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 Stocking
Information
Silver perch are fantastic farm dam fish as they thrive in those type conditions.
They are a relatively tough, hardy species that does not need a big dam to thrive.
Other species like Australian Bass and Yellowbelly really need a dam over 1 megalitre
in size. Silver perch can live in much smaller dams as they utilize the full range of
foods available. They will eat the worms, shrimps and insect larvae that grow in dams
just like the other fish but they also eat the weeds and algae utilising this
material. This gives even a small dam a great deal of natural food available for your
fish.
With silvers you have the added benefit that you can supplemental feed them in your
dam. By far the best option is to purchase a bag of specially formulated silver perch
pellets and just feed them that. The pellets float and the silvers will dart to the
surface, grab a pellet and scoot back down, creating a big swoosh and making it very
exciting to feed your fish. It also allows you to see your fish and see just how they
are growing and how many you have in the dam.
Some people feed their silvers bread and that is always a good stand by. You also
have the added benefit that when you feed with bread, it is easy to put a bit of bread
onto your fishing line and drop it into the swarm of feeding silvers and catch one out
for dinner very easily. Bread is good as an occasional treat but nutritionally it does
not have much benefit. If you feed your silvers lots of bread they will eat that and
just not grow much at all. I recommend specially formulated silver perch pellets.
Pellets are available by the kilo or 20 kg bags from Aquablue.
Alternatively you can add a food source to your pond and glass shrimp are the
preferred species. Glass shrimp are small prawn like animals that breed naturally in
your dam. Just add a few hundred and within 6 months you have tens of thousands. Glass
shrimp are available from Aquablue year round.
When stocking silver perch you usually stock a farm dam at a rate of 200 fingerlings
per megalitre of water. A megalitre is 1,000,000 litres . . . 1 cubic metre of water =
1000 litres. See dam estimator for dam sizes:
Click Here
200 fingerlings per megalitre of water is a good stocking that will allow the fish
to grow fast and the dam will be able to naturally produce enough food for all the
fish. Unfortunately not all the fish will survive and you will as an average rule in
an average farm dam lose between 30 to 50% of the fish you stock.
We recommend that you stock heavily the first year and then add additional stock to
the dam every second year. Large adult silvers do not eat the smaller fingerlings so
that is an added bonus with silvers. |
