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The native fish hatchery operated by NFA (Victoria) is located in premises generously provided by LaTrobe University at their Bundoora campus.
The hatchery is in a relatively small building and so we have concentrated mainly on breeding the endangered and difficult to breed trout cod Maccullochella macquariensis. Despite the space difficulties, we have also successfully bred Macquarie perch Macquaria australasica in the hatchery and a number of our members are considering other species during the trout cod "off" season. NFA has completed a successful breeding trial for Australian Bass Macquaria novemaculeata. Check out the pictures on the Australian Bass Breeding Trial page. |
The NFA Native Fish Hatchery is situated in an old school tuck-shop at LaTrobe University |
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NFA maintains its trout cod broodstock in all glass aquariums in our hatchery. Water quality is constantly monitored and filtration is by sub-gravel filters in buckets as seen in the background of this photograph. The fish in this picture is about 2 Kg in mass. |
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In order to minimise the possibility of harming the fish and to reduce stress, we catch our fish when we need to work with them using a heavy plastic bag. In the fist of the photographs you can see an NFA member guiding a trout cod into a bag under the water surface. In the second photograph you can see the fish inside the bag being removed from the tank. | |||
After removal from the aquarium, the fish is anaesthetised before any further work is done. 
Trout cod will not spawn naturally in captivity, so a hormone is used to induce ovulation. Here hormone is being drawn up prior to injection |
The costs of running the hatchery are met by a small allocation from the NFA (Vic) budget and by the generous support of the Victorian Fishing Tackle Association (VIFTA) and donations from members, angling clubs and other interested persons. If you would like to contribute towards the hatchery and other NFA re-stocking efforts, please feel free [grin] to send your cheque or money order to: Native Fish Australia (Victoria) Incorporated |
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We are also always on the look out for more food for our brood stock. We feed mainly carp fillets, since they are readily available and we get them for free when we go fishing! If you live in the Melbourne area and would like to contribute some carp fillets to the cause, please give our hatchery manager Ron Lewis a call on (03) 9840 6030, he will be delighted to hear from you. Also tell him that you heard about it on the internet [great big cheesy grin]. Also, NFA offers tours of the hatchery to interested groups, for a nominal per head fee. The funds thus raised go towards the running costs of the hatchery. |
When The ovaries have reached the correct stage of development, the fish is anaesthetised and injected with hormone into the abdominal cavity |
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Once the female has been injected, it takes around two days for ovulation to begin. Samples are taken of the eggs and examined under a microscope to check development. The eggs are around 3 mm in diameter, the ones in this photo are not yet ready. |
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Once ovulation has begun, milt is extracted from the male, ready to fertilise the eggs. Here two NFA members are extracting the milt from an anaesthetised male |
Just under one millitre of precious genetic material |
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The ripe eggs are extracted, fertilised and then placed in hatching trays. |
Once the eggs have been fertilised, they are carefully spead out in the hatching trays, ready for incubation. |
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It takes around 10 days for the first larvae to begin to hatch. The larvae live off the yolk sac for the first 4 days or so and then are fed newly hatched brine shrimp. Here mortalities are being syphoned out. NFA transfers the great majority of the trout cod bred to the Snob's Creek Fisheries Research Station for inclusion in the Fisheries re-stocking program. We keep only a handful of fry to on-grow ourselves for use as educational display fish in future years. |
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