Stop the Missouri Crayfish Regulation

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Sales Team

Help us stop the Missouri Department of Conservation from banning the sale of crayfish in
the state of Missouri. The Missouri Aquaculture Association and the Missouri Farm Bureau are joining together to spread the word about the regulation and collect signatures on a petition to present to the Missouri Department of Conservation at their June and
July meetings. If you have concerns over the banning of the sale of live crayfish for bait, pets, or feeders in the state of Missouri, we strongly encourage you to visit the Missouri Farm Bureau’s website here to sign the petition. Also check out an article regarding the crayfish ban here.

Call us if you need any further information at 573-765-3227.

Below is a news release from Missouri Farm Bureau regarding the issue:

Proposed Crayfish Regulation Would Ban Live Bait Sales

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri Farm Bureau has joined the Missouri Aquaculture Association in opposing a Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) proposal to ban sales of live crayfish used for fish bait. If the new regulation is not stopped, the ban will take affect September 1 this year. Farm Bureau says the proposed ban will not only affect sport fishermen, but fish farmers who raise crayfish for a portion of their income and the bait shops who sell crayfish.

MDC instituted the ban earlier this year on March 1, but quickly suspended it until September. Previous regulations allow bait shops to sell only four crayfish species native to Missouri as live bait. According to the Missouri Aquaculture Association, none of the four are considered invasive. Many stores and the anglers they serve are unaware of the impending ban.

“The regulation banning the sale of crawfish caught all Missouri fish farmers, fishermen and bait shops completely off guard,” said Kevin Flowers, Missouri Aquaculture Association president. “None of the stakeholders knew of this proposed regulation until after it became effective.”

Although MDC believes Missouri fishermen are one of the major contributors in spreading invasive species of crayfish by dumping unused crayfish from bait buckets into the water, Farm Bureau believes MDC’s previous regulation allowing the sale of four native crayfish species is adequate if enforced.

“Banning sales of all live crayfish sales for sport fishing is regulation overkill,” says Blake Hurst, Missouri Farm Bureau president. “As an agricultural organization, we support the aquaculture industry and many fish farmers in the state raise crayfish for bait shops. But many of our members are also avid fisherman who enjoy using live crayfish. The Missouri Department of Conservation should use previous regulations instead of an outright ban.”

A petition is now being circulated for citizens who oppose the ban. Those petitions, found at most tackle and bait stores and online at mofb.org, will be collected June 1 and June 28. At the end of June the signatures will be delivered to MDC.

 

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Wholesale Blue Channel Catfish

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Sales Team

Did you know Ozark Fisheries now carries wholesale blue channel catfish? We hear from some of our customers that they are hard to find this year. That is why we are excited that we have them! Catfish are good scavengers for the aquarium or pond.

Wholesale blue channel catfish

Here is a little background on the blue channel catfish or Ictalurus furcatus. The Blue Channel catfish have a small, narrow head.  The back of the catfish is blue-gray with light blue to silver/grey sides and a white underbelly with some spots on the sides.  Larger channel catfish lose the black spots and generally take on a blue-black coloration on the back.  The male channel catfish becomes very dark during spawning season and develops a thick pad on their head.  They prefer to live in an environment with some current, and deep water with sand, gravel or ruff bottoms.  Blue Channel catfish also inhabit streams, rivers, lakes, reservoirs and ponds.  They also adapt well in standing water where stocked.  Annual spawning occurs mostly in rivers and streams in the spring and early summer when waters warm to 70 to 85 degrees.

By the way Ictalurus furcatus has a deeper meaning. Ictalurus means fish cat and Furcatus stands for forked, referring to this species’ deeply forked caudal fin.

 

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Ozark’s “luck” and why hard work really pays off

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Sales Team

You may have recently read my weekly e-newsletter about superstition. If you haven’t, the next couple paragraphs will fill you in on where this story is going.

Superstition should have been my middle name. In high school, I wore a lucky pair of socks for every basketball game, had a lucky number that I wore on a necklace (if you are wondering, it’s the #3) and our team even had a lucky bus driver for away games. I’m sure you are asking yourself, “Self, that basketball team must have won state!” Well, I hate to burst your bubble but we we’re only a little over .500 and didn’t make it past the first round of our district tournament. BUT, we sure had a lot of fun trying to keep our “luck” in check.

 As I’ve matured in age, I realize that luck has very little to do with success, but hard work sure does. Ozark understands, just like our customers, we must work hard to keep our goldfish and koi inventory full, freight costs down and health of our fish in tip-top shape.

