New Member From Western Iowa.

[Clint Faist]

Hello everyone. My name is Clint and I live in Holstein, Iowa. I'm very happy to be here on the forums. I actually stumbled upon aquaponics while searching for tilapia recipes on the net and have been hooked ever since, Ive been reading and researching systems and Ive decided on a media based grow bed flood and drain system. Im going to be building my first system in my basemet as Iowa winters get sub zero for weeks at a time and I dont have the money to heat my greenhouse. I have access to free food grade 55 gallon drums but I really want an ibc system. My main question now is my fish. I want to raise something I can harvset for food So Ive gotten down to Yellow Perch or Tilapia. Ive found a couple resources that are approved by the state of iowa for tilapia but nothing solid for yellow perch. Does anyone use YP and are they very hard to maintain/raise. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

[Jim Troyer]

Yep, perch are actually fairly popular Clint. 

 

If you can't buy fish, I suggest getting the fishing rod out! Set yourself up with fish now, it's a great excuse to go fishing (if you need one)   Perch should survive for quite a while in a stock tank if you're in farm country. Since you're in TSC country, check out their bins and tanks, they have a great selection that may work out better in the long run shown here (in a Bob Campbell photo) , also a livestock trough heater maybe in order

 

 

Enjoy!

 

Jim

[Clint Faist]

Thanks for the info Jim, Only problem I have with fishing for perch is Im too tempted to fry em up! In reality most places to fish for them have the yellow parasite worms in the fillets and Id hate to have them in my system. If I can find a body of water without the problem I will definatly try to save some though. Im going to make a trip to some farm supply stores this weekend to see if I can find something like in the pics from Bob's photos. I'll try to keep it al updated for everyone. Thanks agin Jim.

[Jim Troyer]

[Keith Rowan]

best bet is to get yellow perch fingerlings from a pond stocker.. but if the water is going to get into the 80's the yp will not like it!

using wild caught yp, you will have trouble getting them on pellet feed unless they were feed trained in a pond

[Clint Faist]

Makes sense Keith. Im off to research some pond stockers now. Wish I had the room and filtration for rainbow trout. Love those fish.

[Jim Troyer]

There is a trout growers group thread...