Fish For Farm Dams

Ultimate Guide to Feeding Fish in Your Farm Dam

admin — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 04:53:22 +0000

The Ultimate Guide to Feeding Fish in Your Farm Dam

So, you’ve decided to stock your farm dam with fish—great choice! Not only will you have a self-sustaining ecosystem, but you’ll also enjoy recreational fishing and potentially a sustainable food source. But here’s the thing: if you want your fish to grow big, healthy, and fast, you need to get their diet right.

Many farm dams naturally support some fish food, but supplementing their diet will give them the best chance to thrive. If you’re new to dam fish farming, this guide will walk you through everything you need to know about feeding your fish for optimal growth and health.

Understanding Natural vs. Supplemental Feeding

What’s Already in Your Dam?

Farm dams can provide natural food sources, including:
Insects & Larvae – Mosquito larvae, dragonfly nymphs, and other water bugs are great for fish.
Crustaceans – Small yabbies and shrimp can be an excellent protein source.
Plankton & Algae – Some fish, like Silver Perch, will graze on algae and microscopic plankton.

While these natural food sources help sustain fish, they are often not enough—especially if you want your fish to grow quickly and reach a good size for eating or recreational fishing. That’s where supplemental feeding comes in.

Choosing the Right Food for Your Fish

1. Commercial Pellets – The Easy and Effective Option

For the best growth rates, high-quality fish pellets are a go-to option. They are specially formulated to provide balanced nutrition, containing proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals. When choosing pellets, consider:

Size Matters – Use smaller pellets for young fish (fingerlings) and increase the size as they grow.
High-Protein Content – Look for fish pellets with at least 30-40% protein for species like Silver Perch and Murray Cod.
Floating vs. Sinking – Floating pellets make it easier to monitor how much your fish are eating.

2. Natural Foods – Encouraging a Self-Sustaining Ecosystem

If you want a more natural approach, you can encourage natural food sources in your dam. Here’s how:

Stock Yabbies or Shrimp – They not only help with dam health but provide a great protein source for fish.
Encourage Insect Life – Avoid using pesticides near the dam to ensure a healthy insect population.
Add Aquatic Plants – Plants like reeds and submerged vegetation provide food and shelter for small invertebrates, which fish love to snack on.

How Often Should You Feed Your Fish?

Consistency is key when feeding dam fish. But unlike pet fish in a tank, you don’t want to overdo it—too much food can degrade water quality. Here’s a simple feeding schedule:

Young Fish (Fingerlings) – Feed daily, in small amounts.
Adult Fish – Feed 2-3 times a week, depending on the season.
Winter Feeding – Fish metabolism slows down in colder months, so reduce feeding frequency.

A good rule of thumb: Feed only as much as they can eat in 5-10 minutes. Any leftover food can sink and rot, reducing oxygen levels and harming water quality.

Signs of Overfeeding (And How to Avoid It)

Overfeeding is a common mistake that can lead to murky water, algae blooms, and unhealthy fish. Watch out for these signs:

Uneaten food floating after 10 minutes – You’re giving them too much.
Cloudy or greenish water – Excess food leads to nutrient overload, causing algal blooms.
Bad smell – A strong, unpleasant odor suggests decaying food is affecting water quality.

To prevent overfeeding:

Start with small amounts and gradually increase if needed.
Observe feeding behavior—if fish stop eating, stop feeding.
Use floating pellets so you can monitor consumption more easily.

Final Thoughts

Growing fish in a farm dam is an exciting and rewarding experience, but proper feeding is essential to keep your fish healthy and thriving. By balancing natural food sources with high-quality pellets and following a smart feeding schedule, you’ll create a productive dam with strong, fast-growing fish.

Want to take it to the next level? Monitor your water quality, ensure plenty of natural habitat, and you’ll have a thriving fish population in no time!

Learn more about growing fish in your farm dam - check out our book, "Fish For Farm Dams"

The post Ultimate Guide to Feeding Fish in Your Farm Dam appeared first on Fish For Farm Dams.

Best Fish For Farm Dams

admin — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 04:39:29 +0000

Selecting the best fish for your farm dam will depend on many factors, including the size of your dam, the depth of your dam, and your personal preference regarding why you want to farm fish in the first place.

If you will be using a dam or dams that you already have on your property, then perhaps the type of fish you select will be determined by whether you are prepared to alter the dam to suit the fish or would like to find suitable fish that will thrive in your current dam with minimum adjustments.

Either way, we cover various fish in this, mostly those species that are readily available for stocking dams in New South Wales and Victoria. However, the sections we cover on habitat can be applied to just about any freshwater fish species worldwide. Therefore, if the species of fish you are interested in is not covered here, we suggest you do your own research to ensure your preference will be suitable for the environment you are bringing it into. Further, you also want to make sure your preference is a legal option for you.

