raising fish for food? Update #109!!

[Bossroo]

I would recommend you to find a commercial fish farm and ask your questions there.

 

[awesomefowl]

I have a question. Or two.

First is, what is the basic stuff you NEED to raise tilapia? I was just going to try using kiddie pools like in this website tilapiafarmingathome.com. I don't have a pond, and I don't think my Dad would build me one. (I'm working on goats and sheep!)
On amazon they sell 8 ft kiddie pools which is what the above website recommends. Where can I buy the other requirement? Such as a heater, filter,etc.
Second question: is it cost effective to raise duckweed (you know.... that stuff WhiteMountainRanch raises) for the tilapia as opposed to buying fish food? I really would like to try this project as we like to eat fish but don't much because of the price up here.

Third, how much work is it? Can one highschooler do MOST (I do have younger siblings who I could convince to help and my father can clean fish) is this project worth attempting?

Thanks alot! My goodness, BYCers sure do many different things! I do too though: chicken keeping opened the door to other things. The latest project is growing Shiitake and Oyster mushrooms from a kit. We shall see how that goes....

 

[fl_deb]

I maybe out of my mind, but y'all already know that so:

1) Why would you not use clear tubing in summer and black tubing in winter as your return piping so you can get "solar heating" in the winter? Or other form of solar heater as needed?

2) Does Tailapia eat water lettuce and if so does it give meat off flavor?

3) Does feeding fish guts to birds make their eggs off flavor? Meat ?


I do know that with the cold weather we have been having this winter, that many of the fish farms are devastated with losses, but most are tropical fish.

 

[silkiechicken]

This thread is interesting. Might be something I look into some day.

In the summers we go fishing for little pan fishes and they are lots of bones. I hear catfish from many public ponds and lakes taste like dirt because they spend all their time on the bottom. Haven't targeted them for that reason. Granted, in oregon where I do the fishing... the fish don't get that big and are full of bones. Unless of course you ante up for tags to get steel head or salmon, and have the 80 hours it takes to catch each fish. LOL

 

[awesomefowl]

anybody else....

 

[Omniskies]

I just started raising Blue Tilapia for food this year. We're raising the breeders in a 55 gallon aquarium inside. There is a baby tank for the fry that is also kept indoors. This spring we will be putting one or two clutches of fry in the baby tank and letting them grow for a few months indoors. Then when the weather is warmer they will be going in stock tanks outside to grow all summer. Once the weather cools off everyone will be tossed in the freezer to start the cycle again.

I've talked to someone else who was considering setting up a stock tank in their basement to raise tilapia year-round, which is an idea I kinda liked, but I don't think we need to eat quite that much food as of yet. With all of the stock tanks I have I can easily raise 100-200 tilapia in one growing season. There's only so much fish a family can eat in a year.

We're also raising Australian Redclaw Lobsters for the table (and will have babies/breeders available for sale later on this year

, as well as Briggs Snails. The snails are partially to provide additional infusoria for the fry, but we're entertaining the idea of trying escargot with the thousands of babies we're able to get and raise to "table size" in 16~ weeks. They can be tossed out in a covered tank over the summer and raised on algae. If we decide they're not edible they will be a great source of protein and calcium for the birds. Win/win.

Depending on how much time I have, I may also try raising channel catfish in stock tanks. Look up articles about raising channel cats in a 55 gallon barrel outside over the summer. It sounds easy enough.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Quote:
You need a deeper tank than a swimming pool. They will flip/ jump out. Or you can cover like 3/4 of it with a pool liner or something. remember Tilapia will eat holes in soft plastic.

You can buy all the heaters and filters off ebay or amazon or anything like that. I wouldn't go to petsmart or a store like that because they are really expensive.

Yes duckweed is cost effective, you can get it for very cheap or nearly free, you have to add nutrients to the water and under the right conditions it will double every day. (But the fish will eat a lot). Tilapia are mostly vegetarians so buying fish-food isn't very economical at all.

Yes one person can do it.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Quote:
Yes the panfish have lots of bones, that what we raise in the winter when it's too cold for tilapia. If you keep them in a clean system with clean food and water they taste just fine.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Quote:
1. We do use tubing for solar heating. You still have to have a back-up heater in case of cloudy days or if it gets really cold at night. Tilapia are pretty sensitive to the cold. If it gets under 50 they will all die.

2. Tilapia can eat water lettuce, and just about any other edible water plant. No affect on the taste.

3. Nope. Works just fine.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Quote:
I deperately want Blue Tialia here but apparently you can't have them in California- they are afraid of them getting into the river systems. I don't see how that could happen inside a tank.

Wannt send me some on the dl?

We have thought about using part of our grow bed to grow crayfish also, but I don't think they are very economical as far as how much food you get from them. Do you have pics of your set-up?

I've heard of people raising all kinds of fish in 55 gallon drums. Neat! I would just be concerned about maintaining good water quality. I would hate for the flesh to come out tasting funky.

I want to try Perch really bad too, but alas I cannot get them here either.