This page is constantly under construction. New information and pictures are being added regularly on new exciting Australian native species suitable for aquaculture.

The fish on this page are yet to be developed, however all the fish on this page have certain qualities which would indicate they may be suitable for aquaculture.

  A few years ago some growers in Queensland started experimenting with a cross breed between the silver perch, (Bidianus bidianus) and a rare fish from Central Australia, (Bidianus welshii). The hybrid fish appeared to demonstrate extraordinary growth, far superior to pure breed silver perch. Above are the two fish, (photographed live). The silver perch, at the top of the picture, is a farmed fish, the Welsh's grunter is a wild caught fish, photographed only 3 days after capture. It has been said that the Welsh's grunter has a distinguishing feature around the mouth. The difference is very subtle. If you look carefully at the pictures below you will notice that the Welsh's grunter has a longer bottom jaw. The silver perch's lower jaw is shorter than it's upper jaw.

    A couple of pictures showing the mouth of the two fish, see if you can pick the difference. However, there is quite a difference in the body shape. Look at the picture above, the Welch's grunter has a much thicker caudal peduncle. It will be interesting to see if this difference remains when the fish is grown in ponds. If it does, then the fillet will be an improvement on the silver perch.

A pair of Australian Bass. This fish is very versatile. It is happy in fresh water but can also survive for prolonged periods in salt water. Australian Bass are excellent eating. Little is known about their growth in an aquaculture environment. At Ausyfish we have established that they will take aquaculture feed. Fingerlings are available from about October until about December. All that is required is someone with a professional, commercial grow-out facility to give them a go. They are probably better suited to tank culture rather than ponds.

There are many other fish in Australia which will be ideal for aquaculture. Australia has many catfishes which are excellent eating and are also great as aquarium fish. There are many grunters and perches which we believe will also be suitable. We will add some of these to this page in the near future.

A Large salmon catfish caught in Cape York. This catfish variety is wide spread in  Northern Australia.

A sooty Grunter, or Honey Perch, an excellent eating fish. Called a Honey Perch because of it's honey colour.

The rare golden eel tail catfish

The very rare snub-nose eel tail catfish

The Black eel tail catfish

Yellow eel tail catfish

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