raising fish for food? Update #109!!

[sydney13]

Im starting to think that tilapia might be the best choice for me (if I got a heater) because of all the plants in our pond. The surface is covered in duck weed (not very pretty) and the water is filled with green slim (not pretty either). What worries me is if the fish are not able to swim in the water due to the green slim? As I said before, I would clean it out but I have a feeling it will grow back

so, do you think the fish would enjoy hiding in the slim and eating it or would they not survive with it?
another thing i was wondering is, what types of fish can live together? Ive read that catfish will stay on the bottom while they clean out the muck and not bother other types of fish. Do you think I could have multiple types of fish in the pond or is it best to start out with only one type of fish?

 

[WIChookchick]

Where I keep my chickens and horses, the house basement floods every spring. We have thought that if we had the chance to buy it, we would cut a channel into the basement, for the water and raise trout. I think it would have to be perch or bluegill though. The water moves through the basement for months into summer. It apparently hasn't hurt the foundation, and they have a pipe that allows the flow of water to go out into the pasture.. the geese love it!!

I will have to take a look at Growing Power since I am in WI.

 

[Kevin565]

This website has some useful information
http://tilapiafarmingathome.com

 

[Garden Gal]

Quote:
Something to keep in mind is that areas which flood, also receive all and any "negatives" which are washed into the area... fertilzers in the lawn, chemicals off the roof shingles, etc... When building water gardens = the LAST place I'd recommend building one is in an area which floods. Don't know your whole situation, but just wanted to put that out there.

 

[sydney13]

Ive been doing a lot of reading over the past few days and have learned a lot more.
Earlier i wrote my pond was 300 gallons, well that was just a estimate and way off. I did the calculations after measuring it and its more like 650 gallons.

I plan on going to the pond store this spring and getting a oxygen pump to add more oxygen to the water. Also I will get a heater because so the water will not freeze and will be warm enough for tilpilia.
As you can see in the picture we have a stream with a pump that pumps water back up and then down the stream into the pond. I was thinking that this could be used to make a bog filter with plants to clean the water.
So anyway, i was wonder can catfish and tilpilia co exist together?

 

[Bossroo]

Have you calculated what your power costs will be for running the pump plus the oxygen pump, plus the heater ? You have tons of leaves (photo), which is not too good for the nitrogen cycle and oxygen levels. The frogs will eat the introduced small fish. The catfish will eat the tilapia and the frogs then the 'gator ( in the photo) will eat the catfish. Such is the cycle of life !

 

[sydney13]

Ok so ive been doing a lot of research and from what ive read it seems that biofilters are inexpensive and very effective?, right? Do you think the water quality would be good enough for fish if I installed a biofilter? Im also thinking that putting smaller rocks and more plants into the stream would help to improve the water and remove some of the waste. In our pond we have a problem with blanket weed (it has invaded the pond and will not stop growing

) so would you guys recommend installing UV sterilizes to get rid of it?
I know i keep asking this but, how many fish could I stock in a 650 gallon? I was thinking I could raise the tilapia through the late spring, summer and early fall months when it is warm enough for them, then harvest them and stock the pond with channel catfish who I would raise through the winter (with a pond heater). So any way, does this sound like a reasonable plan?

 

[sydney13]

bump

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

I think you could do that, but maybe since it is a pond and you could have unforeseen issues, like the leaves, start by setting it all up first then introduce carp or bluegill first for one season, which aren't nearly as delicate as tilapia and then you don't have to have a heater at all. See how that goes and that way you can "tweak" your set-up as needed with a very hardy fish and not have to worry about losing your whole batch.

As stated before the stocking density is 1/4 lb of fish per gallon. If you had full grown 1 pound fish in there you could have roughly 150 fish. I wouldn't go over that, and make sure you have a really good filter just in case.

Biofilters are very cheap and yes they do work well. We made ours out of a 5 gallon bucket. The only thing you have to be careful of is to NEVER wash them out with hose or tap water, and chlorine or chloramines will kill all the good bacteria you've tried so hard to establish. We never clean ours unless it gets filled up with algae, which is VERY rare.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

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

I'm slow

Taken me weeks to respond

I plan on raising catfish in mine. Water quality has to be decent for most fish, but I think it depends on the species of fish you put in too. Catfish require different things than bass I believe....could be wrong, still researching. By harvest properly I mean get enough out at a time, and if you want them to grow and reproduce naturally, you have to harvest more naturally, instead of just plain farming fish. A pond you can do natural, not sure about a pool.