Silver Perch (Bidyanus bidyanus)

NATIVE AUSTRALIAN FISH

Other names: Sooty Grunter, Murray Perch, Murray bream, Black bream, Bidyan, Silver bream, Tcheri

Minimum volume requirement: fingerlings can be raised in an unheated aquarium, full grown individuals do best in a large outdoor pond/dam.

Size: approx 40cm

pH: 6.5 – 8 (7 is ideal)

Temperature: 5°C – 30°C

Life span: 25 years

Description

A moderate to large freshwater fish with a compressed, oval shaped body. Greyish green in colouration with the occasional gold or silver hue. Head is small becoming more beak- like with increasing size. Silver perch have a single dorsal fin, whitish belly and subtly forked tail. Commonly reaches 30cm – 40cm and 0.5 -1.5kg but is known to have attained lengths of 60cm and weights of 8kg

Distribution

Map

The natural range of silver perch is widespread throughout the Murray Darling drainage system (excluding the colder upper reaches of streams west of the Great Dividing Range) – today their numbers have significantly declined and sustainable populations are scarce throughout their former range. These fish are however abundant in captivity (primaily dams and fisheries) and have been introduced to many eastern coastal river systems of NSW and South Eastern QLD.

Breeding

Male perch reach sexual maturity at approx 3 years of age at a length of about 250mm. Females are not of breeding age until they reach 5 years and an approximate length of 290mm.

In the wild silver perch spawn from spring to summer after a long upstream migration to areas behind peaks of floods. Females will lay 300,000+ semi-bouyant eggs which hatch after only 1-3 days.

Diet

Perch are omnivorous naturally feeding on small aquatic insects, molluscs, earthworms and green algae. In captivity, they are able to thrive on a staple diet of high protein sinking pellets.

Silver Perch in captivity

Silver perch have been farmed commercially for decades. They are an ideal fish for growing ponds and raceways. They will also grow in tanks; however, some tank systems do not produce perfect results. For reasons not fully understood, some tanks system seems to result in a growth barrier at about 300-350grams. For hobby aquaponics systems this probably won’t be a problem as 350grams is still a good plate size whole fish.

Silver perch in Dams

Silver Perch are perfect for farm dams. They grow fast, are good survivors and are omnivores, eating plants, weeds, algae, worms, insects, crustaceans and anything they can find. You stock at 200 fingerlings per mega litre of water and wait 18 months before you go fishing and catch a feed.

They will eat worms and most other aquatic life including weeds. Should you add fingerlings in the future the older fish are very unlikely to eat the new fingerlings. They readily take artificial food, such as aquaculture pellets, chook pellets or bread. Bread or chook foods are not the best of diets for fish but will do in small quantities. Aquaculture pellets are a properly balanced diet and fish will thrive on these commercially available foods.

As the Silver Perch soon come to know when they will be fed, they will be ready and waiting near the surface at feeding time. We recommend Silver Perch be fed during the late evening. If they are fed early in the morning there is a risk that birds may eat your fish before you are up and about, especially in summer when it is light very early.

silver perch are one of the best fishes to stock in dams as they’re easy to find, easy to grow, tolerant of a variety of environmental conditions, are good to catch and good to eat.

Silver Perch (Bidyanus bidyanus)