Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Wrapping brown paper on the dry ice and cutting all air access like a good postage package will help keep it longer. Of course it's much more fun to play with. Never tried it on fish.... Interesting.
Jimbo s wire trick works too...
http://youtu.be/fCirHDjeBUI

Warning...only a dead fish was harmed making the video.

I've set up a T5 florescent fixture over an AC unit, Will see what happens this week with germination. I have a curtain hanging around the shelf to help keep most of the cool in that area.

As to the stabbing the fish through the brain. We never mastered that and it is hard to learn to do while they are thrashing.

An additional reason to use the CO2 instead of wire through the brain is if I am selling the fish, I'm not supposed to cut into it in any way because we don't have a commercial certified/inspected kitchen at the farm in which to do the processing so I'm selling whole on ice or live. (but no one wants to try to take home a thrashing 5 lb fish.)

The way to get around no one wanting to take home a thrashing fish is to OWN it. Sell people on the fact that the fish is so fresh, that it will thrash all the way home.

Hi TC,

Apparently clove oil puts fish to sleep very much like an anaesthetic. Once they're asleep, they won't struggle anymore. If you do want to ensure they're dead then you can put them in some water containing a few shots of alcohol, like vodka. This kills them within a minute. I read a very good article on it once, which had a lot of specific information regarding how much clove oil and how much alcohol you need but I can't find it now.

This is the best one I could find:

http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-the-most-humane-way-to-euthanize-a-fish.htm

What a waste of good vodka...I hope it's a well brand.lol I just put mine on ice for a few minutes, and by the time the fillet knife is sharpened and the cleaning table ready...so are the fish. Selling them whole would just be putting them on ice and waiting a few minutes? Catfish are a lot more tolerant of cold, so they may survive longer then tilapia. Tilapia in 40degree water only last a few minutes tops. When ever I catch catfish, I always give them a good thump on the head to stun them so they don't thrash around and stab me with one of those nasty dorsal/pec fins. Once you get impaled with one of those , you don't want to feel that again.

I know it's definitely a waste of good vodka. I doubt I would terminate a fish using Stolichnaya Elit.

My understanding is that the clove oil puts them to sleep so if all you need is to stop them thrashing when processing them then that should do the job.

Alcohol works good. Just get the cheapest Florida moonshine you can find. The stronger, the better!

Years ago I remember hearing about the clove oil but I never found a convenient place to get it so never tried it out.
Hum, I guess Alcohol would work but the CO2 seem more like putting nothing but different air into the water that I wouldn't be worried about any regulations against it.

Simply putting a living channel catfish onto ice, they actually can live for a very very long time that way and the ice water doesn't seem to do them in that quickly either the way it does for tilapia.


Tempting but too many people seem squeamish about trying to kill their own food that I fear it would backfire on me unless the customer was a die hard hunting/fishing/farming type, in which case they probably wouldn't be coming to me for a catfish.

I expect if I were to simply pack a live channel catfish into a cooler with ice and a little dry ice, it would probably suffocate it that way too since dry ice will push the oxygen up out of the cooler since the CO2 is heavier. I used to work in theatre and on one show my job dealt with the dry ice machines. It is dangerous to scoop the last dry ice out of a big insulated pallet bin without some one to pull you out if you accidentally inhale while head down in the bin.

I am pretty sure you can get clove oil in health shops. You would probably need to check ingredients to ensure that there aren't additives.

When I checked at the drug store I couldn't find any and most "health shops" around here are like GNC where it's mostly vitamins and supplememets and protein powder.

It would likely have to be a mail order item around here.

Thanks but I don't know what GNC is.

I believe that stands for General Nutrition Center it's a chain of small stores that sell vitamin supplements and such.

Ah ok, thanks Scotty.