Fish in a barrel ?

[||Downhome||]

not sure where to put this since its not covered in the livestock boards

well I want to add some fish to the menu. Nothing to extravegant. My first notion was channel cats but I remembered something about tilapia. Well
the more I read the more Im sure its tilapia I want to raise. Ive got some
Ideas for the feed whole different story. Anyone else doing this? Since I'm
located in the north and tilapia are a tropical fish my idea is to sink one of those huge water tanks in the ground below the frost line (temp is pretty study 50-55 degrees year round and it looks like you need at least 60 degrees for grow out)
maybe one like this http://www.plastic-mart.com/class.php?item=90
and use a greenhouse and some hydro beds to filter and warm the water.
but from all I read I could keep the breeders in a fifty five gal tank in the house and produce plenty of fry. I also know with fish space,temp,oxegen and food greatly affect growth rate. Heres the problem I am haveing a hard
time locating stock little confused as to the best stock also. I dont want to
spend a fortune on fish I may kill accidently or by trial and error. some one know of a good hatchery or reputable breeder that isnt going to cost a fortune (ive found fish but they want hundreds to thousands) I would like the species that has the most body mass.(wich looks like the nile tilapia)
thanks for any input!

[65284]

If you want Nile Tilapia here are some much cheaper than you quoted. http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/aucti...dso&1234896016

[hotzcatz]

They sell the gold tilapia at our local pet shop. It's the same thing as what other folks raise for food, you might be able to get them from your local pet fish store, too.

Don't feed them dog chow, they taste nasty if you do that.

[Razorback21]

We do the aquaponics in a greenhouse, but we grow catfish instead of tilapia and we do it seasonally, taking off in the winter. We use the S&S ebb and flow method in our greenhouse. PM and I can tell you more about it.

[Michael Kawalek]

You might get in trouble with PETA for the false imprisonment of sea kittens!

My gut feeling is that you are better off trying to match a fish species to your environment, rather than matching the environment to the fish species. Do any of your neighbors have ponds? I'd go talk to them first for their advice. My homestead neighbor raises catfish, and it's a full time job keeping them alive in a real pond, let alone an artificial tank.
Michael

[Razorback21]

Originally Posted by Michael Kawalek

You might get in trouble with PETA for the false imprisonment of sea kittens!

My gut feeling is that you are better off trying to match a fish species to your environment, rather than matching the environment to the fish species. Do any of your neighbors have ponds? I'd go talk to them first for their advice. My homestead neighbor raises catfish, and it's a full time job keeping them alive in a real pond, let alone an artificial tank.
Michael

You know, that is exactly why we went with catfish vs. tilapia. Catfish grow out quicker, can tolerate cooler water, eliminating the need to heat, and are easy to train to fish food and worms. The one drawback, however, is oxygen use. The O2 level in the water needs to be at a high level constantly and any system failure can lead to death loss.

[sugarbush]

Breeder tilapia will cost you hundreds of dollars. The pet industy sells males because they are brightly colored. The food industry grow males because they grow faster so they reach butcher size sooner. So the big question is what happens to all the females? The answer is that as fry, they get treated with hormones that converts them to male. It is called sex conversion.

The fry for growing usually runs about 2.00 each Which is half the cost of a lb of tilapia at the store The cheapest I have been able to find breeding pairs is in the 2-4 hundred dollar range. Maybe if you search hard enough you could find a supplier cheaper that does not use sex conversion and if you do let me know.....I have been searching for 2 years now.

The link above for 30.00 each is actually the cheapest I have ever seen if his fish are infact not sex converted.

[65284]

Originally Posted by sugarbush

Breeder tilapia will cost you hundreds of dollars. The pet industy sells males because they are brightly colored. The food industry grow males because they grow faster so they reach butcher size sooner. So the big question is what happens to all the females? The answer is that as fry, they get treated with hormones that converts them to male. It is called sex conversion.

The fry for growing usually runs about 2.00 each Which is half the cost of a lb of tilapia at the store The cheapest I have been able to find breeding pairs is in the 2-4 hundred dollar range. Maybe if you search hard enough you could find a supplier cheaper that does not use sex conversion and if you do let me know.....I have been searching for 2 years now.

The link above for 30.00 each is actually the cheapest I have ever seen if his fish are infact not sex converted.

The price is for 3 fish, buyers choice of sex, and the seller has more available.
I doubt they have been "hormone-ized". If anyone is really interested it is a simple matter to join that forum and bid on them it"s also easy to contact the seller for additional info. It may be take a few minutes to register but if the prices quoted for Tilapia as being hundreds of $ is correct it might be time well spent.

