits & pieces from the actual barra feed pellets) I had basically overfed them and the water possibly lost its ability to hold oxygen as it mixed with the mush created by the barra pellets/powder.
Remember the old saying "Less is more".
So lesson learnt, slow & steady wins the race. Overfeeding will just wreck the balance in your water.
14Dec2013
Emptied the round tank (was on 300mm depth) & refilled back to 360mm depth). It hadnt been touched since 19Nov, so with a clean & extra water one would hope it will survive 3 weeks on its own over the xmas break. It will get a clean /partial drain & then top up in 1 week time. But did the full drain today so I can monitor over the next week. Extra water also means more bricks & raising shelters to a level that enables access to air. But the main reason for extra water is the ability to better buffer any nitrate issues/water fouling that may arise
15Dec2013
Major milestone reached.
Located one of our own bred redclaw with babies dropping off her. Guessing this was one of our first spawn from Jan 2013. This one was a stray (of 5) that I hadnt transferred weeks ago from the Cherabin tank. Collected approx 80 little spawn all crawling (in sieve ) that had already left mum & when transferring mum we noticed at least 50 still crawling under her tail.
This means we have finally had a full cycle after 13 months of our breeders having babies survive, and the babies maturing & breeding.
The amazing thing is that this small female had as many eggs / spawn as our bigger ones twice her size.
We also have hundreds of green treefrog tadpoles that have been growing at an increasing rate over the last 3 weeks. (Back legs appearing). It was noticed that they were eating the sinking pellets like seagulls fighting over a chip. So not sure if the redclaw are getting a feed at all. The tank with the larger redclaw have had the tadpole tails mauled.
21Dec2013
Finalised the tank cleaning that started last weekend (only had 2 to go) however prepped all tanks with a partial siphon / drain & refill to ensure the water quality survives the 3 weeks unmaintained. (But fed & monitored by others)
Noted a berried female in IBC3 having trouble fitting folded tail into 40mm pipe (still) even though I added bigger pipe during the week.
Majority of frogs have back & front legs now (still with full tail)
Still have 6-7kg of barra pellets left after 12 months & after giving some away. Good investment
12 January 2014
Back from 3 weeks holidays and all is well. Looking a bit mucky in some bins but all seem to be functioning.
All IBC's emptied & cleaned. Total of 8 berried females ready to go within days to a month. May of also had a few more babies from our babies as we collected a few very small spawn along with others that are 3 weeks old in the filter. Didn't go hunting in the mesh for any more, maybe later. (3 hrs + of bending over cleaning has its limits)
Have 1 large female without claws & has issues staying upright. Found her last night thrashing about on back & helped her on to feet & now today she is berried & lets hope they are fertilised.
Overall with 8 berried females it is kicking off to a good year ahead.
Tadpoles have all hopped away (an extra 150+ green tree frogs are out and about)
13Jan2014
While helping a cray that appeared stuck in the prawn trawler netting (in the bigger tank) it took off leaving about 20 spawn swimming for shelter. (Great grand children!) Adding to our 3 generations bred over the last 13 months.
So with the "grand children" breeding (as well as at least 8 children in berry at present), I have no idea what explosion of small prawn we will have over the coming months. We already have 6 containers being aerated to "thin" out our existing crays, running off of one pump. I envisage having to run another pump (the current spare backup) with several more containers. No big deal, however consuming a few more watts of electricity for what real gain? (apart from lots of crays to look after)
05Feb2014
Still have not cleaned the tanks for 3.5weeks. Curious to get in and check the status of the girls in berry.
Suspect that for some reason not many followed through as there are not many spawn in the nets. I expected it to be teeming. Maybe I'm over anxious.
09Feb2014
Cleaned all 5 IBC's & rainwater tank
Found lots of spawn in IBC1, it just wasnt in the netting as expected.
The biggest surprise was at least 5 berried females in the rainwater tank (our very own). There were also lots of spawn up to 1 inch in size with lots of new smaller ones so breeding has been taking place steadily without notice. 2 Females were fully laden with the spawn ready to leave mum in the next week.
IBC3 with the other breeders was OK with action happening there at a steady pace. IBC 3 & 1 (with our original redclaw) are not exciting me as much with breeding.
06March2014
Just checking the blog to work out when I last cleaned the tanks (nearly 4 weeks). They are looking OK as the weather has been fairly cool due to the Wet Season rains.
All tanks are doing well. Lots of little critters about in the netting. IBC 3 is still a underperformer, but will know for sure when I clean again. Nearly time to mix the bigger ones of 1 & 3 together.
23March2014
Six weeks is a long time without a clean, but all knocked over in a few hours.
Merged IBC 3 into IBC 1 as the elderly redclaw are now non performing & will be eaten over the coming months. This leaves IBC3 to spread the load with the rest of the juvies.
Didnt notice any in berry in any of the tanks, but wasn't really looking.
29June2014
Over 3 months without a clean, and all was well. Probably pushed the limit by a month & should be more diligent in regular cleaning of the water. Only noticed 1 berried female (a very small one). Nothing really to write about. Water was muddy & smelly when stirred up, but crystal clear until messed with. Weather cold at night & the water temp is cold. Didnt help with the bore water temp being warm, so may lose a few due to temp stress.
28September 2014
Another 3 months without a full clean. (We did a partial empty & refill of water 4 weeks ago.
Only one berried female seen (large one). So getting ready for the coming months of warmer weather.
So Water emptied (which was cool shady water) & hosed out & replaced with warm bore water. There was a fair bit of temperature change, but no noticable casualties (just the usual finds during a clean).
23Nov2014
Nearly 2 months without a clean. All going well as the weather warms up into the 40's a few times over the last week, but 37C+ every day for over 6 weeks. Water in tanks were quite cool, compared to bore water refill. Lost 3 originals redclaws last week when air line came off, only have 2 left & they are now redundant.
Lots of berried females & spawn in the netting as the season just begins.
Scaled back to 3 IBC & the bigger tank.
After 2 years of doing this and not really seeing a big change over the last year. May have reached peak?
15March2015
Finally a fully clean on all tanks, nearly 4 months. A month back did a quarter topup. Nothing to really report. Just ticking over fine.