Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

My favorite fish to eat is Walleye. I live in the south central US. Has anyone raised walleye in their AP? Good/bad? Thanks!

Hi Cheryl,

Welcome to the Forum,

Walleye are my favorite as well I don't know of anyone who's done this in AP but I have seen some research on Aquaculture with Walleye. They don't sound too hard to culture but most are only producing fingerlings. Yellow Perch have been done so if you can't get the Walleyes for some reason then these could be an option (I know they aren't as good but what can you do )

There is some information in this pdf but it's just general - http://fisheries.tamu.edu/files/2013/09/NCRAC-Fact-Sheet-Series-No.-116-Production-of-Walleye-as-Potential-Food-Fish.pdf

This person did a lot of research and you might find some information and leads amongst his citations here - http://www.nrem.iastate.edu/content/robert-c-summerfelt

It looks do-able to me but you'll have to dig for it and find a source of fingerlings as well as stocking densities and things like that (you might have to make some guesses). If you need any help getting setup just ask and Please post back to let us know how it's going regardless

Cheers

i've thought about it, and harvesting them at smaller sizes, but for now i'll stick with yellow perch, bluegill and tilapia

Thanks Scotty and Keith! I might be in just the right place, because the Arkansas Game & Fish raise walleye and have a "nursery" pond and release area into the lake, just a few miles from our home. I left a message today, so awaiting a call back to see what they have to say about the availability and survivability of walleye in an AP. Apparently, they have an AP guru on staff as well! Hoping they train them to commercial feed, because I definitely don't want to invest the $ and mess in live food, which walleye apparently MUCH prefer, from what I've read so far.

May be crappie or perch if it looks like the walleye won't work. I'll keep y'all posted.

I believe most native fish would work in aquaponics. Obviously it is very beneficial and practical to keep fish that will eat commercial food. Walleye get large are are typically long-ish fish so they may need more space than an IBC. In a quick google search i saw information about feed trained walleye but it did not look like it's common practice and it's unlikely your AR game and fish would take the time/trouble to feed train walleye. So it is probably possible. I did consider trying to tinker with chain pickerel in my climate but decided some other projects take priority for me right now.


Crappie are notoriously difficult to feed train as well. It is unlikely you will find a supplier with feed trained crappie.

With that said, feed training crappie is my spring project this year. I am just trying to set your expectations.

brian

Thanks Brian. I appreciate your input.