Got this link from bearridgeproject,
http://tilapiafarmingathome.com/default.aspx
Ever thought about growing your own tilapia? What about a hydroponic system along with your tilapia farm? Well, this site shows you how to breed, grow and generally raise tilapia.
This is something I have been interested in, but couldn't find a good source for the fish themselves, these people sell breeder colonies, one male and six females. They seem to really care about what they are doing, I think it's because they are not a huge corporation, they are a still small enough to care about their business, their customers and their tilapia.
Wretha
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Good stuff. Have you checked out Kurt Saxon's riff on catfish in a barrel? Auburn U. in AL has an aquaculture program in which they will sell tilapia from their fish farms. Don't know if they sell live fish, but a lot of the poorer (middle class) people buy the crop for food.
ReplyDeleteBe aware that this requires permits (of course!) in the great state of Texas. Tilapia are an exotic species, and there are strict controls to prevent their release into natural habitat. And if you do get permitted, you WILL be visited, and inspected, FREQUENTLY by TPWD. And I am willing to bet that the permitting process is a royal, expensive, pain in the........
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I would be brave enough to try this, but it looks like an excellent protein source, which can be difficult to come by (at least in terms of variety) when it comes to storage. "Live storage" would definitely be an asset in difficult times. Thanks for including the link for more info!
ReplyDeleteGreenterry
ReplyDeleteWow, I used to visit that site, had lost track of it, thanks for the reminder!
Mayberry
I was thinking about that, and I was thinking about how to get some fish for breeding stock, maybe I could get some live fish from one of the asian markets, I know they love talapia, and have it fresh and alive, that may be a good source...
Marie
I don't know why anyone would need to be brave to raise fish? It's no different from raising any other animals (for food), in fact probably easier in a lot of ways. I'm glad you enjoyed the link, it was good info, better than any other site I have visited to date.
Wretha
I guess it would be better to say that I would have to be relatively sure that I wouldn't kill the fish before they were edible to start something like this, and "brave" enough to invest the money necessary for the whole operation, even with that kind of failure as a possibility. I have more experience with land-based animals, (though not as food) so it would take more "courage" on my part to undertake this kind of project.
ReplyDeleteI like knowing different possiblities, however, and more knowledge leads to more options. Thanks again for the information!
Looking into aquaponics system with chicken coop over tilapia tank. Have you tried this?
ReplyDeletebluegrassxj, yeah, I have heard about that before, but honestly the thought of eating fish that directly ate chicken poo doesn't sound appetizing, I also have to wonder how healthy that would be for the fish, chicken poo is pretty "hot" stuff, I'd much rather compost the chicken poo separately and adding it to the garden soil. There would be plenty of nutrients in the fish water without having chicken poo to use in a hydroponics system. Thanks for the comment though, keep 'em coming! :)
ReplyDeleteTilapia are crap eaters, period. Many fish farms use them to clean up their effluent....
ReplyDeleteMayberry, yeah, I've heard that too, but still... I guess it would work, I know that they eat just about anything. I suppose if you kept things in balance, not too many chickens vs the tilapia, it would work.
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