Yesterday, we had what 1960's iconic wierdo Tiny Tim described as a "blessed event".....our female Redclaw hatched her babies.

After days of watching, I shone the torch into her glass nursery and there they were.......hundreds of them. Each one is a tiny full-formed replica of their mother.

Now we have to determine how long Mum gets to stay with the babies so that we can remove her to prevent her snacking on them.  Life springs eternal.

A couple of weeks ago, we planted out a heap of seedlings into our aquaponic grow beds and our square foot bed.  Most of the seedlings in the grow beds withered.  Those in the square foot bed are kicking along nicely.  Heat, humidity and bugs make this a hapless time for growing plants aquaponically.

The 40lpm air pump that aerates our fish tank failed a couple of days ago. I've replaced it with a 200lpm air blower......and we've got four new air diffusers coming, too.  I'm keen to get a lot more air into my tanks as part of a cost effective push toward much better water quality.

I've inserted a leaf catcher arrangement into one of my 235 litre grow beds to help trap fish wastes.  I've lined it with a piece of dacron in an attempt to clear up the water in my Jade perch tanks.  Rinsing out the dacron twice a day is not my idea of a long term solids removal solution but it's a start.