Fish??

[BACOG]

Anybody raising them on their homestead? Any tips?

I thought of doing it here but the land would be very hard to put a pond on. So the only alternative would be to raise them in a tank. It could be done I guess.

[farmerDale]

We have raised rainbow trout in our dugout. A dugout is a man made reservoir, often 300 feet by 100 feet by 14 to 18 feet deep. They are usually used for supplementing the well for livestock...

We usually put in 200 or so 4 inch fingerlings in the spring, and harvested 1 pound trout at freeze up in the fall. Mortality was usually 10-20 %. No feed required, these long established dugouts are alive with small crustaceans, insect larvae etc.

We netted them in the fall, and angled for them a bit as well. The thing is here, they would die out due to lack of oxygen during the winter when we get 4 feet of ice. Some have done well aerating their dugouts. A few reports of 4 and 6 pounders in well aerated dugouts after several years.

A dugout here now costs around 2000-5000 bucks to build. Back in the day, they were probably a quarter that.

[BACOG]

Where did you get your fingerlings?

[farmerDale]

We have a few private fish hatcheries up here that sell to the fish and game associations for supplemental stocking, as well as a large government run hatchery a couple hours from here.

[haypoint]

Aquaculture is a growing industry. Takes a lot of fresh water or filtering systems.
Just like most other things, if you have a rare advantage that puts you ahead of the crowd, it could be a great deal for you.
Some folks have tried Tilapia, in greenhouses, using the water to fertilize plants. You can grow a few fish, but you won't be able to supply a market with fish.

[BACOG]

I just want to produce them for my family & I. Thinking along the lines of producing all of our own food.

[Warwalk]

I wish there was actually a section (just as for poultry, swine, cows, goats, etc) for Aquaculture, as there is a huge amount of interest in it.

@Haypoint ~ I'm glad you brought up the tilapia, as it seems to be one of the "fish of the future". Fast breeding in warm water, almost like rabbits, and with a good taste (though they die en masse when water gets the least bit tepid and have a high "bad" cholesterol content from what I've heard). I think that fish farming could be made profitable, but just like any profession the devil's in the details. Catching catfishies from a pond is a far different endeavor from harvesting thousands of pounds of prime fishies from a holding pond, but I think it just takes additional education and a great deal more time involvement and knowhow than alot of farmers wish to input. Personally, I'd love to do this. My ideal would be a whole series of climate controlled "racetracks" with a variety of fish harvested monthly, regardless of outdoor temperature, fed with dirt cheap fish feed, and for the waste product to ultimately create some of the most succulent and flavorful of vegetables. I'm sure it's a holy grail of sorts, but I also think we're getting closer to this every day...

[Otter]

I have seen them raised quite nicely in an above-ground pool. Just modify the filter a bit and be prepared to flush it often.

I am trying to convince DH to let me do raise some trout in our pool over winter. He's seen it work too, he's just afraid he'll have to eat them. Who except him doesn't love trout?? ;D

[haypoint]

Originally Posted by BACOG

I just want to produce them for my family & I. Thinking along the lines of producing all of our own food.

I think that when you do the math, it won't be worth the trouble.
How much fish would you and the family eat in a year?

Let's say you want one meal a week and you need 3 pounds of fish for a meal. That's aabout 150 pounds of fish. There isn't a lot of waste in fish, so figure 200 pounds of live weight. Feed them every day or buy a fish feeder. The conversion rate on most fissh is about 4 or 5 pounds of feed to a pound of growth. Now, we are up to a ton of feed, cost of fingerlings, a wait of a year or two, maintaining a pond, and regular feeding chores.

I can't get too excited about raising fish, but I'm within a mile of one of the Great Lakes and 50 miles from two other Great Lakes in a state with thousands of naatural rivers, streams, lakes and ponds.

There is a guy in Las Vegas that raises high quality shrimp, in tanks, that he sells locally.

[K.B.]

Originally Posted by haypoint

I think that when you do the math, it won't be worth the trouble.

That is my concern with raising fish.. and all livestock, actually. I love the idea of raising different types of aquatic critters, but unless most of the system was self-sustaining (flow-through creek diversion into a pond/tank/raceway/etc..), it could add up in cost and time pretty quickly.

Our area has nice access to trout, steelhead and salmon, but it would be nice to have a bit better idea on the quality of the fish. I expect pollution to get worse every year.

