Triploid Grass Carp Farm

The biological control LAPR has successfully implemented for 27 years is the sterile non-native fish, the Grass Carp (Ctenopharyngodon Idella). This riverine herbivorous fish is the largest fish in the minnow family. It earnestly prefers hydrilla over all other aquatic plants for most of its lifespan making it an excellent and cost-effective biological control.

The remarkable effectiveness of Triploid Grass Carp created the need to have these fish readily available to our customers. The sister company, Charles Aquaculture, LLC, was born as a result. This cutting-edge fish farm is centrally located in Marion County, Florida. Surprisingly, Florida has very few fish farms.

Obtaining healthy Triploid Grass Carp of the proper size is challenging for aquatic management companies. The majority of aquatic management companies must purchase Triploid Grass Carp from Arkansas having them shipped to Florida in large transport trucks. Fulfillment of an order for fish can take several weeks. Transporting fish long distances by truck is extremely stressful because of the confined space, travel time, and oxygen variation from frequent stops during transport.

Triploid Grass Carp purchased from Charles Aquaculture are transported short distances and experience minimal stress. Additionally, the time constraint after the permit is issued by FWC requires prompt stocking of the fish. It is imperative to stock the grass carp in a timely manner, typically after aquatic herbicide application.

A permit from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is required to stock the sterile (Triploid) Grass Carp in Florida. Fertile (Diploid) grass carp are not allowed to be stocked in Florida. The FWC permit requires all discharges from the water body with stocked fish to have fish barriers installed. Fish barriers must allow easy water passage with vertical or horizontal openings no larger than 1.5 inches wide. LAPR fabricates time-proven, all-aluminum fish barriers which meet or exceed FWC permit requirements.

Since each body of water is unique, Doug Charles personally meets with customers to custom design an integrated program for hydrilla treatment and control. A typical approach consists of aquatic herbicide application(s) if necessary, permitting of triploid grass carp, installation of the required fish barriers, and stocking of Triploid Grass Carp. The consultation and proposal are provided at no cost or obligation.

“The fish made it here in good shape and happily escaped into the depths of the pond. Nice to meet both of you. Great service and products. Thanks for the great support.”
-Mark

Triploid Grass Carp available today!

Doug Charles, President/Owner of Lake and Pond Remediation has opened a sister company, Charles Aquaculture, LLC. Seeing the need to have Triploid Grass Carp readily available to our clients, Doug has developed an environmentally friendly recirculating fish farm in Marion County, FL.

CHARLES AQUACULTURE, LLC MORE TGC SHOULD BE READY SOON

Triploid Grass Carp for Sale – 10 to 12 Inches

Call (352) 595-8863 for Pricing and Availability

Need a Triploid Grass Carp Permit?

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

TRIPLOID GRASS CARP FISH FARM

Intensive Aquaculture Recirculating System

Our state-of-the-art Triploid Grass Carp Fish Farm incorporates the latest aquaculture technology including biological filtration, reuse of water, net protected production tanks, close observation of fish and low-stress collection and transport.

Biological Filtration using Green Water Technology

Biological filtration is accomplished through “Green Water” technology using live phytoplankton recirculated from the interconnected bio-pond into all of the production tanks. The phytoplankton maintains low concentrations of ammonia allowing for mass production of triploid grass carp in small raising tanks. The aquatic plants also play a part infiltration as well as feeding the fish their natural diet.

This “Green Water System” is the fastest-growing type of aquaculture system in the world. It is the most efficient, lowest cost, and the most environmentally friendly. Conventional methods use large pumps with expensive filtration and UV sterilizers, ozone filtration, and large vats of filter media. Green water systems use smaller pumps, aeration, and sunlight to filter the water. Naturally occurring phytoplankton has proven to be the most cost effective means of filtration too.

Growing phytoplankton in a bio-pond has an additional bonus. Massive populations of Zooplankton such as rotifers, copepods, and daphnia feed on the phytoplankton and thrive. Zooplankton is used as a highly nutritious feed for the Triploid Grass Carp fry. Raising fry of any species in aquaculture is challenging. The bio-pond provides an unlimited source of nutritious live food for the fry. The fry are raised in net protected production tanks free from predators. The fry tanks are provided strained plankton-rich water from the bio-pond. The fry at this stage are extremely vulnerable to predation from insects, birds, invertebrates, and other fish. The green water system eliminates almost all predation of the fry until they reach market size.

The growth of duckweed and watermeal in the bio-pond is an additional bonus. The bio-pond grows copious amounts of these water ferns which are the perfect food for grass carp after the fry stage of life. Watermeal is highly nutritious and small enough to fit in the young carps’ mouth. The young grass carp prefer the watermeal and devour it. The watermeal diet is augmented by ground catfish pellets and soybean meal. This feeding regimen yields impressive growth rates. The bio-pond also grows duckweed (also highly nutritious) at an incredible rate. Duckweed and watermeal both have the capability of doubling their populations daily. Both of these plants are an ideal food for the culture of Triploid Grass Carp farm.

A mechanical feeding system was developed for feeding watermeal and duckweed carefully and efficiently.

Environmentally Responsible Reuse of Water

Water use and reclamation is an important reality in Flordia. Typically, fish farms are required to obtain a Consumptive Use Permit (CUP) from the water management district because large quantities of well water are required. Our farm uses minimal well water because the fish are harvested without draining and refilling production ponds. Our well water use is far below the threshold of CUP permitting.

Predation Protected Fish

All of our triploid grass carp are net protected to prevent predation. Birds of prey, especially ospreys, bald eagles, great blue herons, egrets, and hooded mergansers, can be detrimental to a fish farm crop. Alligators, otters, snakes, and even some insects pose a threat to the fish. We experience zero predation at our farm and conduct absolutely no killing, trapping or harassing of wildlife.

Low-Stress Treatment of Fish

Stress plays a significant role in any animal’s health, especially animals being raised and transported in high numbers. Typically triploid grass carp are raised in large ponds making them vulnerable to predators causing stress. The common practice of capturing the fish is using a sein net (major stress) and placed in a transport tank in a holding facility for lengthy periods (more stress). Fish are then netted again and placed in containers in transport trucks which are usually from out of state. The fish are then confined multiple times for more than 24 hours (potentially critical stress).

Finally, at the stocking destination, they are netted again and stocked. Each handling of the carp creates stress, removes their protective slime coat, and puts them into close proximity to other carp which are stressed and possibly diseased. Two of the most transmittable grass carp diseases are aeromomas and columnaris (bacterial infections) are prevalent in Florida. At our farm, there is no stress from predation, no pond seining, no holding tank after seining, and our transportation is significantly shorter distances (all of which limits stress). Our fish are netted from their grow-out tank and either bagged or transported by aerated transport tanks immediately to their final stocking destination. Because the process is low stress, we use no chemicals, sedatives, or antibiotics during the transportation and stocking process.

Fish Size Availability

Triploid Grass Carp are available at 5 inches to 14 inches in length. Freshwater fish are measured from the mouth to the tip of the tail (pinched). Fish can be delivered or picked up at our farm in Marion County, Florida. A permit from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) is required for the purchase of Triploid Grass Carp.