Aquaponics Silver perch feast

I cant remember if I even mentioned this because I was probably in some kind of deranged pain killer broken rib induced state when it happened, but I may have forgotten to mention I ate one of my big silver perch.

It looked like this.

The South Australian Fisheries people suggest the most humane way (and best way to protect its eating qualities) to dispatch a fish is to plunge it into an ice water slurry, and leave it there.

A few hours later I scaled and cleaned it, and lightly salted it inside and out.




I wrapped it in whatever you call thin plastic kitchen wrap where you live, and left it in the fridge for twelve hours, then cooked it whole.

It was one of the nicest fish I have ever eaten.

Crazy fat.

You cant really tell from this angle, but it was in very fat condition. Looking down from the top, it had that thick section just before its tail like a dolphin.

Most wild caught fish dont seem to have that.

Im guessing its because life is a little tougher in the wild when you dont have an unlimited amount of feed available.

Anyway...

This fish was in very good condition and had excellent fat content.

Apparently silver perch fat is high in Omega 3, but it was mostly delicious.

It weighed 1.08kg gutted and scaled and was 33 cm long.

I wish I had built a much bigger system ages ago so I could have a lot more.

Successfully farming your own protein in only a couple of cubic meters or space is an amazing thing to be able to do in suburbia.

I totally recommend it.



120 Things in 20 years totally recommends it.

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When I was little

Remember when you were little and thought life would always have this or that?  A couple of weeks ago my grandmas fax machine went off.  I forgot to mute the modem and we were blessed with beeee burrrrrruuuup followed by the fax.  Yes her fax machine still handshakes very vocally.  Kinda got me thinking...I never thought life would change so much.

My dad is a computer nerd (I inherited it) and we, for the most part, had DSL at home.  I knew most people didnt however and was pretty used to that handshake...you know that funny sound your modem made right after your computer dialed out.  For those of you that dont know, it went a lot like this

beep...beep...beedeedee burrrrrr badangbadang shhhhhhhhhhhhhh

And many other forms of that.  My grandmother had AOL for a while which made a sort of creepy alien sound and went on with more shhhhhh-ing. Depending on how fast your ISP responded, it would continue or youd connect.  When I was little, I thought dial up (which was just called internet back then) would always dominate the market and only people with nerdy parents or that were extremely rich could get DSL (which was also called internet.  Dial up was considered regular.)  Now Im older and dont have screaming modems, I found out they have a mute button.

When I was really little, I thought nothing would ever replace VHS.  I would always watch my favorite parts over and over again till my tapes would come apart.  Not once did I ever stop to think that these would be replaced by DVDs or that we would be able to stream them online (after all...dial up is slow.)  When DVDs DID get big, I thought this was some pretty sexy technology.  Then came high definition DVDs.  Next thing you know, blu ray is out.

I knew my computer games were on CD (CD...not DVD like they are now) but figured most important things were kept on floppy disks only.  I was so excited one day when my dad bought colorful floppies.  I didnt have much use for them but hey they were cool.  I eventually found out about flash drives.  Of course, those were only for the rich and/or important people!  A little while after, I accepted them and figured that this was it.  Now computer games are on DVD and Im sure they will eventually be on blu ray.

Remember Sony Walkman cassette player?  I never had one but my sister did.  I was so jealous of her cool name brand Walkman!  Of course I was born in 1990, CD players were starting to hit big.  By the time my parents let me have something portable, CD players were battery operated.  My parents/grandparents still called them walkmen but hey I was cooler.  I had a CD player!  Then, mp3 players came out.  I held onto my CD players all the way up till college when my last one finally died.  I had an mp3 player somewhere in high school but it was nowhere near as durable.  I got an iPod, which also died shortly after.  It wasnt my fault...I got a bad batch of nanos that were known for not working.

I found my Razor scooter when I moved out of my moms house...wheels worn down and all.  I also found roller blades that were still in OK condition.

When my cousin got the chicken pox, the entire neighborhood had a sleep over at his house at one time or another.  We all got sick but were back to school in no time. Then they came out with a shot for it.  It is often seen as "child abuse" to send your kids to a pox party.

I thought Saturday morning cartoons were an American tradition.  You can still find them on some stations but it only lasts about 2 ish hours.  I remember ABCs motto..."five hours of summer once a week.  Five hours of summeeerrrrr One Saturday Morning!"  This is pretty much what got me out of bed in the morning.  After those were done, it was outside all...friggin...day.  By the way, I couldnt wait to be in 7th grade so bad so I could be like Pepper Ann and hang out like on The Weekenders.  At the same time I wish my school was like Third Street School and we had cool recess.

When I was really tiny, I truly thought that we would have flying cars by the year 2000.

But then again, I thought that world peace was coming in the near distant future as well.
Oh children.  Were so cute!

