Greetings from the land of the midnight sun!

[AKfish]

Hey all just a quick introduction. I'm looking to get into aquaponics and already have some Tilapia for indoor and greenhouse use. I'd like to expand into catfish.

Been doing some research and was amazed at the variety available. Probably just going to go with channel cats unless someone can recommend a better variety. They will be raised outdoors in man made tanks and taken into a semi heated greenhouse in the winter.

There is a common misconception about how cold it gets here. I'm in Anchorage and we have been above most of the U.S. in temps this winter as we get continuous warm air flows from the Pacific most of the winter. The summers are often spectacular and as the sun doesn't set for a good deal of the summer it rarely if ever gets cold.

Thanks in advance and glad to have found such an awesome forum.

[AKfish]

Forgot to mention I'd really like to get breeding age cats as aquaponics is really taking off here and there will be continuous demand for fry. Just throwing that out there as I don't know if its practical to ship large adult fish. Although my Tilapia arrived just fine with regular mail.

[Richard B]

Welcome to Planet Catfish

[AKfish]

The blue catfish look promising. A lower end temp of 55 farenheit is doable outdoors here without even supplemental heat. Anyone have experience with them?

[corybreed]

Welcome to PlanetCatfish.

Mark

[Viktor Jarikov]

Welcome to the Planet!

Channels are indeed widely used for aquaponics. They grow quickly too, so quickly and efficiently (1 lb of body mass per 0.5 lb of feed on farms) that they are the most farmed fish in the US.

One can ship any size but the price of shipping rises super-exponentially with the fish's size. Georgia Aquarium shipped ~15'-20' whale sharks, one shark per super-freight plane. They have 5 in a 6,300,000 gal tank.

I've not heard of blue cats in this application but I do not keep track of the field of aquaponics at all. Blue cats are incomparably more predatory than the channels, who are mostly scavengers. I imagine you'd have big problems with cannibalism with the blues. They often/usually have little boundaries to what they consider a prey. They grow much larger and swim almost all the time, which means their accommodations should be far bigger.

[AKfish]

I saw also that the blues had slightly better cold tolerance. I grew up in Oregon and not to date myself but am old enough to remember when the place actually got cold in the winter. -14 one bad winter. Our Koi ponds would ice over and it didn't bother the fish one bit. And pretty much all the ponds and rivers had catfish in them. Not sure what type though. I just remembered it hurt like hell if you got stuck by their fins. My plan was to put the cats in a semi heated greenhouse here for the winter. Water gets just a thin sheet of ice in there when its below zero outside.

I was hoping the Blues would be better also because of their healthy appetites. Hoping if the tanks are big enough they won't eat each other. I've got a friend that raises Reds and talk about them being mini sharks but they live together. She also builds tanks though so size isn't such an issue.

I've also considered getting some Wel's catfish or maybe Northern Sheafish (sp?) but want to make sure I'm legal for that. Alaska doesn't regulate much as the assumption is the winter kills off just about anything not native if it gets loose. A couple people on my Facebook even have alligators.

[Viktor Jarikov]

I saw also that the blues had slightly better cold tolerance.
*** I don't think so. Blues range is south eastern and central eastern US. They are not found to the north of Carolinas or so much. Channels are the ones that can overwinter under ice and inhabit US and Canada and were introduced in NW US along with some flathead catfish.

I grew up in Oregon and not to date myself but am old enough to remember when the place actually got cold in the winter. -14 one bad winter. Our Koi ponds would ice over and it didn't bother the fish one bit. And pretty much all the ponds and rivers had catfish in them. Not sure what type though. I just remembered it hurt like hell if you got stuck by their fins.
*** Anyone, correct me if I am wrong, there are no blues in the west at all. Only channels and some flatheads.

I was hoping the Blues would be better also because of their healthy appetites.
*** As in: .... better.... healthier...? Healthier than what, channels appetite? I don't think so.

Hoping if the tanks are big enough they won't eat each other. I've got a friend that raises Reds and talk about them being mini sharks but they live together.
*** What are Reds?

I've also considered getting some Wel's catfish...
*** AFAIK, wels are not farmed for food anywhere. They grow too slow and too inefficiently. They are likely too cannibalistic too.

[naturalart]

I have to echo Victors advice. It sounds like blue's are high energy, possibly a kind of 'hover' cat. Cats that hover usually require more food = more maintenance. Your plants might like the extra nitrogen, it but if something goes wrong, you could lose fish. I've kept channel cats and they are definitely low maintenance. Eat just about everything. Handle the cooler water well. And probably a lot calmer fish. My 2 cents.

[Viktor Jarikov]

What's your purpose? To experiment with the components of an aquaponics system or to set up one and be a user/producer, not a researcher?

If your homework shows no one uses blues for that purpose, or if they do, say in deep US south or SE Asia, and you won't be able to replicate it, then the conclusion is clear IMHO - try your hand at what's known and see if you can make this work. In my very limited knowledge of the subject, almost everyone uses either some Tilapia species or channel catfishes.

[AKfish]

I guess part of what I left out is that I run a small hobby nursery that I'd like to expand and quit my day job. Its been taking off while my regular work is going south. Both ironically are due to the economy. People simply are growing more of their own food and aquaponics is a part of that.

I don't really want to focus on raising fish to eat as oddly enough its illegal here in Alaska. Sure you can have a hand grenade with the right paperwork or own an alligator without any but fish 'farming' is verboten!

I take in a lot of organic waste which I've been using to build a worm farm which although I don't get rich off of is pretty much free money at this point. I'd like to have a fish that can basically be fed like a hog. I've had loads of vegetables dumped here that exceed a half ton. Most goes into compost. I could get ten truckloads a day if I wanted. So I'm looking for an aggressive eater and more fish waste = more vegetables = I can sell more pre made aquaponics.

A good part of my tilapia's diet is duckweed which is free for me now and worms which grow in free horse manure. I'm not setting up at all to use commercial feed other than for a supplement to round out the diet.

Also the colder the fish can tolerate the better. For this year unless I expand the fish will winter over in my greenhouse which gets cold enough to have a thin film of ice on water.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Thanks.

I don't really want to focus on raising fish to eat as oddly enough its illegal here in Alaska. Sure you can have a hand grenade with the right paperwork or own an alligator without any but fish 'farming' is verboten!

Wow. Well, is aquaponics not special enough to not fall under fish farming? The thing about conventional fish farming is that it produces lots and lots of waste and waste water and is highly taxing on the environment. AFAIU, aquaponics is far greener.

I take in a lot of organic waste which I've been using to build a worm farm which although I don't get rich off of is pretty much free money at this point. I'd like to have a fish that can basically be fed like a hog. I've had loads of vegetables dumped here that exceed a half ton. Most goes into compost. I could get ten truckloads a day if I wanted. So I'm looking for an aggressive eater....

?? So you want a herbivore? If so, why even invoke blues and wels... and I am far from sure even omnivorous channels would work. You'd need cichlids like tilapia (not cold hardy enough) or one of the several species of cold-hardy Asian carp, I imagine.

and more fish waste = more vegetables = I can sell more pre made aquaponics.

I am afraid this piece I do not get. Sell aquaponics systems? Made pre to what?

Also the colder the fish can tolerate the better. For this year unless I expand the fish will winter over in my greenhouse which gets cold enough to have a thin film of ice on water.

You can forget the blues and the tropical cichlids for this reason alone.

[AKfish]

This forum may be a waste of my time.

[Viktor Jarikov]

If for any reason whatsoever it is my fault, please, accept my heartfelt apologies. Don't give up on the forum going by my clumsy input.