Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi everyone im new here, I just finished building my first aquaponic system and went in search of fish. I soon found out that not one store sells any type of fish that are considered edible. They all told me these are game fish and ill have to go and get permits to buy them. There is one of the largest Tilapia hatchery's in the country in this state and i cant buy a single fish from them.

The permit form is absurd! They want to know where i will have the fish, where i will get the water for the fish, what i want the fish for, how my pond is made, how many fish i will buy, what they weigh, the species, and length. Then they want to charge me fees along with my whole life history.

This is total BS! no one has any reason to know what i do in my own back yard. I live almost 100 miles from the nearest body of water. And if they are worried about invasive species then they wouldn't be selling carp in pet stores.

I cant even buy channel cats, i should have never left Florida i could buy any type of fish i wanted from just about any local aquatic stores. If i couldn't find it i could go catch it.
This is so stupid they sell Cichlids in pet stores here but you cant get Tilapia, last i checked Tilapia are Cichlids.

Does any one know of any hatcheries or small operations that will ship to me here in New Mexico. Sorry about the rant im just irritated, seems like every time i turn around in this state i need a permit, want to cut fire wood need a permit, want to shoot game on my own land need a permit.

where are you fellow New Mexican I am north of the border just like you

Don't waste time - get any crappy goldfish in there so you can cycle your system and get the bacteria populations up. Point being if it's so hard to get edible fish, then you don't want them to die in an unstable system (plus you can still get vegetables in the meantime).
Re actually getting edible fish, in Oz, we send kids off to do 'work experience' for the last few weeks of high school - it's unpaid - maybe you can get an enterprising kid to do work experience at the tilapia hatchery if it's not too far away, and ......
Only other suggestion would be to find another AP enthusiast in reasonable distance and ship some back yourself.

_________________
If 'some' is good, and 'more' is better, then 'too much' should be just about right - Buckminster Fuller

Hi Slicer im Mountainair

At this point im debating on driving over one state to find some fish, i already have some gold fish to put in there, when i moved here from Florida i brought one of my turtles with me and bought him a bunch of gold fish, he use to like to eat the gold fish in my ponds but i guess he was lonely because he didn't eat any so i just left them in to keep him company. Ill just put them in the system till i sort this situation out

Mountainair.. thats not too far from Albuquerque right?

I am in Rio Rancho, I am testing some things with trout and will be getting bluegill as well. I can get them locally

Gold fish are perfectly edible. Could also get grass carp or mirror carp, which are closely related.

errrm carp taste terrible...

Im not eating gold fish! I want something i will actually enjoy eating. Ive seen gold fish living in conditions that would have killed most other fish they are like the c0ckroaches of the fish world.

lol it wont let me use the word c0ckroach spelled correctly. see cockroach

I bought my fish off ebay.

There is a fish hatchery here that sells tilapia. Permits are not required here if you tell them you are putting them in a pond or stock tank to clean out the algae and plants. If all else fails and you can not get any fish there I could get a breathable bag and try mailing you some fingerlings..

_________________
Think Outside the Box, Do your Thinking for Yourself!

That is probably due to living conditions, water, food. I've had trout that taste like dirt and ones that taste like salmon: depends on their feed, mostly.....

Got a name or website for that hatchery? Ive been watching ebay i saw 10 bluegill on there the other day they went for some obscene price. i haven't seen any tilapia on there yet but i keep checking every day. I saw some Pacu on craigslist but they were to far to drive.

new mexico regulations on tiliapia are somewhat obscene.. I have spoken with Michael Sloan who is the head honcho at Dept: Fish and Game. You can do it but its a pain :/

You have to be sneaky

Laws here make it seem really impossible, but yet they are sold without question for use in private ponds and none of the regulations apply to private individuals. Its when you raise them commercially or release them into the wild that you get in trouble.

_________________
Think Outside the Box, Do your Thinking for Yourself!

Commercial, Pond whatever does not matter here in NM it is explicit in NO TILAPIA and a mess of other fish.. hell I have to get permit to get MINNOWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously this is one screwed up state here. There is regulations for aquarium or whatever it does not matter. Call up Americulture tell them you are in new mexico.. call up miami aquaculture tell them you are in new mexico.. same thing even with bait dealers out of Louisiana.. its AWFUL!!!

What a wonderful thing for the state that gets the most annual sunlight out of any state in the union