Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site possible bg pond need advice

hi yall i have got the permit from my dad to dig another small pond. and i'd like to raise a few blue gill to sell to some people with ponds in the area. my plans are to throw in 5 or so let them spawn and then take all of the fish out and sell them at 3-4 in or less. there is a spot in the yard that i noticed is allways wet so i dug a small hole and it filled with water pretty quickly and has stayed full all winter and only got about halph an in of ice so my questions are how deep of water do bg need to spawn, with a ground water pond do i need to aerate, is it legel to sell bg to local pond owners. how many bg will i have when they're done spawning, and what are the growth rates for bg. thanks

Your entrepreneurism is good although you will very likely need a state DNR licence to sell sport fish and probably even bait fish since the state considers those fish their fish/wildlife or property of the commonwealth of PA. PA might have an aquaculture society where the laws are stated. If not then check the DNR website for regulations about selling sport fish even those raised privately.

One could get bluegills to spawn in a kids wading pool so it doesn't take much space and depth for them to spawn. However growing - raising enough of the fry to 3"-4" to eventually sell will be challenging. Growing out fry could be done using one of two basic methods. 1. Growing them on phytoplankton then zooplankton, then larger macoinvertebrates or 2. essentially on artificial feeds - first powder then gradually larger sized pellets as the bluegill grow larger. Or some combination of both methods.

There is a pretty good 'book' that describes this process: "Sunfish Culture Guide" by J.E.Morris, C.C. Mischke, & D.L. Garling. Publisher North Central Regional Aquaculture Center, 2002. NCRAC Culture Series 102. 91pp.

IMO the governmental "hoops" that you will have to 'jump through' to do this legally will probably not be worth the expense and small amount of benefit that you will receive from this idea if it is done on a small scale. Discouraging - however it is a good idea. Thank the state government for making your plan a lot more difficult.

See these:
http://extension.missouri.edu/p/G9473
http://www.ncrac.org/oldfiles/NR/rdonlyres/FEA76957-084E-4B44-9432-9028D7450C31/0/Sunfish12303.pdf

Sunfish Culture Guide
http://www.ncrac.org/oldfiles/NR/rdonlyr...ish_Culture.pdf

Here is a link to the guide Bill mentioned. Sunfish Culture Guide

When you open the link, click on the text I have outlined below, in red. It's kinda hard to determine this on the link.

The publication is available from the NCRAC Publications Office as either a 3-hole punch hard copy ($26) or as a CD ($15); shipping costs are included. It can also be downloaded as a pdf file NCRAC Sunfish Culture Guide but the download time may be long on slow internet connections.

NCRAC moved things around a bit so it is kinda difficult to find these publications now.

I know a fish farmer in PA. Haven't talked to him in a number years. Back then, PA was more strict than Michigan with regards to Aquaculture.

Here is a link with the person you need to talk to in PA about your quest. PA Dept. of Agriculture
It use to be the Boat Commission that handled this in PA.

Looks like Bill types faster than me

Think of it as two for the price of one

I forgot about that white paper. I was watching them pretty close during that era, but they made little to no progress on these "living documents".

I was on the "call list" for white papers. Never applied for one, but thought about one in particular.

Same group of people always got the funding, then years go by, and still no word.

Kinda shaped my thought process about these things and the NCRAC.

I am not impressed!
We'll all be dead before the bureaucracy involved here moves another inch

thanks guys gues your right with all of the laws and regulations it would be almost impossible to sell them. and raising them sounds like it would be alot of work in a very small pond. i gues its back to cutting wood but this is why i joined the pond boss if i didn't know this i'd have gotten my butt in hot water pretty quickly. thanks a bunch!

Hey SP. I wouldn't give up just yet.

Keep doing what you are with your pond's. If dad gave you the green light to dig up the back yard, then go for it.

Start digging into your state and local reg's. Learn the nuts-n-bolts of it all. It will take some time, so don't be in a hurry. Keep a bottle of aspirins on hand also

Pond's and raceways may get scrutinized a bit deeper by the DEQ than other methods like Recycle Systems. Learn about alternative methods. A few people are working with some Recycle Systems on PB, and I am quite sure you will see much, much more in the future, so stay tuned to this channel!

Michigan is a much better climate for Aquaculture now, than it's been over the past 15 years or so. The supply is much lacking the demand. I watch the registered list all the time. New start's, and then they are gone. I just don't think they really understand this animal.

You're young and have spirit. Messing with this stuff, sure beat's 8hrs of mind numbing TV every day! Don't ya think!

Yes, smallpond, don't give up. If your heart is in it, then keep learning about what you need to do, and what you can do legally to get around it to accomplish your dreams.

No matter what venue we all get into for a living, this type of setbacks/headaches will always be there. You just have to be determined enough to keep trudging uphill.

***** Would small pond need to have permits/licenses to just dig a hole in his yard and raise BG if the intent is NOT to sell? Just to experiment on growing fish, like say a school science project?????

thanks jkb im definatly going to need some asprin, and your right i'd rather be outside or fishing than watching tv anyday.

fishnchips the thing is i do want to sell the fish i allready have a brooktrout pond that took all summer to dig 20 ft by 50ft there is a saying that i go by alot don't ask don't tell. and i'd like to make money off of fish to support the main pond but i can't put any more fish in the main pond so i'd like to dig aanother since im too young to have a steady job. thankyou all for your support.

Good luck! I have no further comments.