A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

Sacramento Perch and Sacramento Blackfish

Hey folks, I'm from Santa Cruz, and I am raising Sac Perch (sunfish like bluegill only better, and Cali native) and Sac Blackfish (giant native minnow). I also sell tilapia fingerlings, and Redclaw Crawdads. Anyone else here raise any native fish?

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Paul Trudeau on January 24, 2012 at 3:34pm

Hi Jon,

Welcome to the Sacramento group. I'd love to raise Sac Perch (notice the icon for our group) but have not found any yet. Other than their being native, what do you find to be better about them? Have also considered Sac Blackfish but haven't raised them yet. Would love to hear what you like about them.

Permalink Reply by Jon Parr on January 24, 2012 at 11:19pm

They are brand new to me, and little is known about them regarding aquaculture. By better I meant better tasting. Most anglers have never caught one, because they are only present in a few lakes, but those who have generally claim they are the best eating fresh water fish of all time. I believe they grow faster as well, although quite variable among the same batch of fingerlings. They are more predatory than bluegill, but otherwise similar. The fry need larval feed, sort of a chore, but I'm pretty stoked to try. I have a single pair, tank raised, and old enough to breed this spring. But the biggest plus for me is that it is a California native.

Blackfish are the toughest fish I have ever seen, make tilapia look like pansies. I keep mine outdoors in a wading pool of greenwater. They are filter feeders, and probably not really suited for aquaponics. But they breed well with no owner input, and will provide forage for my perch. They do get plenty large enough to eat, and reportedly taste good. There is, or was, a commercial netting of them from clearlake, sold in the SF Asian markets. The blackfish I have are two years old, and only 4-6" long. Not quick enough growth for me. I intend to try blackfish in AP, maybe try and formulate a feed for them that packs on weight quicker. Again, comparable to minnows, but tougher and native, potentially edible.

Permalink Reply by Paul Trudeau on January 25, 2012 at 12:27am

Thanks, great info Jon.

Permalink Reply by Chewy Von MiesterBrau on March 20, 2012 at 10:20pm

Hello,

I am in Concord. Do you have website for your fingerling fish sales?

Carlos

Permalink Reply by Jon Parr on March 21, 2012 at 1:11pm

No, sorry Carlos. It's on my to do list. Soon I hope. I have tilapia, sac blackfish, green sunfish, bluegill, crappie and tropical catfish in stock. I'm adding trout, channel cats, and sac perch to the lineup, asap. You can shoot me an email jonparrco@gmail.com. Thanks

Permalink Reply by Geost on March 24, 2012 at 12:20pm

Hi all I'm still building my system with plans to keep native species for outdoor AP and live in the bay area as well. Like the idea of not needing to heat tanks for native species/cold water fish.

Jon would be interested in sac perch eventually however I'm still deciding on tank size, circular 200g or 300g? Which will suit these types of fish better, concerned about stocking levels and tank mates?

Thanks,
George

Permalink Reply by Chewy Von MiesterBrau on March 24, 2012 at 3:57pm

Thank You Jon. What conditions work well for the Crappie?

Jon Parr said:

No, sorry Carlos. It's on my to do list. Soon I hope. I have tilapia, sac blackfish, green sunfish, bluegill, crappie and tropical catfish in stock. I'm adding trout, channel cats, and sac perch to the lineup, asap. You can shoot me an email jonparrco@gmail.com. Thanks

Permalink Reply by Jon Parr on March 25, 2012 at 12:43pm

George, I like circular tanks better for all fish, because a little swirl keeps it clean. Sac perch should be breeding soon, exciting. Hope I can supply you when youre ready. Perch will do fine with any fish the same size, but if they can fit a tankmate in their mouth, they probably will. I have mine sharing water with redears and sunfish, at least until I get a brooding tank ready.

Chewy, I got crappie as incidentals along with some bluegill I ordered (as well as some green sunfish, jumbo minnows, and big tadpoles). Yesterday I had a three-way power splitter short out and lost power to my pumps for about 24 hrs, without knowing it. The 1000 gallon tank was overstocked to say the least, as I am finishing my new greenhouse. Anyway, I lost most of my bluegills (about 1500), and most of my minnows (which have been steadily looking worse anyway, I think from old age) but oddly not a single crappie died, or green sunfish. That makes crappie a tough fish, and that's a big deal me. I'm so angry at myself for allowing such a massive die-off of bluegill. The females were all gravid, and the males were showing their breeding colors. I know better, and the whole incident is having me rethink my safety net and backup. If I just had some bubblers on batteries it would have been fine. The water was very clean and clear, no ammonia issue, which must mean they died of low oxygen, whereas the crappie were fine. Good to know. Expensive to learn.

Permalink Reply by Chewy Von MiesterBrau on March 25, 2012 at 3:56pm

Jon,

Thank you for sharing your experience with us. We are all bound to flub things now and again, but we can learn from each persons mistakes and successes!

Chewy

Permalink Reply by Geost on March 25, 2012 at 6:21pm

Jon thanks for the info and guidance. Please do update me when the perch breed. Sorry to hear about the blue gills and minnows, I hope you will recover from this episode and come up on top.

George

Permalink Reply by Tyler Stoll on April 23, 2012 at 9:40pm

hello, i am new to all this and located in paso robles and really need to find some fish. any way i could get you to sell some fingerlings and crawdads? thanks!

Permalink Reply by Paul Trudeau on April 23, 2012 at 9:46pm

I don't want to cut anyone out of a sale, but Tyler perhaps you have a local option for crawdads--have you checked your local bait shop? Mine here always has crawdads for sale.

Tyler Stoll said:

hello, i am new to all this and located in paso robles and really need to find some fish. any way i could get you to sell some fingerlings and crawdads? thanks!