The fish that we recommend, which are the most common species used to stock dams, include Silver Perch, Golden Perch, Murray Cod, Eel-tail Catfish and Rainbow Trout. I will cover each of these briefly below, however you can find out more about these species in my book, "Fish For Farm Dams".

Silver Perch - Bidyanas bidyanus

Silver Perch are a medium-sized species which are endemic to the water ways in south-eastern Australia. They are a hardy fish, and are the only omnivorous species that we cover here. Omnivorous means that, like humans, they eat both plants and animals. These fish can therefore be useful in cleaning up weeds in your dams; and they are also less likely to consume their own young.

Silver Perch would be ideal for you if you have a small dam, or if building your dam, don't intend on developing a very large dam for the purpose of fish farming. They can handle a fair range of cold and warm temperatures, and live to about 20 years in age, usually ready for fishing and eating after around 2 years.

Please be aware that Silver Perch are listed as a vulnerable fish species, and it is therefore illegal to take them from any river or stream in the Murray-Darling Basin. However, they are readily available to purchase from privately stocked dams.

Golden Perch - Macquaria ambigua

Golden Perch is also commonly known as Yellow Belly. The the picture above does not demonstrate the lovely yellow that tends to show up on these delicious, fresh water fish, the intensity of the yellow of which is dependent on the environment and turbidity of the waters they reside in.

When looking at a Golden Perch, you will notice that they have a slightly protruding lower jaw, a distinctive curve to the forehead and a hump just above the head that becomes more noticeable with age.

Known to be very tolerant fish, like it's relative, the Silver Perch, they can handle a fair range of cold and warm temperatures, and also higher salinity of the water. They can live for up to 25 years, and ready to start eating after about 2 years.

Golden Perch are popular fish among anglers due to them being a strong, hard-striking fighting fish.

Murray Cod - Maccullochella peelii

Murray Cod is the largest fresh water fish in Australia, and among the largest in the world, naturally found in the Murray-Darling river system. Due to their large size, you will need a good-sized dam if you would like them to reach their potential. The largest on record grew to 1.8m and 113kg in weight!

This is a fish with a long life span, with the oldest documented at 48 years old, although there is belief that they can live longer than that. These spectacular fish are predatory, and will eat almost anything smaller than themselves, so it is NOT recommended that you mix them with other fish. Murray Cod can be eaten at the 2 year mark and beyond, just like perch.

Murray Cod are exciting to catch due to their aggressiveness and sheer weight and size.

Eel-tail Catfish - Tandanus tandanus

By fir0002flagstaffotos [at] gmail.comCanon 20D + Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 - Own work, GFDL 1.2, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1240536

The Eel-tail Catfish is another freshwater fish native to the Murray-Darling river system of eastern Australia, and is also commonly known as dewfish, jewfish, tandan (their aboriginal name) and freshwater catfish. Don't let their strange appearance put you off, Eel-tailed Catfish are quality tasting and are even considered by some to be the finest freshwater fish of all to eat.

Eel-tail Catfish live up to about 8-10 years old and on average weigh up to 1.8kg although some reports have seen them grow to 6kg. This is a fish that is very tough and can survive in shallower dams and are the only species I can guarantee that they will breed in farm dams, so long as they have adequate nesting materials available.

One thing you will need to be mindful about with Eel-tailed Catfish is when handling the fish or swimming in a dam stocked with these fish, is that they have sharp serrated dorsal- and pectoral-fin spines which are venomous and can deliver a rather painful sting, which I can share first hand is not a pleasant experience! They do, however, usually try their best to avoid human contact.

Rainbow Trout - Oncorychus mykis

Rainbow Trout are a magnificently coloured and highly desired sporting fish that are known for leaping out of the water when hooked. Although not an Australian native (they are from Asia and North America), Rainbow Trout are still a fabulous fish for stocking in dams in Australia.

These fish do not reproduce in dams and have a much shorter life span than other species (approx. 5 years); however, they are by far the quickest growing fish you will come across, reaching edible sizes well within the first year of growth. They do prefer colder temperatures though, so need to be stocked in deeper dams so they can get down low where it is cooler, especially in warmer climates.

Rainbow Trout are a very popular fish for growing in farm dams as well as backyard aquaponics systems, especially because of their excellent growth rates allowing you to catch them and eat them much sooner than other recommended fish for farm dams.

Summary

Before selecting your fish, you may want to first look at the dam you are looking to grow your fish in and then select fish that are suitable for stocking in that dam. Otherwise, if you're starting from scratch you can select your preferred fish and then create the dam that is required for the success of that type of fish.