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still alive

And still strong...sorta

Its like being a dog. No matter what you do I will still be there waiting for you the next day. I may need my time to recover but the more you push the more I pull. Its unconditional. It never changes. But did you know that? Im not going anywhere till you want me to go.

So besides being completely shaken and angry at retarded events....well theres DRAMA beyond all belief.

I wish I could hide but there is NOWHERE

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The Little Choo Choo That Thought

That cute little engine...just a chuggin up those tough little tracks.  Very inspirational till you find out the tracks you are on will cause you to shave your head and go insane...no matter how strong you try to stay or how much you hate to admit it.

Here I am again with a shorted check...

go to work?  Get yelled at.  Dont go to work?  Get yelled at.  Come in early?  Get yelled at.  Come in on time?  Well you get the point.

But I wish that everyone would just understand me.  Its not so much that work is getting to me but the fact that I get to watch the world spin round while Im wasting my time here, fighting to get my proper pay.

A waste of time....Im to the point where I just want to jump into the unknown and get where I need to go.  This place doesnt want to pay me and Im stressing more than I should just to get a bite to eat.  But hey if I spent my time in the garden, I could get my food and have much less stress.  As far as rent and all that go?  Id rather be homeless.  Maybe that is me being minimalist though.  Im ok without the proper equipment over my head seeing as I hardly have that anyway.  But I dont find happiness in money, only false security.  Tell me people, what is the point of having a nice home or anything like that if youre too stressed, tired, or never home to enjoy it?

So here I am, going off the tracks.  The trail without the tracks is just as hard to get around and seems impossible.

Impossible


We said it was impossible to fly and all that fun stuff.  We said that blacks and whites could never mix in peace.  We said a lot of crazy crap was impossible...that was very possible.  Maybe I wont make any money and have a crap ton of bills but at least I wont come home after a fight with management.  Im my manager.  Besides, Im pretty good at governing myself.  I know how I think and know what I will and wont do.

Here I go...about to fly off my tracks into a heavily wooded foggy forest of unknown.  Im almost as excited as I am afraid...afraid of that unknown.

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Aquaponics Silver Perch

Its been a while since I paid any attention to my Aquaponics system, but it was nice to find my Silver Perch have been busy growing.

I wandered out to the Aquaponics system for the first time in ages because it was making a slightly different sound, and it turned out to be a partial blockage of the pipe work.

Blocked with tomato roots.

Ive been expecting some problems because when I pruned back the four tomato plants that are still growing from last year, I accidentally killed one by snapping it off at the base. The roots are all meshed together with its three tomato plant buddies, so there was no way to get them out. I figured it would work its way out in the end. It probably would have. The system was still working, with some water going through my overflow. The overflow exits from the surface of the fish tank water, where in normal operation, the water exits from the bottom via a solids lifting overflow. As a result its unlikely that both would be blocked at the same time.

Anyway, everything seems to be ticking along nicely.

I dont really know how big this fish is (Id guess around 40+cm), but its in really good condition. Theyre not just long, but really heavy as well. Heavy looking that is. I wouldnt like to try to catch one, I think it would be a little disruptive.

Im not sure if this is the bigger of the two, but one of them now looks like this...

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Aquaponics Silver Perch update

I recently ran out of fish feed, so Ive been hand feeding them worms, and what ever they call fly larvae in whatever part of the world you live.  They are called "gents" here when bought as bait, or stored in a fridge shared with people who dont want maggots in their fridge. "Maggots" when found in smelly stuff.

The point is, as a result of feeding them live food like worms, gents, and caterpillars, they are venturing a bit further up the water column to the point where they are now easy to photograph.

This guy is pretty big.

And heavy looking.

It looks like this up close.

I have no idea how big or how heavy it is, but Ill try to get a photo next to a ruler.

I wont try to weigh it because I cant think of a way to do it without stressing it.

Ill weigh it if I ever eat it.



120 Things in 20 years - Sometimes your aquaponics silver perch get quite big when youre not looking.

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Aquaponics Silver perch eat Kale

I grew some kale that turned out to made of leather and task a bit like canvas.

But it turns out my single, enormous silver perch eats it.

Even in winter where the water tends to be too cold for silvers to be interested in anything except worms.

You learn something new every few months.

I have some health stuff to deal with, and then Ill start some kind of exciting new thing.

I promise.

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我與Aquaponics 魚菜共生 Why do I start Aquaponics

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????????????????????: ?????????! ??????James????????????Aquaponics??????????????Friendly Aquaponics??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????!!!

 

????????Aquaponics???????????Aqualculture(????) ?Hydroponics(????)????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????

?????????????: ?????????????????2%??????????????70%??(?????????????????)????????????????????2008????????????USDA????????Aquaponics??????????????????????????????????????????!

2011?????????????????????????????????????????????????????2012??????????????????????????????????????????????????!

?????????????????????2011??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????(???30?)???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????!

?2010?12??2011?10????????????????????????"????"??????!!

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