Crayfish 16

Done.  Cleaned out the system.  We planned to spend a few hours getting this done. Lots of help form Wanna's three year old niece "Ice".

Wanna and I drained each tank and cleaned up them up. Lovely job.  We kept some of the old brackish water to put back as we thought they would life some of the same stuff. But really Cray's are very hardy little creatures. Not a lot seems ot both them.  And they fight. Cut each other up big time. Claws missing etc. No joke!!!

We down sized from 4 tanks to 3. So we used the three newish blue tanks we had down in Rayong.  Got rid of the old concrete mixing tank. Must be honest i never liked it but....

On tidying up we separated the big Crays from medium and small. Hence three tanks....

The big ones. 20 female and 8 male.  Put them in the big tank with some new "condo's".  All very excited about their new homes.  Just bits of old water pipe but, if you had nothing water pipe is fine!!!

The rest of the Crays we did not count. But guessing about 100+ of medium and small. So all good now ot leave with Wanna's sister and Mum while we are away.

Crayfish 15

Just back from Vanuata and Wanna's sister "Bhep" has been looking after them. She's busy son only really has time to feed them and check they do not run out of water. Can't really ask much more from here.

Needless to say however the little guys need an bit of Love and Attention as well. The water needs changing and is has high grown of duck weed. Not sure how I am going to clean all that out as we are off on our travels again in a few weeks.

So watch tomorrow for "clean" Cray Fish pictures.

Oh yes I almost forgot to mention. We got an electric shock from the pump. At first I thought it has go damages or worn out but close inspection showed the wire lead has been cut by the Crays.... Will have to repair and then protect with a plastic water pipe. Amazing just how strong their claws are?  Why would anyone want to bit an electric cable?

So one more job to do.  Quick cable repair.

Crayfish 14

Nothing new but came across these photos and video.
Well worth posting.. Shows the little fellers growing on the mother.

And a quick video.

Aquaponics Part 1 'ish.......and stop..

Really is two paces forward one back..  Moved to Vanuatu. Interesting place but have not discovered any aquaponics or hydroponics.

Will look more closely...

Aquaponics Part 1 'ish.......

Finally into retirement and today commenced with a start to clearing up of my old system. I'm not going to rush it. It's remained untouched for over 2 years. Couple of hours each day should see us up and running in about three weeks.

I'm cheating in someways as I will be using some of the old water so start up timing should be quicker. And as I am forever an optimist I'll start the seedling next week !!

I will be buying hybrid fish from our local petrol station. Thinking one tank cat fish and one tilapia. Thats right you read that correctly, a petrol station! A guy there has a stall on the side of the forecourt.  Been there for years before I came up here 15 years ago. Sells fish, frogs, prawns and assorted plants etc so good place to stop off. We have bought from him in the past. Thats how we stocked our pond.

So my first day at it...... but looking at the before and after shots I hope I've got them the right way round.  Looks like very little got done !!


Before and after shots of todays work......

Before.........

After...... looking a bit better......... only a bit..........long way to go but at least I cleared up the under growth and no snakes.... or scorpions. So lucky start.


The hardest part is going to be getting the grow table sorted.  Needs re-leveling. Thinking of new steel bars as underside supports and then some fibre board before i reinstall the polystyrene channel.  (which has in part suffered severe damage due to rats in the store getting hungry.).  Can't win on that one.

Crayfish 13

Thought it would be a couple of weeks before I posted about the crays. But we were clearing us and found one more pregnant female. She was in with female and was just beginning to show eggs/babies. In fact I think she was just starting to "extrude them" if thats the correct terminology.  Doubt it !!!!

Female Crayfish being relocated using a bucket !

Anyway while sorting out a new home for her in the third tank we watched one small one cast off its shell.  I took some photos then a short video.  Quite amazing.  The video is less than 1 minutes long and the little fella does so much.  Worth watching.

Looking really strange like they are blowing apart.   

