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Florida Sources for Freshwater Fish Stock

The Florida Wildlife Commission recently provided me a list of commercial fish hatcheries. I thought I'd share the link below for any of my fellow Florida aquaponic enthusiasts that are interested:

http://myfwc.com/media/131389/Freshwater_FishStockingList.pdf

Unfortunately, most of them do not have websites for additional research. I guess we'll have to resort to the old stand-by -- the telephone. Imagine that!

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Comment by Hap Perry on November 5, 2011 at 10:32am: Any one know where to get Barramundi in Florida?

Comment by B. Pearcy on March 17, 2011 at 5:29pm: Well, I've decided to give coppernose a try. I keep reading good things about them. They seem like a nice alternative to tilapia. I haven't found a supplier in Florida, but one in Mississippi will ship them overnight. I'll keep looking for one in Florida. Anyone know of one?

Comment by Kellen Weissenbach on March 17, 2011 at 4:22pm: Coppernose Bluegill = Lepomis macrochirus mystacalis

:-)

Comment by David Hart on March 17, 2011 at 4:02pm: Here's what they had to say..If you want.to see the pictures too, use this link...

http://www.floridafishfarms.com/game%20fish.htm

Another misconception is that there is a separate species of sunfish known as the coppernose. In actuality, the coppernose (or copperhead, as it is sometimes called), is the male Florida strain bluegill. Note the copper colored banding which gives the male its nickname

Except for the lack of red markings on the opercular lobe, the female bluegill might be mistaken for the redear sunfish. The female bluegill (left) and male bluegill (right) are depicted below.

Maybe they aren't calling them the correct name (?)....but, they do sell some nice fish. I have about 125 of thier catfish.

Personally, I don't care what they are called, they are fun to catch. The one thing I do care about is, I don't have to freeze my " " off and cut a hole in the ice to catch them in the winter As far as eating fresh water fish.... I'd rather have some 'specks'....speckled perch...... I think they are perch (?) I know they have speckles !

Comment by Kellen Weissenbach on March 17, 2011 at 1:39pm

If that's what they are saying, what they are saying is wrong. :-) CNBG are simply a subspecies and as such are both male and female.

David Hart said:

FL Fish Farms has a web address.....

http://www.floridafishfarms.com/

They say the coppernose is just a FL male bluegill

Comment by Kellen Weissenbach on March 17, 2011 at 1:35pm: Coppernose Bluegill (CNBG for short) are a southern subspecies of Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus), native to Florida and parts of Georgia, but have been stocked and become established throughout most of the southern states. They grow quite a bit faster than Northern Strain BG in many cases, but ONLY if kept in the correct climate. As to be expected, they are not able to tolerate the colder extremes of of their northern counterparts. Much further north than about central Arkansas, and they'll struggle, and even then, they can experience winter kills in that area during harsh winters. For most of the US, the Northern Strain is a better choice, unless you are able to regulate winter water temps in your system. Some limited work has been done to cross the CNBG and Northern Strain BG with hopes of gaining the faster growth rates of the CNBG with the better cold tolerance of Northern Stain BG. So far it has had pretty limited success, but I suspect that will change over time.

Comment by David Hart on March 17, 2011 at 11:50am: FL Fish Farms has a web address.....

http://www.floridafishfarms.com/

They say the coppernose is just a FL male bluegill

Comment by George T on March 14, 2011 at 3:47am: Coppernose. It is a sub species, native to one lake in Fl. I'm still systemless but planning poly culture, coppernose and catfish. It may take a separate tank to do it but it seems to be very feasible to reproduce the bluegill. They will eat minnows once adult so culturing minnows may work as a food supplement.

Comment by B. Pearcy on March 13, 2011 at 8:35pm: I've read that the coppernose is a male bluegill from a Florida strain. I've also read that it's one of three subspecies of bluegill. I'm not sure which is right or wrong. It does seem that it's not uncommon for the coppernose to grow to 2 lbs.

Comment by George T on March 13, 2011 at 8:23pm: Florida Sources for Freshwater Fish Stock

Thanks and if you're interested in bluegill, be sure to research the coppernose.