as a northern operation about to get started, I am interested in raising burbot on a limited scale. Has anyone had experience raising this cold water fish?
Never heard of it. If you can find some links to more information about it to post, I expect you will get some interest and conversation about it going.
Burbot (lota lota), commonly referred to up here as Ling Cod. An ugly beast, however it is prized for its good meat. It is a cold water fish preferring temps in the 3-7C range. It is considered a nuisance fish down south as it feeds exclusively on live prey. We caught about a dozen juveniles in July in the outflow settling pond of our little hatchery and put them in a 20 gal aquarium in our facility building. By September, ten of them had disappeared and two had grown considerably larger. On morning I went to work early and found the largest one attempting to swallow whole the remaining one. Wished I had a video camera. He finally got it down after about 20min.
Now, here's the strange thing, after reading the available material on burbot, they should not have survived the water temp of the aquarium, it sits at approx 15C. The water is 80% replaced every two days. An air pump is used, no stones, just tubes.