In addition to eating fish in fillet form, I'd like to raise one that cans well and eventually a type that can be fermented into a salty sauce (similar to asian style fermented fish paste/sauce) for cooking and kimchi.

[dancingfatcat]

Theirs a guy on another site that does this. He grows fish in barrels and uses the water for his garden on a continuous filtering cycle. Pretty amazing stuff. I'll see if I can his site and post it for you.

[solidwoods]

Originally Posted by haypoint

Aquaculture is a growing industry. Takes a lot of fresh water or filtering systems.
Just like most other things, if you have a rare advantage that puts you ahead of the crowd, it could be a great deal for you.
Some folks have tried Tilapia, in greenhouses, using the water to fertilize plants. You can grow a few fish, but you won't be able to supply a market with fish.

The higher profit business models for aquaponics look to be for the vegs not the fish. A prime bouquet of lettuce may wholesale for $1. and may take 6wk to grow, a prime Tilipia may wholesale for $2 and take 8mo to grow.

A summer time set up for aquaponic grow beds which take water from the dugout or any body of water can greatly increase the yields. Gets too cold so you pull the fish,, then pull the vegs and shut'er all down for the winter.
Or move it to your greenhouse.
jim

[pancho]

One way to come out ahead is aquaponics. Use the water again and again.
Just run it through some gravel beds and return it to the fish tank.
Put plants in the gravel beds. It is very easy to produce the same amount in a small space as it is to raise it in a large garden. Less work also.
Many areas it is possible to raise a garden year round.
Fish whenever you want fish and fresh vegetables whenever you want them.

[fantasymaker]

Yes I have many thousands of GOLDFISH in my pond!

[dancingfatcat]

On Homesteading.org, there was a man, owlsgarden and he did some amazing things with aquaponics and fish (he hasn't been on that site in a few years). He also made a set up for a food bank, co op in Oklahoma city. I sent him a message regarding more information. He also gives classes to the community on raising fish. I will keep you posted. Too bad I can't figure out how to post the pic's, they are amazing!!!!

[haypoint]

Originally Posted by K.B.

That is my concern with raising fish.. and all livestock, actually. I love the idea of raising different types of aquatic critters, but unless most of the system was self-sustaining (flow-through creek diversion into a pond/tank/raceway/etc..), it could add up in cost and time pretty quickly.

Our area has nice access to trout, steelhead and salmon, but it would be nice to have a bit better idea on the quality of the fish. I expect pollution to get worse every year.

In addition to eating fish in fillet form, I'd like to raise one that cans well and eventually a type that can be fermented into a salty sauce (similar to asian style fermented fish paste/sauce) for cooking and kimchi.

I'm close to Lake Superior and that water is some of the cleanest in the world, and cold. Suckers that live in Lake Superior, go up small streams in the spring to spawn. Easy to catch then. They can be caned with a touch of vinegar and the bones desolve just like canned salmon. I'd never eat a sucker from any other location.
The local Natives can fish the Great Lakes without restrictions and I can buy Whitefish or Lake Perch for a buck a pound, in the round, from them.

[jwal10]

I have bluegill and Largemouth bass in the pond and yellow perch in the greenhouse in black rubbermaid stock tanks with floating foam grow beds. Yellow perch work better than tilapia here because of cooler water. Very quick to fillet. Nice solid meat. We have fish 2-3 times a week....James

[Warwalk]

It's too bad the kinds of fishies I'd like to raise can't be raised using aquaponics (like ahi tuna or red snapper... yum!). It seems that the fish that ~can~ be raised are extremely geographically specific - so you probably couldn't do catfish or tilapia up north, and we likewise would have a tough time raising trout or salmon down south. I wonder what some of the more "exotic" edible species might be out there?

[dancingfatcat]

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I hope this video works........awesome!

[K.B.]

Originally Posted by Warwalk

It's too bad the kinds of fishies I'd like to raise can't be raised using aquaponics (like ahi tuna or red snapper... yum!). It seems that the fish that ~can~ be raised are extremely geographically specific - so you probably couldn't do catfish or tilapia up north, and we likewise would have a tough time raising trout or salmon down south. I wonder what some of the more "exotic" edible species might be out there?

Jade Perch from Australia for aquapoinics sound very interesting with their higher oil content:
http://aquaponicsjournal.com/docs/ar...in-Omega-3.pdf