Spring is the time we need to think about food on the farm, we need food for adult fish as well as any young fish that are to come, brood stock fish are just starting to get active and are looking for more food , I have found that the brood stock that I have will not take artificial foods ( young fish may if started early ) so I must have natural food ready , yabbies and worms make up most of the diet this time of year later on crickets and grasshoppers along with moths that come along around April .  The small yabbies below are best for 1, 2,3 year old fish ( as well as black bream ) This yabby is the best size for the larger brood fish.

  Here I am checking a net for yabbies, you can see in the background lots of long grass and weeds , insect swarm to these and the odd insect falls in the water and also becomes food. I did cut the grass one year because there was a snake living in it .   The young fish I hope will be along soon will need food as well , here I am below checking for plankton and copepods along with water fleas and other assorted bugs. I also have a theory that if the food for the young fish is not present in the broods ponds in sufficient quantities then the brood fish may well suspend breeding for the year , this is not unprecedented in Australia Kangaroos do a similar thing , last year we had no heat and little sunshine in October ( necessary for plankton growth ) this inhibits breeding. The winter this year has been long, cold and wet heres hoping for a warm spring , we all know some places are struggling for rain and we hope it rains for them  soon.

I would like to thank Rob Beavan for the photos.