With Friday the 13th approaching, fear among us common folk runs rampant. But in theory, there is really nothing for us to be afraid of. I recently read there are actually fewer motor vehicle accidents on Friday’s that fall on the 13th than any other Friday’s. Apparantly, we all must stay home.

 

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Wholesale Sunrise Shubunkins

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Sales Team

Ozark Fisheries is proud to introduce the Sunrise Shubunkin into our line of goldfish and koi. Looking for a way to increase your goldfish and koi sales to existing customers and drive in new business at the same time? One way to do just that is to add new varieties of fish to your stock, and Ozark’s Sunrise Shubunkin is just the fish for you.

 

New line for wholesalers!

Unlike standard shubunkins, Ozark’s Sunrise Shubunkins do not have red, orange or black markings. Sunrise Shubunkins have transparent scales which allows their pink gills to show through, as well as a light blue body. Most also have solid black eyes.

Sunrise Shubunkins are a great addition to any backyard pond or water garden. They are a community fish and do well when mixed with butterfly koi, koi, sarasa comets and channel catfish.

These are truly unique fish and available to purchase from our Missouri farm now!

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Breeding Brilliant Wholesale Koi

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Sales Team

 See Larry Cleveland, President of Ozark Fisheries, Inc. comments in the recent article in Water Garden News by Emily Lambert.

Below the pond’s surface, koi varieties glow in a bevy of brilliant colors and patterns. “Many customers prefer the shiny metallic colors over the standard kohaku, sanke and showa mixes that importers often have, so we’ve moved in that direction recently,” said Randy Lefever, president and co-owner of Blue Ridge Fish Hatchery in Kernersville, N.C.

“Koi were a novelty 25 years ago. Fast forward to today and your average person is more sophisticated. They’ve seen the ‘plain Jane’ and bought the ‘you get what you pay for.’ As the market has gotten sophisticated, producers have to do the same to keep up,” said Lawrence Cleveland, president of Ozark Fisheries Inc. in Stoutland, Mo. “[Consumers] used to ask for koi; now the top 25 to 35 percent come in and ask for them by name, [such as sanke koi].”

Breeders said that offering several koi varieties is key to filling this demand.

“The biggest [trend] I see is a wider variety of fish from the breeder level,” said Thomas Smith, president of Garden State Koi & Aquatic Center in Warwick, N.Y.

Of equal importance is quality, experts reported.

“As the koi market has matured, buyers have become more discriminating, and [they] expect to see higher quality fish in regards to color and pattern,” Lefever said. “Quality breeders understand this and invest the time and effort required to cull their crop and grow only attractive, marketable fish.”

Colors and patterns must be balanced, prominent and distinct, Cleveland said. His fishery practices selective breeding to improve the color patterns and, therefore, provide more desirable fish, he said.

“The hobby has been growing, and a lot of high quality koi are coming in from Japan. Once hobbyists get a little experience under their belts, they feel they can spend more money on a better-looking fish; so the American breeder has to compete with the Japanese breeder for these more selective customers,” said Ben Plonski, owner of Laguna Koi Ponds in Laguna Beach, Calif.

“Japan still produces the best looking koi, so the American breeder has a tough job,” he said. “In general, [however,] domestic koi are a lot stronger and more disease-resistant than the Japanese imports, so beginner hobbyists will have much better success with domestic koi.”

According to Joe Pawlak, president of Blackwater Creek Koi Farms Inc. in Eustis, Fla., the trend is going toward more U.S.-raised fish versus imported fish. He also sees increased demand for goldfish that look like koi.

“We have a sanke gold and a black opal shubunkin; you would swear they were koi,” said Pawlak, who is working on trademarks. “We debuted them at Koi America. They are in limited supply right now.”

Due to their flaming American colors of red, white and blue, the sanke gold were chosen for a ride on the Atlantis space shuttle mission in July 2011. The fish were part of a project comparing the development of eggs in microgravity to eggs developed on the ground.

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Diary of a wholesale fish farmer (part 1)

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Sales Team

Is it possible to be a non-blogging blogger? An anti-facebook facebooker? A don’t know how to send a tweet twitter-user? Not sure how to navigate YouTube YouTuber? Well, Ozark has made some changes over the past several months, (because we were a ’non-social networking’ company) and have joined the land of living. We now have frequent updates on facebook, twitter and write an occasional blog about our fantastic koi for sale and goldfish for sale.

I don’t log onto to facebook to see who’s dating who or find out what my ex-boyfriend from 8th grade is doing these days, but I do add updates occasionally about what’s on my mind, koi specials and company news. I also log on to see what others are posting on their pages. Sometimes we need to be reminded of what our pet store and garden center customers are dealing with on a day-to-day basis. A quick way to do just that is through social networking.

