Murray cod
Maccullochella peelii
Also known asGoodoo · Cod · Codfish
Water parameters
Minimum tank: 1000 L per individual at harvest size.
Feed and growth
- Feed protein
- 45% target
- Daily feed (warm)
- 1.20% of body weight
- Daily feed (cool)
- 0.60% of body weight
- Max density
- 60 g per litre
A 2500 g adult eats about 30.0 g of feed per day at optimum. 10 fish at adult size: ~300 g daily.
Legality
Rules vary by jurisdiction and change over time. Verify with your local fisheries or wildlife authority before stocking.
| Jurisdiction | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | permit required | Aquaculture permit required; fingerlings from licensed hatcheries only verified 2026-05-13 |
| Victoria | permit required | verified 2026-05-13 |
| Queensland | permit required | verified 2026-05-13 |
Unlisted jurisdictions default to "check local regulations".
Origin and habitat
Maccullochella peelii, the Murray cod, is Australia's largest exclusively freshwater fish and an apex predator of the Murray-Darling system across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. Historically it reached about 1.8 metres and over 110 kg, though fish past 20 kg are now rare after decades of overfishing, river regulation, and habitat loss; most fish today run to about 70 cm and under 10 kg. It is long-lived, more than fifty years, and holes up in deep pools, undercut banks, and log jams in big, slow rivers. A sit-and-wait predator, it eats fish, crayfish and shrimp, mussels, frogs, and the occasional turtle, snake, or water bird. The white, firm, moist flesh is rated the finest of any native Australian freshwater fish. Wild populations crashed after European settlement and the fish is a listed threatened species in Australia, protected in most jurisdictions, although the IUCN, which once rated it Critically Endangered, has since moved it to Least Concern as numbers recovered. Aquaculture of Murray cod is well established and growing.
Climate and outdoor ponds
- Climate
- temperate (handles seasonal swings)
- USDA zones
- 6–10 (winter low around -23°C or warmer)
- Heating needed
- no
- Cooling needed
- no
Care notes
A premium warm-temperate fish for Australian growers prepared to manage a slow but very high-value species. It grows best around 24–25°C and tolerates roughly 5–30°C, a wider band than barramundi, which dies below 15°C, so Murray cod come through mainland winters without heating in most places. Growth is slow by farm standards: 500–1 g in eighteen to twenty-four months and 2–5 kg over three to five years, on a high-protein pellet of 45 to 50 percent. Feed conversion is good for a predator, commonly 1.5 to 2 and reported as low as 0.8 in the best systems. The stocking story is counterintuitive: although Murray cod are territorial ambush predators, crowding suppresses the aggression and cannibalism, so commercial farms rear them at high density, on the order of 30 to 60 g/L, rather than low. Size-grading is still essential, since fish that differ by more than about a third in length will eat the smaller ones, so keep cohorts close in size and grade regularly. The slow growth is offset by exceptional flesh and strong demand, $25 to $50 per kilogram in Australian restaurants and shops, among the highest-value freshwater fish going. Keep dissolved oxygen above 5 mg/L and ammonia low. Fingerlings come from specialist hatcheries in New South Wales and Victoria, culture needs a permit in most eastern states, and the species suits experienced operators running larger, multi-year systems.