Here is a brief summary of the highlights of each of these fish to help you with your decision making:

- Murray Cod and Golden Perch are a larger, more aggressive fish that are more exciting to catch, and provide more meat for eating.

- Silver Perch are an excellent and popular fish to grow in small farm dams as they are a smaller fish and don't require so much space. These fish are also not aggressive and will eat vegetation in your dam and less likely to devour their young.

- Eel-tailed Catfish are great eating and easy for breeding and growing in smaller, shallower dams.

- Rainbow Trout are pretty fish, fun to feed and catch, and fast growing so can be eaten within their first year.

Good luck with choosing the right fish for you and your family for growing in your farm dam. If you would like more information, check out our book, "Fish For Farm Dams".

The post Best Fish For Farm Dams appeared first on Fish For Farm Dams.

Farm Dam Set Up For Fish

admin — Sat, 19 Aug 2023 01:50:02 +0000

Dam size, depth and creating the right habitat are important aspects of setting up a fish farm on your property. It may be that you already have a dam you'd like to use or you need to create a new dam based on your needs. Either way, all aspects needs to be looked at.

One of the most important things you need to consider though, is the type of fish you'd like to stock in your dam, because different fish not only like but require, different environments.

Dam Size

As a rule of thumb, a dam of at least 1000 metres squared (1/4 acre) or that has a circumference of 100-120m is required for farming fish in Australia. You should keep in mind, however, that this size is what is considered to be on the smaller side for farming fish, so we definitely don't recommend dams smaller than this for stocking fish. Further, this sized dam is only really suitable for farming Silver Perch, as they tend to do well in smaller dams, being a fish that naturally like to school up and are able to feed on both small aquatic organisms as well as plant matter.

Other types of fish generally require a larger space to develop in, as they are carnivorous and therefore need the extra space to flourish. If they do not have this, they may end up devouring the smaller fish in the school and deplete the profits of the operation.

Dam Depth

The depth of your dam is important when you need to consider the temperature that your selected fish requires to survive and thrive. Fish that need lower temperatures require deeper dams, and fish that can handle or prefer warmer climates don't require a particularly deep dam to do well. The Eel-tailed catfish is a good example of a fish that is very hardy and can survive in considerably shallow waters compared with other native fish of their size. On the other hand, Rainbow Trout are a cold water species, preferring temperatures between 5-20 degrees celsius and as such, require much deeper dams so they have the ability to get down low into the depths where it is cooler.

Dam Habitat

Creating a suitable habitat for your fish in your dam is essential for successful fish farming for the following reasons:

Better survival rates for your fish
Creating nursery areas to encourage reproduction
Increasing biodiversity
Increasing food availability
Increasing growth rates
Ensuring healthy and thriving fish
Hours of fun for friends and family
Growing fresh, quality fish at your fingertips
Saving you money
Becoming happy and proud fish owners

Apart from the above really important points, a major pupose of building habitat in your dam is to provide a place for your fish to hide, feel safe and secure and reduce stress on your fish. Habitat can protect your fish from underwater predators as well as help prevent aerial assault from hunting birds; so protecting them from these dangers will increase their survivability.

Materials you can use to create habitat for your fish are numerous, and likely you will already have sufficient items on-hand on our farm in abundance. These can include logs, granches, weedy thickets, old fencing, wire, pipes, hoses, crates, old drums, pallets and other farmyard scrap.

When building the habitat, the best method is to gather your materials and stack them up in a large pile around the edge of your dam underwater. This bests emulates the type of cover that naturally occurs in the wild and where fish usually dwell. Items to avoid using include old tyres and old netting.

Aquaponics

For those who are interested in growing their own fish but don't have the space for the required dams, aquaponics is the ideal option, which can be implemented in most backyards. Aquaponics as the benefit of combining two technologies - Aquiculture (raising aquatic animals in tanks) and Hydroponics (cultivating plants in fish water). This harmonious cycle is wonderfully sustainable as it allows the fish waste to be recycled to be used as highly nutritious plant food, enabling the growth of your own flavoursome, nutrient-packed herbs and vegetables AS WELL AS a crop of tasty, fresh fish, all sharing the same body of water. This therefore has the added benefit of immensely conserving water since it is being recycled and only needs a periodic top-up; whereas in comparison, traditional gardening uses TWENTY TIMES the amount of water required for aquaponics systems (Zip Grow).

WANT TO KNOW MORE? BUY THE BOOK, "FISH FOR FARM DAMS" NOW

The post Farm Dam Set Up For Fish appeared first on Fish For Farm Dams.