There are 16 strains of Barramundi (or Giant Perch) around the tropical coast of northern Australia. The fish bread here restock several of the local rivers and Lake Belmore near Croydon. Yes the fish in Lake Belmore were all bread in Karumba! Like quite a few fish the Barra's all start out as males, and some - after about 5-7 years change sex. At that point they are about 90cm long, so the breeding fish are big. Hence the size limits for Barra - Minimum 58cm AND maximum 120cm!
The tour starts with a good video of the place at work, unfortunately we are in the off season. The Barra need a water temp of 31 degrees and the right moon cycle.... to get in the mood! We can see, and feed the breeding stock, however. Tried to get a photo, but the strike is too quick. I did get it on movie though. They have no teeth. They strike with a quick suck, yes they suck the food in! And what a racket that makes. No one lost a finger either...
Anyway once they have fertilised eggs they put them in big tanks to hatch, then out in one of the big ponds to grow into fingerlings.
But, at 25mm or so they graduate from eating zooplankton, to meat. And since there are only other Barra in the ponds, they would eat each other. So at 25mm they are harvested and taken to various spots in the rivers and the lake, where they have some cover. They harvest the fingerlings by slowly draining the pond, accumulating the little fish in the gutter at the bottom, and scooping them out!
 |
| Too slow the fish is gone |
But when the water temp is 31+ the air and humidity is unfit for me!
