2. STARTING OUT WITH YABBIES
Started breeding program
Supplied bait yabbies to pet and fishing tackle shops
Breeding program focus on growth and reproduction rates
Highly labour intensive
Highly cannibalistic throughout the whole life cycle
Growth rate of 2 years to market size

3. COMPARISONS Yabbies Barramundi
Highly cannibalistic through out whole life cycle
Individual cages and low stocking densities 15kg/Mᶟ
Highly labour intensive
2 years to grow to market size
Yearly production - 5 tonnes
Cannibalistic while young
High stocking densities 50kg/Mᶟ
Labour intensive while young
6-9 months to grow to market size
Yearly production – 50 tonnes

4. GROW OUT OF BARRAMUNDI
Focus solely on the growing of Barramundi for the live market around Melbourne
Grow out takes 6 – 9 months
Fry come in at 25mm length and weigh around 0.2 grams
Fry are feed on micropellets very frequently
Fry eat around 4% of their body weight per day
Fry and fingerlings gain an average weight of 1 gram per day

5. GROW OUT
3-5mm variation in size will lead to cannibalism
Fry graded every 3-4 days
Kept in large netted cages
Moved into free range tank after days

6. GROW OUT
Fingerlings move into free range tanks at 120mm or around 40grams
Less cannibalistic
Graded every 2-3 weeks
Feed at 2.5% body weight
Food conversion 1.5kg food/1kg growth

7. PURGING BARRAMUNDI Fish are grown to 500grams and up to 1kg
Fish are removed from grow out system, individually weighed and inspected for any blemishes
Placed into salted water for 1 week at around 10 grams/litre of water
Fish are not feed
Removes any muddy taste
Firms up flesh and uses fat reserves

8. MARKETING Focus on the live market for the best price
99% Asian restaurants
Product was well received but we could only get the distributors to buy
Restaurants want more then just one product
Business again had to change
Now also operate as a distributor to gain access to the restaurant trade

9. MARKETING The 5 main products the restaurants were asking for:
Barramundi
Murray Cod
Silver Perch
Short Fin Eels
Abalone

10. MARKETING
Murray Cod and Silver Perch are farmed and brought down from N.S.W
Short Fin Eels are wild caught from the Otways region
Large Greenlip Abalone are wild caught in Tasmania
Smaller Abalone are brought from a farm out near Geelong

11. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Only suppling the Eastern side of the city with some restaurants in the CBD
Currently demand is out stripping supply
Ordering larger Barramundi in from S.A
Would like to offer more Marine species but have no room to accommodate more tanks at this stage

12. DISASTERS AND LEARNING CURVES
System was originally designed for Yabbies. Upgrades were needed to the filtration and aeration systems
Learning which system and practises work best for both the fish and employees
8 months ago, the farm lost power and lost 30 tonne of produce overnight
Business only survived because we could still act as a distributor
Major upgrade to generator and alarm system

13. NEXT STEPS Expand production of the Barramundi
Site approved for 52 tanks, we currently have 4 production tanks in operation
Local live market will eventually become saturated, other areas include:
- Chilled and fillet market
- Smoking Eels and Silver Perch
- Producing our own fingerlings