fish in a barrel, low tech.

[Mike]

Thanks for the link to the guy with carp. 

My latest thinking is that I can get carp for free out of the Columbia River.  Then why would I want to raise carp at home?  Convenience!  The Columbia is so far away (60 miles) that free is irrelevant.

So the next time I'm near the Columbia River, I'll ask fishermen for the live carp they hate.

[offdalip]

My latest thinking is that I can get carp for free out of the Columbia River.  Then why would I want to raise carp at home?  Convenience!  The Columbia is so far away (60 miles) that free is irrelevant.

So the next time I'm near the Columbia River, I'll ask fishermen for the live carp they hate.

Yep , thats my thinking as well.

Both of my spots are on water columbia river and FL bay. One fresh, one salt.
Salt humid warm environments definitely are a LOT more maintenance........
but........ thats cause things grow soo much dang quicker!

[silverseeds]

      Wild carp would work just fine. Its just the israeli or mirror strains of common carp were bred for this purpose so would be a bit better...

    offdalip- salt water you say? what is this place like, Ive read of artificial reefs being set up along various spots. It offers shelter and food to fish, and can greatly enhance the ability of a given area to support fish. I dont know what your set up is like, but with some thought I bet you could set up a really passive system in such a place.... In fact based on some things Ive read im betting artificial reefs alone would solve a large chunk of our over fishing issues. but then for that to happen wed need someone in power to want to solve such issues....

[offdalip]

I don't have a system setup.

But I have read alot about how people setup salt water systems.

The ones that seemed the most productive had manmade marshes or estuaries
where they bred and produced prawns or giant shrimp in the mangroves.

Much more productive than fish with less feeding in less time.

My own place in FL is very fortunate if wanted to set that up b/c the state
decided last year to use the Obama $$$$ to create a hugemongous estuary
a block from my house that drains and fills only through one canal section directly
past my backyard.
Which gives me...... a captive audience of prawns if I so desired to have them by
just laying out some netting......

[silverseeds]

     sounds great!

[offdalip]

its all powered by the moon.

water level goes up a few feet and down a few feet twice a day,
which draws in fresh nutrients and replaces the old water with new water.

probably the size of 20 Olympic pools.

The entrance and exit hole is barely 1 foot in diameter so it might generate electricity with the correct turbine as well.

thats all just contingincies floating around in my head. I don't want the envirocrazies coming after me unless TS really really HTF

[silverseeds]

   Wow, that is indeed sweet to be next to. There are likely other fish you could stock as well under such conditions that would allow such things of course. plant eaters or filter feeders, towards the bottom of the food chain. Im not sure what that would be in regards to salt water fish, but those will generally be your more efficient fish, im sure the ocean has some efficient food to growth fish as well. probably throw some clams in there to, without taxing anything else.

[silverseeds]

 
       I knew that the carp I had were used for bait, but when i called a bunch of places who mail order fish I was told they didnt have them. I have posted about this topic on another forum though, and ManY people in many states can get these carp as bait though!!! so check your bait shops. At second glance I now realize that the person I got mine from happens to straddle both mail order AND stocking ponds and selling bait. So that is apparently the difference....

        anyway... thought I would touch back to say that the cleaning watering with algae has gone real well. Both the floating types, and the greenwater algae types....

         both have interesting traits in doing this task. The greenwater is food for the tilapia. I have been pumping it to my tilapia and feeding them nothing else, and they are growing nice and fat. with very little effort involved in growing their food. I WIS?H I could get silver and black carp but our nany AKA the federal government is fighting a war with them. Rather silly being that they will simply not get rid of them. Let alone the fact I have no water close by for them to escape to. Im sure they know best though. Although those fish arent so easy to breed anyway so whatever... the silvers eat greenwater algae as well and its amazingly easy to manage....

         For whatever reason the carp now seem to love eating the floating algaes....

         Many of the other plants Ive been working with are show very interesting traits the more I work with them as well, but Im still playing with the variables.

[silverseeds]

   UPDATE--- this is for breeding tilapia. For breeding carp my understanding is in a natural system they will do so at specific temps as the water warms in the spring...

    For tilapia.... I was talking to a guy I know who has raised many species, because I thought I was having very small hatches. I had multiple batches but only saw 1-3 fish from each one. Turns out th parents WILL eat the babies right after the mouth brooding phase.... So to breed them in a small tank what you do is use a net to grab all the females every two weeks. Open her mouth and look for her mouth to be full of eggs. you want eggs that have visible tails or further developed... If they are simply the eggs with no such signs, put her back for a week.

      Once the eggs are to that stage, put them in their own tank. I quickly had more babies then I could ever use. Its winter so I scaled back, but when it warms up I will have as many hatches as possible and start selecting out a new set of breeders... those that are largest on the specific diet I can easily raise for them. (mainly algaes and duckweeds with some zooplankton- all very easy to grow and manage)