Crayfish Part 12

Just started raining so they seem to have sensed it and come out of hiding.  Still waiting on  the mothers to drop a few little ones just have to wait. Time is all it takes.

Crayfish Part 11

We've moved up to Ban Muang following my retirement for engineering work at the end of May. We brought the Crayfish up with us. It was a difficult journey as we put them all together in a Polystyrene  Box with just water and an air pump. It was a 7 hour journey and they took some rough and tumbles along the way. Sadly a few small ones died and a few others lost a claw or 2 !

We have now got them set up in our Sala area of the house. Two tanks. The main one with all the Crayfish and a few fish, except for three pregnant Crays which we have separated out into another tank. Now its time to sit back and watch them grow.

Suspended Air Pump.  Air con unit is for us not them !

Taking up valuable floor space !

Relaxing on their "pipe" homes.

Crayfish Part 10

Progress.  Just day to day feeding and watching them grow. Its not until you look back a few weeks that you appreciate they do grow !!!!

Big Fellas 1

Big Fella's 2

Automation and Arduino Part 1

I've ordered an Arduino starter kit. Decided I would try and learn some computing and programming with the main purpose to use it on my next aquaponics system.  Its a small computer/logic controller programmable so can record info and if I get real "techie" I should be able to read results live on line and make adjustments to the system on a remote basis. Big step for someone who has trouble even texting ! Anyway thought I would put this out there.

Started kit should be arriving next week. It really is going to be a slow process to get fully up and running but adding sensors for pH and Temperature records etc should be no big deal. He says..........

Crayfish Part 9 Babies growing

I posted about 3 weeks ago when we first had babies. They do grow slowly.....But since the three weeks has passed not surprisingly the babies are growing. As I say slowly. Last few days they are much easy to spot as they are getting darker shells and in a couple more months we will put them in to join the adults... All very exciting. Wanna took a photo showing some babies and their mother. The backdrop is a net...

Crayfish Part 8 Babies

Yes after the long wait they have arrived.  Tiny things. We took a few photos and you can see how tiny they are. Pictured against the palm of Wanna's hand. Tiny indeed.  It makes you think hard about just how wonderful life is. All these different creatures and surviving in so many different ways.

One of the mothers.... beauty

Correct that is a baby Cray.  Sitting on Wanna's hand.

Tiny fellows

Crayfish Part 7

Been very quiet. Little to write about when all you've got going for you is a few crays in a round ponds. And all they do is sit in the plastic tubes all day! How many photos and stories can one write?....

Well surprise.  Yesterday Wanna was clearing them out and we found 3 of the 4 females heavily pregnant. That is if pregnant is the right term.  2 of the ladies were loaded with eggs and one with babies.  They keep them under their rear flipper. Big surprise and great excitement.  We've separated them out from the males and will watch with interest as they develop. Not sure how long before we get babies swimming around.  Watch this spot !  I know the suspense is killing you !!!!!!

Crayfish Part 6

-18 Deg C in Rayong.  Just kidding.........................

Well not true it was actually 18 Deg C but seemed much colder.

Our little fella's decided to almost hibernate.  

Crayfish Part 5

Big spend this weekend.  Went out to buy a new tank. Chose a big 800 litre low level one with a white inside. Wonderful to be able to see the Crays. Before I struggled to see them in the black tanks. It took a bit of time for them to settle down and choose their new homes. In fact they a vicious little things. Fighting and very territorial.
Anyway now they are settled.  We got the tank from a road side shop and carried it home in one piece. Lugged it up the stairs and got it positions. Then added the sir stones and a small filter pump we have been using earlier. I still attached the automatic fish feeder. Not sure why as we look at them every day and always give them to much food. And veggies and egg shells and ....
We've had these guys for some time and apparently after  reaching 6 months in age they should start breeding. We'll keep watching.

Just realized in up loading these pictures that Wanna is doing all the work.  How did that happen ?

At the house

Tank Cleaning

On way to new home

Settling in

Each has his/her own condo

Management Checking everything OK...