> The hardest part is finding captive
> bred fish. I don't want to support taking of these fish from the water for
> commercial purposes.
I sort of agree with you, I see nothing wrong with taking fish that are
plentiful and a great many are, I breed blue spotted sunfish and I am working
on redfin pickerels. I've breed swamp darters but they are so common it is
not cost effective to breed them. The same thing goes for most minnows and
silversides. Let me know when you get ready and I can supply you with both
fresh and marine fish. the marine fish I get are species that are as tough as
any freshwater fish and come from the tidal creeks. Many of them aren't
colorful like tropical reef marines but they make up for it by being odd and
unusual in shape and habits. I'm glad to see someone getting it together.
I'll help you in any way I can. were are you located? I will have shovelnose
sturgeon fingerlings available by late June. Nice fish for the big tank
crowd. In captivity they seldom get much more than 18" long, 24" is the norm
for the wild but the record is about 36". Fish that big are rare, unlike most
sturgeon they are able to maneuver around in a tank since they are very
slender for their size. I will also have some paddlefish fingerlings but they
are meant for large ponds and lakes. All these are captive bred. Once I get
the redfins under my belt I plan to start on black banded sunfish. I can also
get plenty of bluefin killies in the early summer. With any luck I will be
able to expand my facilities into a real (small) fish farm by the summer.
Right now I am fighting unusually cold weather. since I breed natives I don't
heat the tanks but with air temps in the teens it's possible that some of the
tanks and ponds might freeze solid and bust. Most of the time the water temps
around here stay in the mid 40's in the winter! A disaster in the making! Oh
yeah, I also breed dwarf crayfish, I was working on blue dwarf crayfish but
as afar as I got as a blue green paisley pattern before inbreeding caused
some abnormalities I have new stock and plan to have normal coloration dwarf
crayfish ready by early summer, late spring. I also plan to start breeding
other freshwater crustaceans for use as community tank scavengers and algae
eaters.
Moon
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