I've been tossing this crazy idea around in my head for a while, and I've been doing a ton of research on the breeding of Catfish (CC, BC and CCxBC) using Ovaprim, a synthetic, injectable hormone that will trigger ovulation in most fish species, and mature eggs to prepare them for stripping. Little did I know that you can't just take a male and female catfish, gut them, mix their eggs and milt together, and get baby fish out of it (except for Trout and Salmon, because that's exactly how they do it). The whole process "seems" simple, but I know it's probably not, but would it worth a shot? I can get a 10mL bottle of Ovaprim for around $60 online. Using the dosage rates on the bottle, I could get 3 uses out of it, if I used three 8-pound female broodfish.

The biggest hurdle after successfully getting a batch of fertilized eggs would be the egg and fry rearing. They require constant temperature and pH levels, as well as constant feeding of the newly-hatched fry (every 2 hours!).

Then, if all that goes well, I need to figure out where to put them to grow them out. I've seen people grow Tilapia and other fish in swimming pools, so that's one idea. My goal would be to get them to stocking size, so I could either sell them, give them away, or help stock my friend's newly acquired 6-acre pond. Either way, I'm very interested in aquaculture, specifically Blue Catfish, and I figured that even if it all failed, it would be a good learning experience for any future endeavors. We have no Blue Catfish suppliers here in NC, and I couldn't find any in any neighboring state either.

Has anyone tried this before? Just looking for feedback, and if you think this is a crazy idea that will never work, feel free to tell me that lol.

"In the age of information, ignorance is a choice." - Donny Miller