raising fish for food? Update #109!!

[sydney13]

Im interested in raising fish in my backyard to eat. From what ive read bass and catfish seem to be easiest, correct? What type of fish do you recommend for starting with, and should i have one of multiple types of fish? I have 3 options of ponds/tanks that I could raise them in.
1. There is a 300 gallon, 3ft deep man made frog pond made with rubber liner in my front yard. This could fit the most fish and their is also a little bit of water circulation in it from a fountain and there are many oxygen plants. It is deep enough that the bottom of it dow not freeze. Their is a lot of spaces for the fish to hide to get away from raccoons although i would not mind if the raccoons did eat a few of the fish. The problem is their is a lot of this green slimy algae stuff in the water. I would try to clean this out if I was to raise fish in the pond, but I think it may just grow back. Do you think cat fish could keep the algae under control? And will I need to treat the water before I got the fish?
2. My next option would be a 30 gallon bucket. Obviously this would not hold many fish but I would be able to keep the water clean for them. I would have to provide them with all the feed unlike the pond which has lots of water bugs that the fish could eat.
3. Their is probably no possibility that this would ever work but I just want to make sure. I have a 150 gallon, 3 ft deep stock tank which duck and goose use for swimming. I clean and refill it 3 times every 2 months to get rid of the poop (they don't swim it that often). So I was wondering, would the dirty water kill the fish or would they keep it clean by eating the poop? I think most of the fish would be ok from the ducks because my ducks don't dive deep but they would probably eat a few fish.

So anyway do you think any of those set ups could house fish? I already have a worm bin so I would use that to feed the fish. how often do they fish need to be fed? Could I use oxygen plants instead of one of those oxygen machines? As you can tell I really don't know much about raising fish so could you provide me with some basic information.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

I think any of those could work so long as you harvest the fish properly. Look up aquaponics, that is what what you are wanting to do is called. I have researched it a bit and plan on growing some in an old 4 ft deep swimming pool this next year.

 

[sydney13]

Quote:
So the water quality does not matter so much? By "harvest the fish properly" do you mean at the right age and such? and what type of fish are you going to raise?
sorry for so many questions

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Here is some good info to start with, we raise fish...

http://whitemountainsranch.webs.com/aquaponics.htm

 

[Robo]

I would start out with catfish. As far as the water goes I would clean out the algae and fertilize it. That should keep it pretty clean.

 

[Garden Gal]

I've had aquariums all my life and a koi pond for the past 20 - 25 years. My current pond is 28'x18'x3.5' deep. It has a skimmer and a large bog filter.

There is no way you can raise fish for food in a 30 gallon bucket. I've used stock tanks before to grow up koi fry until they are large enough to go in the pond, but you would be limited severely on how many fish you could grow to maturity in a 150 gallon stock tank. ANY tank you use is going to need a good filtration system to manage the ammonia produced by the fish (through their gills and vents). You could do this with either a biological filter or a "veggie" (bog) filter - using plants and gravel.

Oxygen is critical; the more fish you have, the more oxygen you need. Plants DO provide oxygen during the day, but they consume it at night, so there are so many variables involved as to whether or not they would work without being supplemented.

The pond you have out front might work with some improvements (oxygenation, etc...). The green algae is not necessary a bad thing; it is unsightly but the fish actually prefer it. Cat fish will eat anything they can get in their mouths - big ones will absolutely be able to eat a small / medium sized bass.

I'd recommend going to www.koivet.com and start reading on water quality, oxygenation, filtration, etc... It is a great site with lots of information.

Best of luck!

 

[Garden Gal]

Quote:
Fertilize the pond? With what?

 

[Garden Gal]

Quote:
And there you go!! All the info by someone doing exactly what you want to do. Gotta love this forum.

Their site is a WONDERFUL place to start and will definitely show you that what you are considering can be done. It is inspiring me as we speak....

I'd still recommend the koivet site for more indepth information to piggy back on the White Mountain Ranch's site.

 

[Moabite]

I've heard that talapia are fairly easy. I don't know personally, but worth investigating.

 

[sydney13]

what type of cat fish do people raise for food? their is a large fish supplies store near us that sells fish and fish tanks, do you think a place like that would sell the types of fish you raise for food or do you need to get these from a fishery?
and what would I fertilize the water with