# Native Fish For Our Dam



## PhilK (Jan 31, 2010)

Hey all.

We're moving to a place with a dam on 2.5 acres. The dam is quite low at the moment an is quite muddy too. 

I'd love to put some native fish in there all the same. If I could fish for them at a later date that'd be awesome but I don't mind too much. Just wondering what native fish would still do OK in a dam that isn't huge or crystal clear? Nothing too huge like barra obviously. 

Where can I get them from (I assume pet shops would charge huge prices)?

Thanks, looking forward to your input!


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## chickensnake (Jan 31, 2010)

Yellowbelly perch? lol catch them form somewhere else?


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## AUSGECKO (Jan 31, 2010)

You`ll find that in some areas you can only stock certain species legally, Have a look at the DPI website ( Department of Primary Industries) for allowable species and they should also have a list of hatcheries that supply native species for dam stocking. Also try and get in contact with SEQ fish hatchery, they may be able to help.


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## HOM3L3SS (Jan 31, 2010)

bass or perch (i think they can be kept in dams) but yea

Harry


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## gecko-mad (Jan 31, 2010)

I reckon rainbow fish are great, just finds out what your local species is. I used to have a frog pond with Murray River Rainbows in it, they ate everything BUT the taddies and eggs, they loved the mozzie larvae to.

But thats only if you want small fish. Perch are also great, i like jade perch's.


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## HOM3L3SS (Jan 31, 2010)

yabbies are cool to catch in dams aswell


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## chickensnake (Jan 31, 2010)

HOM3L3SS said:


> yabbies are cool to catch in dams aswell


 
Yeah yabbies are way fun to catch, also you could get some fresh water muscles to help clean the water


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## AUSGECKO (Jan 31, 2010)

HOM3L3SS said:


> yabbies are cool to catch in dams aswell


The yabbies are better as food for some Perch or Bass that`ll put up bit more of a fight :lol:


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## morgs202 (Jan 31, 2010)

If you want something you can catch later on, silver or spangled perch would be the go. I'm pretty sure you can buy fingerlings from some commercial fisheries for very very low prices


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## PhilK (Jan 31, 2010)

Thanks for the replies!!
Some mussels to clean the water would be good. Where would I source them?

I heard yabbies will just foul the water more?

I think bass and perch will all get too big. The dam isn't very big at all. Thinking something that may grow to like 25cm


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## Rhysc (Jan 31, 2010)

Put them in there, and when they get too big, eat em.


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## morgs202 (Jan 31, 2010)

Spangled perch have a max size of around 25cm


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## AUSGECKO (Jan 31, 2010)

PhilK said:


> I think bass and perch will all get too big. The dam isn't very big at all. Thinking something that may grow to like 25cm


 My Uncle has a dam with Bass and yellow belly, The dam is approx 20m x 15m x 5m deep and every year we go fishing in there we pull out fish over 40cms, they all feed off the yabbies in there and the water is very clear.


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## HOM3L3SS (Jan 31, 2010)

Sooty Grunter what about these


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## morgs202 (Jan 31, 2010)

From everything I've seen with sootys they dont particularly like the cooler temperatures, as they're a fairly northern fish


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## PhilK (Jan 31, 2010)

Perch and bass might be good for business. So I should call up fisheries?

Would love the water to clear up. Otherwise they'll taste like mud.


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## chondrogreen (Jan 31, 2010)

Stock it with yabbies and harvest every 3 months.
You will have a great feed + make some decent $ selling them as pets, food & bait.


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## Gibblore (Jan 31, 2010)

A friend of mine has a couple of sootys in his dam with barcoo grunters yellow belly and lots of fire tail gudgens and red claws for food. but when we fish for them we use tweed prawns they go nuts


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## cris (Jan 31, 2010)

Here is a fish hatchery site with some good info, if their site is up to date they dont have anything suitable available now, but may in the future.
Aquaculture Australian freshwater fish Ausyfish

Its illegal to stock any fish not native to the area, although im not sure if similar laws apply to cray fish(although obviously the same environemntal problems exist). Unfortunetely the best aquaculture species is a declared noxious pest(tilapia).

Aqautic plants will help clear up the water, but im not sure on the best way to obtain native species at an afforadble price. Crayfish will also detsroy the plants and contribute to mudding the water, especially large burrowing species like _C.destructor_.

Im not aware of any species that are legal that would be good eating in such a dam (assuming you are in SE Qld?), but would be interested to know of any. Although if you take the fish out and keep them in clean water and feed them good food for while the taste will improve.

If i had a small dam like that i would just catch stuff from the local area and chuck them in, making sure to remove introduced species.

Thinking about it spangled perch are well suited to such a dam and taste prety good, the only thing is they only grow to about 30cm long. They will breed well and even stay alive if the dam dries up.


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## Sock Puppet (Feb 1, 2010)

Yellowbelly & eel tailed catfish would go ok in the muddy waters.


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## PhilK (Feb 1, 2010)

I will be there tomorrow so I will measure the dam. Not sure how to tell how deep it is.


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## Jonno from ERD (Feb 1, 2010)

Yep, Spangled Perch are what I would go for. They are a hardy native that love to chase little hard bodied lures...great fun down at the suburban lakes near my partners house 

Also, to clear up the water, plant plenty of native vegetation around the bank and also get plenty of water lillies etc.


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