fish farming

[momma_to_seven_chi]

Has anyone had any experience raising fish to consume? What kind of tank and pump did you use?
We raised koi for many years in a large ornamental tank in the basement. But I read an article on fish farming that sparked our interest.
You can buy stocking fish each spring for ponds. I wonder if you could use those to just stock a horse tank or pool to grow for later use? Would you set it up with a swimming pool filter?
I wonder if that is even legal or if it would be subject to rules of how many you could harvest at what size.

[johnjmw]

I only have second hand info. My Aunt and Uncle use to have a fish farm. Instead of buying stock they harvested from a 5 acre pond on their property. They baited the water then skeined the minnows, sorted then stocked the ponds with them. Bass, trout and catfish were the main ones they raised. To circulate the water they used a water pump to pull from the lake. From there it was a gravity fed system through all the ponds and fed back to the lake at the end.
The ponds were about 6' x 12' but I can not tell you how deep they were and were just dug into the ground. I don't know if they were lined at all but I don't think so The pump was a bilge style pump I thought with a two or three inch line. The pipes were set up so they aerated the water as it fell into each pond and were screened at each pond at both the entrance and exit. All the pipes were run underground
John

PS if I understand correctly on your own property there are no rules on fishing. Size, type of fish or limits.

[EarthMother]

catfish need deep water. They are bottom feeders. They don't seem to like extremely hot weather. If you are thinking about raising them inside, I would keep the tempture in the barn or where ever to about 70 F. In the winter in a pond they go to the bottom to get away from the frozen water. I'm not all that familiar with other fish. You can get a good amount of information from your county agent if you have one, mother earth news on line, just look up raising food fish, catfish farming, or find a farm store and see if anyone in your area is doing this.
I would think you could use a realy large stock tank from spring thru fall but I wouldn't try it in the winter. Keep your tank in a cool place and shaded during the heat of the summer. I'm no expert on any of this but I was raised in Okla. and my older sister and her husband raised catfish in ponds that is the main reason I know anything. Good Luck in what ever you decide to do.

[Wyzyrd]

These folks in Australia - (backyardaquaponics.com) (http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/) have a lot of good info on small-scale fish farming, combined with using hydroponic plants as a filter medium - food fish + food plants from 1 tank :)