Fish Sources

[Sylvia Bernstein]

where do you find your fish?  thoughts on who has been great and who should be avoided?  thoughts on cross-state-bourder shipping

[Nate Storey]

you're making me hungry. i think any fish can taste muddy if it comes from really poor quality water- i think i read some research that said it's primarily phytoplankton in dirty water that does it. . . oh, and i totally agree about using the phone- that's the only way i've ever gotten a hold of hatcheries/breeders.

TCLynx said:

I must say, we really like the Aquaponic Catfish. Just net one, quick kill and clean/fillet and prepare that evening.
No special purging or anything needed. And quite frankly, the few times I have noticed the "dense" texture in the catfish, I think we overcooked it.
We just had some catfish tonight, was great, moist and tender. Breaded and baked on top of a bed of pineapple with a hot pepper and tangerine marmalade glaze. Luscious as my mom would say.

But there are people out there who think catfish taste muddy, I've never experienced that.

[Sylvia Bernstein]

We were watching Bizarre Foods last night - generally completely disgusting - but the theme was Los Angeles, and they showed Wolfgang Puck preparing a whole catfish. He just made about 3 deep, diagonal slits on each side and inserted slices of ginger, (and maybe something else... lemon?), salted it, dusted it with cornstarch and slid it into the deep fryer. Looked amazing!

[Emma Lysyk]

I've been doing a bit more digging into fish sources. I have found a really fantastic site that ships fish overnight from Tuscon, AZ: http://www.azgardens.com/ They do carry blue channel catfish, koi, mosquito-eating fish, etc for ponds, but they also carry a lot of tropical fish. They ship "live" shipments overnight on Thursdays. They don't specify that they only ship to Arizona, so I think anyone can place orders. I didn't see any tilapia, but they do have sturgeon and freshwater flounders.

Also, locally, I've discovered that Aquarium Arts in Mesa splits their freshwater fish orders with Phoenix Tropical, and they're willing to special order from their supplier. I've inquired about tilapia, and they're going to get back to me when they do their next order.

I've trusted Phoenix Tropical for years, so I highly suggest them.

There's also a store in Tempe, AZ called Pets, Inc. that does a lot more business than Phoenix Tropical, but they both buy miscellaneous fish from customers. They trade back and forth on who has better prices, but I generally hit up Pets, Inc. first. They have a wider variety and awesome deals on their misc. fish tanks.

[Emma Lysyk]

Ok, now I'm hungry.... Now we need a recipe thread!

Sylvia Bernstein said:

We were watching Bizarre Foods last night - generally completely disgusting - but the theme was Los Angeles, and they showed Wolfgang Puck preparing a whole catfish. He just made about 3 deep, diagonal slits on each side and inserted slices of ginger, (and maybe something else... lemon?), salted it, dusted it with cornstarch and slid it into the deep fryer. Looked amazing!

[Emma Lysyk]

I should note that AZGardens.com sells yabbies: http://www.azgardens.com/p-219-lobster-cherax-blue-lobster.aspx

[Jeff Givan]

I agree Emma, we love to cook and it just makes sense to have a food thread!

Emma Lysyk said:

Ok, now I'm hungry.... Now we need a recipe thread!

Sylvia Bernstein said:

We were watching Bizarre Foods last night - generally completely disgusting - but the theme was Los Angeles, and they showed Wolfgang Puck preparing a whole catfish. He just made about 3 deep, diagonal slits on each side and inserted slices of ginger, (and maybe something else... lemon?), salted it, dusted it with cornstarch and slid it into the deep fryer. Looked amazing!

[Jeff Givan]

I would love to raise Yabbies, but not at $8.00 a pop. Unless it is like someone said earlier, get them as brood stock.

Emma Lysyk said:

I should note that AZGardens.com sells yabbies: http://www.azgardens.com/p-219-lobster-cherax-blue-lobster.aspx

[Sylvia Bernstein]

OK, Jeff...sounds like a great thread for you to jump in there and start!

Jeff Givan said:

I agree Emma, we love to cook and it just makes sense to have a food thread!

Emma Lysyk said:

Ok, now I'm hungry.... Now we need a recipe thread!

Sylvia Bernstein said:

We were watching Bizarre Foods last night - generally completely disgusting - but the theme was Los Angeles, and they showed Wolfgang Puck preparing a whole catfish. He just made about 3 deep, diagonal slits on each side and inserted slices of ginger, (and maybe something else... lemon?), salted it, dusted it with cornstarch and slid it into the deep fryer. Looked amazing!

[Emma Lysyk]

Agreed. I would only buy enough to start breeding them before I started eating them :)

Jeff Givan said:

I would love to raise Yabbies, but not at $8.00 a pop. Unless it is like someone said earlier, get them as brood stock.

[Earl ward]

I purchased my tillapia fingerlings from edgar sanchez at unlocksmith @tilapiafarmingathome.com
he sells breders and mixed sex fingerlings, nice guy his website is tilapia farming at home. He also offers a 75% discont on breeders if you are the first person to find out the rules for bring his type of tilapia into your state

I also purchased Blue Tilapia fingerlings from Rex his email is rrains@hotmail .com anouther nice guy usually has a ad on ebay.

In either case they were shipped via mail over several states I only lost one baby

I have breeders in the basment hopefully I will be having some for slae in the next couple of months pure strian blue and alsoT. hornorum X mossambica cross. This cross acording to what I have read shoud produce 98% male. This would be a a on a small scale.

Before you get any fish make sure you can have them where you live.

The U.S may be the home of the free but no when it comes to keeping tilapia.

Earl

[Sylvia Bernstein]

Thanks for this, Earl. Would you please enter this in the Tilapia Group notepad where we are listing where people can find fingerlings and who to talk with? Let me know if you have any problems...I want to see if we can get this list going. Thanks

Earl ward said:

I purchased my tillapia fingerlings from edgar sanchez at unlocksmith @tilapiafarmingathome.com
he sells breders and mixed sex fingerlings, nice guy his website is tilapia farming at home. He also offers a 75% discont on breeders if you are the first person to find out the rules for bring his type of tilapia into your state

I also purchased Blue Tilapia fingerlings from Rex his email is rrains@hotmail .com anouther nice guy usually has a ad on ebay.

In either case they were shipped via mail over several states I only lost one baby

I have breeders in the basment hopefully I will be having some for slae in the next couple of months pure strian blue and alsoT. hornorum X mossambica cross. This cross acording to what I have read shoud produce 98% male. This would be a a on a small scale.

Before you get any fish make sure you can have them where you live.

The U.S may be the home of the free but no when it comes to keeping tilapia.

Earl

[Jeff Givan]

The State of California posts a list of approved Aquaculturists that one can sell fish retail to the general public. This list is in a pdf format that I would be happy to email anyone. Just send me a note here. In an earlier post I posted Imperial Catfish, they not only sell the catfish but also the approved Tilapia for California. I will be calling them soon to see about ordering for my pond! This list has everything from minnows, crawfish, bass of all kinds, catfish, trout, sturgeon and much more!