You are updating YouTube with goldfish and koi for sale in our tanks on the day the video is uploaded. If you see fish you like in the videos, be sure to call as we have more koi or goldfish available, as the videos are a representation of thousands of koi in stock. Click the link below to see a video on our youtube channel ozarkkoi.

Large Koi and Butterfly Koi for Sale

SO, I’m encouraging you to not only follow us on twitter, like us on facebook and read our blog but to comment on our posts. We want your opinion. Correction—we need your opinion in order to better serve you.

 

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Wholesale Goldfish and Koi Offered for 100 Day Specials

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Sales Team

April 9, 2012 is the 100th day of 2012, and what an exciting day to celebrate. With an abundance of koi and pond size goldfish to sell, be sure to call our office to find out what deals await you.

Ozark is continually updating our inventory with new deals and specials, as well as current availability. Do you receive our weekly lists? If not, you are missing out on some FINtastic deals.

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Crayfish Ban in Missouri!

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Sales Team

Crayfish ban in Missouri!

The Missouri Department of Conservation has banned the sale of crayfish in the state of Missouri effective March 31, 2012. The enforcement of this ban has been postponed until September, 2012.

The Missouri Department of Conservation is now giving everyone an opportunity to express your concerns over banning the sale of live crayfish for bait, pets or feeders in the state.

There will be a July 2012 review of the ban which means individuals and business owners now have time to contact the MDC and register your complaints.

We strongly encourage everyone to email: baitdealer@mdc.mo.gov with your concerns and impact statements.

Call us if you need any further information 573-765-3227.

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Spring has Sprung!

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Sales Team

Production Manager nesting a pond.

With the terrific weather most of the nation has been experiencing, Missouri and Indiana, the locations of our two goldfish and koi farms are no exception. This year our goldfish are spawning and babies are hatching earlier than usual. What does this mean for you our customer? NEW baby fish are right around the corner. With the unusually cold spring we had last year and the very hot summer, raising a good crop of goldfish and koi for many of us fish farmers across the nation was a challenge last year. From fish that would not spawn to brooders who couldn’t take the heat it was a challenging year.

Goldfish spawning at Ozark Fisheries!

So to say that we are thrilled about an early spawn is putting it mildly. You probably do not know this but Ozark Fisheries has to plant probably ten times more fish then we need to have enough fish to sell you. The goldfish predators are eating more than their fair share daily.  We feed frogs, turtles, otters, snakes, herons, sea gulls, cormorants and Eagles on a minute by minute basis. We are constantly fighting Mother Nature for our share of something to sell to you our customer.

The warm temperatures and the early spawn are a very welcomed event this year after such a problematic year last year. But then again I guess that is why they call this fish farming. We are just farmers, man against the elements trying to produce a good crop of goldfish and koi for you to have to sell to your customers this spring and summer. Just like the many farmers across the nation are planting their crops we are doing the same. We will watch them grow, treat them if they get sick and hope we have a nice long growing season this year.

We are waiting by the phones to take your order so we can empty out the ponds of last year’s fish and make room for the new crop. Keep us in mind for all your pond needs this year. Our shubunkins, red/white common, and koi are some of the best in the country! Give us a call RIGHT NOW!

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Find a Lucky Deal at Ozark

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Sales Team

Find lucky deals on goldfish and koi at Ozark FisheriesWhen I picked my boys up at the sitter’s Monday afternoon, my oldest brought me a four-leaf clover he had found. In my few decades of searching, my luck has not been so lucky to find a single four-leaf clover, so you can imagine my excitement when he presented me with his treasure.

In all the hustle and bustle of getting the kiddos in the car, making it home and doing our nightly chores I kind of forgot about the special little clover. When we got in the car the next morning, there it was, all shriveled up to nothing. I didn’t have the heart to tell Garrett until I picked him up yesterday evening that his four leaf clover was no more.

His words to me were, “no worries, mom. I found two more today.” I had to pick my jaw up from the ground! How could Garrett be so lucky? Or is it that Garrett just has an eye for clover hunting? As the old saying goes, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Garrett has an eye for clover hunting, just as I have an eye for gorgeous goldfish and koi. And let me tell you, we have some extremely beautiful large red fantails in stock this week. If you have a need for any 5” red fans, now is the time to buy, as their availability will be limited this season.

Look forward to hearing from soon…

Happy St. Pat’s Day,

Becca

 

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