raising fish for food? Update #109!!

[mississippifarmboy]

Darn it whitemountainsranch, you changed your avatar! lol I've been searching all over BYC and you were here on this thread all along. I couldn't remember you name, but I remembered your my page, 'cause it was so interesting.

oh well, i'll go away now.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Haha thank you! I actaully changed my avatar and my name, so don't feel bad...

... but these are here to stay! Thank you everyone, I'm glad you like my site so much!

 

[Garden Gal]

Quote:
We didn't add the UV for water quality - but rather to prevent / control parasites. We have a large bog with plants, waterfall, long stream and exterior aireator/air stones, so the water quality is not an issue. (As you know, the UV sterilzer has no effect on on aeration - only on either water clarity (kills suspended algae) or when supplied in high enough wattage - kills any parasites in their free-floating stages.)

It is good / encouraging to hear that your set up is working so efficiently.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

I just did a quick search on it and it seems Koi are very vulnerable to parasites where Tilapia are not...

Tilapia tolerate adverse water quality and other stressors better than most other commercial aquaculture species. Because stress and environmental quality play such important roles in the disease process, tilapia are labeled as being very "disease-resistant." This basically means that in the presence of pathogens, tilapia are the last to break with disease.

As a result, tilapia growers worldwide did not historically practice clean culture methods. Moreover, they did not generally implement the biosecurity measures that had become standard in industries that grew less disease-resistant fish such as trout and salmon.

I do know that UV sterilizers are used for parasites and algae etc, other than the fact that tilapia eat algae I see no reason not to use one, if one was so inclined.​

 

[Garden Gal]

Quote:
I do know that UV sterilizers are used for parasites and algae etc, other than the fact that tilapia eat algae I see no reason not to use one, if one was so inclined.

Which is exactly why I wanted to "pick your brain"!!

I am definitely in the very early learning stage of raising fish as a food source and sincerely appreciate your input. My beautiful koi, in their way too large pond, just might be finding a new home... I love Tilapia.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Just make sure the water doesn't get below 50* and (ideally higher than that for growth), and make sure you have some sort of good biological filter, and a steady supply of plant food as they are vegetarian only. As long as you have those I don't see why you wouldn't be able to grow them! Keep in mind it *can* take a while for them to mature, warm water (80*F) = 6 months, although you could process at a smaller weight, but what would be the point.

 

[Garden Gal]

Quote:
The temperature issue may require I grow them in stock tanks rather than the "koi" pond, since I am not willing to heat a pond of that size.

I'd be interested in your input on this article, which says they also eat worms/termites, blah, blah, blah....

http://www.agribusinessweek.com/raising-tilapia-in-your-backyard/

Thanks again! I have got to get to bed now and TRY to get this out of my brain.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

The website seems pretty good. The only thing I don't agree on is the feeding methods. While tilapia are technically Omnivores [eats organic material, not other fish] in the wild they prefer plant material over anything else, example- they will eat all the algae out of your pond before eating the insects that drop into it. I think they will eat those things if hungry enough. The main reason why we feed ours plant material (besides the fast that it's cheap and easy to grow) is that it is a cleaner source of food and can be labeled as organic feed. (as long as we watch what fertz we use on them). The duckweed is super easy to grow, clean, and doesn't make the flesh of the fish taste funky.

 

[Garden Gal]

Thanks again for the info! Approximately how large is a 9 month old Tilapia? Did you build your 300 gallon stock tank? (I can't really tell in the photo.) I built a large quarantine tank years ago with landscape timbers; it was 4' x 8' x 3' and of course lined with EPDM liner. Worked great!

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

A nine month old should be around a pound and a half, therefore two 8 oz filets per fish. Our "tank" was bought, from a hydro store, I think they used to be very large fertilizer bins; but we built the growbeds. One thing you have to watch out for is that since tilapia will eat the algae off the sides they have a tendency to "pick" holes in liners.