[Beaners]

Originally Posted by 65284

The price is for 3 fish, buyers choice of sex, and the seller has more available.
I doubt they have been "hormone-ized". If anyone is really interested it is a simple matter to join that forum and bid on them it"s also easy to contact the seller for additional info. It may be take a few minutes to register but if the prices quoted for Tilapia as being hundreds of $ is correct it might be time well spent.

I had weaned myself off of aquabid before we moved, since we had to break down all of our tanks. Now I have another reason to browse there again. My husband is not going to like this!

Kayleigh

[cindy-e]

Originally Posted by Razorback21

We do the aquaponics in a greenhouse, but we grow catfish instead of tilapia and we do it seasonally, taking off in the winter. We use the S&S ebb and flow method in our greenhouse. PM and I can tell you more about it.

NOOOOOO!!!! Please respond onlist! We want to know! :-)

Cindyc.

[phrogpharmer]

My farm is next to a tilapia farm that produces about 300,000 lbs. of fish a year. I takes one hard working guy with a part time helper to do it.
Tilapia are a wonderful species to raise for food. They are a very popular species for subsistance farming in the third world. There are more tilapia raised for food world wide than any other species. You can get info to purchase and raise tilapia at aquanic.org. Make sure your recirc system is fully operational before you get your fish. Tilapia will die below 60 degrees and won't grow very fast below 75 degrees.
Happy farming
Phrogpharmer

[Trixters_muse]

I am researching this myself and I am currently preparing one of my existing small ponds to experiment with Tilapia.

I suggested on another thread some time back that the moderators consider creating a forum for Aquaponics/fish raising but I don't know if anyone ever saw it. I guess maybe I should have sent in a suggestion to the main site.

I think it would be great to have a forum dedicated to this subject. There seems to be a lot of interest and there are a few people here who have raised fish, crayfish and even freshwater shrimp and many that are at least interested in the subject.

[sugarbush]

I seconded an aquaponics request I while ago and second again!

Another side note on the aquarium ciclids. Make sure you don't get a dwarf talapia species if you do buy from an aquarium source.... That would be some small filets

[Razorback21]

Originally Posted by cindy-e

NOOOOOO!!!! Please respond onlist! We want to know! :-)

Cindyc.

Cindy,
Like I told Linebacker, It is a lot of long detail like stuff and I feel like I'm a student helping another student, not a real expert. It also can get a little boring to read for most folks. I will forward the PMs I have sent to Linebacker, how about that?

[cindy-e]

Originally Posted by Razorback21

Cindy,
Like I told Linebacker, It is a lot of long detail like stuff and I feel like I'm a student helping another student, not a real expert. It also can get a little boring to read for most folks. I will forward the PMs I have sent to Linebacker, how about that?

I got 'em. Thank you so much! I really appreciate it and learned a ton. :-)

Cindyc.

[Blair]

A couple of sites that may be of interest to growing fish for food is:

Barrelponics

Backyard Aquaponics

[Just Cliff]

I am interested in the same thing. I have gathered a good deal of information including "fish in a barrel" I am going to build my own tanks to raise fish in. I also have bought some 8' in diameter 3' deep kid swimming pools to experiment with. I have seen pictures on a site of people raising fish in them. I think its the Aquaticeco site. I also have several articles on fish farming and a catfish handbook from MSU that I can send via e-mail if you like. I do have other stuff but not on this computer. I would like to stay in contact though and swap ideas with you.

Here are some links:
http://www.kurtsaxon.com/ Under the Survival foods section. An article from 1973 about raising fish in a barrel
http://www.aquaticeco.com/ Supplies and ideas
http://www.socalfishfarm.com/fish/ Nice site, Good ideas

[fantasymaker]

There have been some interesting threads here about prawns have you looked into them?

[||Downhome||]

well this did get alot of interest didnt it.
well I sure do appreciate all the input lots of good stuff. I really liked your link
Phrogpharmer lots of reading there been pop back and forth to it all day.

Ok rethink on the tanks I'm now settled on concrete and a slew of other ideas
dont want to share just yet. but I figure I can put in a 10'x6'x5' raceway/tank
concrete and cinder block for around $600 bucks. I just need to figure out the green house now.

[sugarbush]

Originally Posted by ||Downhome||

I figure I can put in a 10'x6'x5' raceway/tank
concrete and cinder block for around $600 bucks. I just need to figure out the green house now.

You could rent forms and pour a concrete tank probably for half that.