raising fish for food? Update #109!!

[maizey]

This has crossed my mind too...I am so daunted though. Good to see all the info on it, will make for some good winter reading. Thanks for sharing all!

 

[awesomefowl]

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.

Thanks a lot!!! but what exactly do I need to buy? (other than the fingerlings!)

1. Pool(s)
2. Filter? What kind?
3. Heater. Ditto? ^
4. Duckweed. Where can I get it?

Is that all? Sorry, I sound rather uninformed. Which I am.

Thank you again!!!!!!!!!!!!! BYCers are the best!

 

[Wifezilla]

Last year I successfully raised rosy minnows in a pond and had a great duckweed culture. Excess minnows and duckweed was used to feed my ducks.

Then Lexus escaped the pen along with 2 of her ducklnigs and ate EVERYTHING.

We started it all up again, then hubby decided to "save water" and drained the hot tub in to the pond. Of course everything died. So I gave up for the season but will be doing it again next year.

I have a biofilter, a plant system (grew melons, ground cherries, basil in it), etc... and think I have things pretty down pat on how to keep a pond clean naturally so I have been giving thought to raising fish.

Where do you guys get your stock?

And lobsters? REALLY? Must have more details!!!

 

[jasonm11]

Quote:
good luck

 

[centrarchid]

The 300-gallon setup presented by OP will require considerable modifications to support any fish production worth harvesting. Merging with hydroponics certainly a wise consideration. Biggest real problem beyond pond shape not being optimal is that such a pond will get fished hard once you fish biomass increases beyond that of an ornamental pond.

If serious, then using another culture volume / tank / pond that is larger and more readily adaptible to fish should be considered.


I have worked with tilapia and work with bluegill in tanks and ponds now. Former more suitable for confined production with cheaper feeds but you need to determine what permits are required for your area. Also heating can be very expensive and is seldom practical in an outdoor setting.

 

[Omniskies]

The lobsters are fantastic. Economical, they are not. But it's lobster - who cares?

I can raise them in stock tanks over the summer on algae, bugs, and a little fish food. You can let them grow for the entire warm season and have actual lobsters (albeit, modestly sized lobsters), or do two harvests in the summer and collect them at roughly the size of a jumbo crayfish. I can get 300-500+ babies per mother, per clutch. If we assume that even 100 of those live that is close to 100lbs of lobster in a year.

As for sending tilapia to California, I would have been happy to do it had you not mentioned it was illegal. Not to encourage any bad behavior, but most places who ship out tilapia don't look at the state ordinances. All they do is make sure you know that you're the one in trouble if it comes into your state and is taken away. So as long as no one opens the box...

I understand their concerns, though. You may not do anything stupid, but what is to say that your neighbor won't? Just because I wouldn't release tilapia into native waters doesn't mean that the moron who buys 100 fry from me doesn't get fed up with raising fish and dumps them all in the creek.

Currently I don't have any pictures of how things are set up on my end. As it gets closer to spring I'll have more of a layout. I wish I could take better pictures of my tank. My fish are camera shy and in order to avoid having their picture taken, they get all excited and move around a whole lot so they always come out blurry.

 

[M To The Maxx]

This whole thread is influencing me lol.

 

[Farmerman]

Quote:
If you are talking common carp, more specifically israeli or mirror carp the selections used for food production, they are VERY comparable to tilapia in all ways. Both are omnivores. Both will also acquire a poor taste depending on their water quality and food sources. Both will eat anything if they have no choice, and both prefer plants. Both are easy to breed. Those specific selections I mentioned will grow a bit faster and much much larger then tilapia. Carp got a bad name after being put in the wild in the states, they get a poor taste in the wild. Tilapia do as well, they fit a very similar niche in their native ranges. Both of them taste much different depending on diet and water quaility. Common carp are one of the most consumed fish in the world. In good water with a diet leaning towards plants, they taste better then tilapia, imo. Tilapia are kinda bland. The friend who turned me onto them has these carp, and 5 or 6 types of tilapia. Carp are much more cold tolerant, so a heater isn't needed, as long as there is water that isn't frozen they are fine, even if the pond is frozen over, although if you have high densities its best to keep it from freezing over or oxygen levels drop to much. They also live longer, and breed better with age. Like tilapia the carp can handle lower quality water and breath on the surface, not that you want either one to do so in a production set up, but both can, carp is a bit better at both actually. Tilapia are also low in omega 3s, especially if your not feeding them a diet high in them. The carp do not have that problem.

So tilapia is certainly a very good choice, but don't write of mirror/israeli common carp, in fact they beat the tilapia in a few areas. Also don't confuse the common carp with the other more recent introductions to the states. (the silvers, bigheads, black and grass) only in maine are they regulated, although you cant release them in most states. That holds true of tilapia which is more regulated, by the way. Personally I have some of both!!!!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Here is a good source for fish
http://www.zettsfishhatchery.com/
We've bought most types they raise over the years.
I haven't seen it lately but their catalog used to have lots of good info in it.

 

[sydney13]

I was thinking of starting out with channel catfish, bullhead catfish, grass carp and bluefin (25 of each type of fish) because they seem like they are pretty easy to raise. would I be able to raise the catfish with the bluegills and carp or would they eat them?
What would you guys say would be the best size fish to start out with?
right now in our pond we have small, probably about 20 gallon per hour pump that pumps the water up the stream. When you install a bio filter, does it come with a built in pump or would I need to buy a stronger pump? and what about a skimmer box, do you also need to buy a separate pump for that or do they all use the same pump?
What hatcheries do you guys get your fish from? Do you ever have a problem with the fish overpopulating the pond or is it pretty easy to keep it fished out?