well i am new to the forums. my name is josh and i own a welding company and i have decided i want to start to invest my money into something else. i decided that i wanted to get into aquaculture beacuse i have allways had a love for raising fish. i live in california and i want to raise fish foor food, to the local food distribs. i wanted to start out with tilapia i know thers is farms in california that raise them but i have also hered about them being illegal. i plan to go out and buy all the stuff i need from the tanks, to the bio filters, and all the other things that i need. i was wondering if any one had any insite on the tilapia ? and what permits do i need besides a aquaculture license. thank you for your time and i hope i get some response thank you josh.
aquaculture
- Thread starter stealthops69
- Start date
stealthops69;2220521; said:
There was a seller of Tilapia on E-Bay and he said that "california legal tilapia were coming soon". They are a pretty cool mouth brooding fish but from what I have read they are not a good food fish as they have the wrong omega fatty acid concentrations.
to MFK. Sorry i cant help you. i'm sure one of our members will help u out.If you want to get into aquaculture your best bet will be contacting your local agricultural extension agent. They should be able to help you with any local laws and permits. Just a personal note, make sure that you'll be able to grow enough fish to the right size each year to actually turn a profit and see if you can find a local market or restaurant that is willing to buy from you. Nothing would be worse than being stuck with a couple thousand pounds of tilapia in a year with no place to buy them.
Good Luck!
Good Luck!
i would research the amount you can expect to produce and so forth before doing tilapia, as i see it there would be more mooney in rasing ornamentals than these food fish and i run a farm so i know a fair bit about the economics. tank raised tilapia would mean youd need a lot of tanks and filtration and thats better put toward another species.
I breed golden tilapia in hawaii. I was thinking to do it for profit but after feed and upkeep there's no profit in it. Wholesale per pound here is like $1-2 and they retail for $5 a pound. I'm paying almost $.50 a pound for the feed and they require like 2 pounds of feed for every pound of weight.
Actually finding all this out is what got me into aquaponics. There is a good forum on backyard aquaponics.com. Alot of knowledgable people doing residential setups. Also some commercial operations too. This is the future of food production (dying oceans and all that) and sort of a duh why didn't someone think of this before situation. Basically in aquaponics the fish crap and the plants use the crap and if you get the right species of fish you can feed the plants to the fish. This is where mfk is a big help. I'm looking all over the world at what other cultures eat. I'm looking for species of fish that eat alot of vegetables. So far I got giant gourami (high growth rate), kissing gourami, pacu (high growth rate), and grass carp. I'm also looking into jaguar cichlids, pike cichlids, and other piscivores that could eat all the guppies and tilapia. Some other choices are channel catfish and pangasus catfish (good eats, incredible growth rate- hard to breed w/o hormones, not really available). These are all food fishes in their native countries.
There's not too much money in the fish side (at least here in hawaii- need massive operation) but there is alot to made on the hydroponic vegetables and herbs (basil can retail for up to $9/lb.). Of course your situation might be different and there might be a huge demand for fresh fish in your area. I know alot of asian restaurants love fresh tilapia. check out china town that's what it's like here. Also, alot of top chain restaurants are carrying tilapia but the fish from asia and s. america are produced so cheaply its hard to compete. I'm focusing on the veg for profit and the fish for me.
Another tip is ebb and flow (flood and drain) operations are good for small scale operations and producing fruits while deep flow beds and nutrient film technique (nft channels) are good for producing leafy herbs and vegetables in commercial operations.
hope this helps.
Actually finding all this out is what got me into aquaponics. There is a good forum on backyard aquaponics.com. Alot of knowledgable people doing residential setups. Also some commercial operations too. This is the future of food production (dying oceans and all that) and sort of a duh why didn't someone think of this before situation. Basically in aquaponics the fish crap and the plants use the crap and if you get the right species of fish you can feed the plants to the fish. This is where mfk is a big help. I'm looking all over the world at what other cultures eat. I'm looking for species of fish that eat alot of vegetables. So far I got giant gourami (high growth rate), kissing gourami, pacu (high growth rate), and grass carp. I'm also looking into jaguar cichlids, pike cichlids, and other piscivores that could eat all the guppies and tilapia. Some other choices are channel catfish and pangasus catfish (good eats, incredible growth rate- hard to breed w/o hormones, not really available). These are all food fishes in their native countries.
There's not too much money in the fish side (at least here in hawaii- need massive operation) but there is alot to made on the hydroponic vegetables and herbs (basil can retail for up to $9/lb.). Of course your situation might be different and there might be a huge demand for fresh fish in your area. I know alot of asian restaurants love fresh tilapia. check out china town that's what it's like here. Also, alot of top chain restaurants are carrying tilapia but the fish from asia and s. america are produced so cheaply its hard to compete. I'm focusing on the veg for profit and the fish for me.
Another tip is ebb and flow (flood and drain) operations are good for small scale operations and producing fruits while deep flow beds and nutrient film technique (nft channels) are good for producing leafy herbs and vegetables in commercial operations.
hope this helps.
le patron;2619747; said:this is true, new studies have shown that these omega fatty acids cause heart problems in the long runtoo bad its a great tasting fish
This is a lie that is being purpetuated by people who haven't seen the results of this study. The study that this university did was extremely biased and inaccurate. The way they presented their findings would have you believe that a few grams of fat from tilapia (of which there are not that much to begin with) are just as detrimental to your health as the 20 grams of fat from a cheeseburger or bacon. Just read the study and do the math these guys wanted to bring attention to themselves by being misleading. Also, you can tell that all the articles that quote this study never even saw this study because they all use almost the exact same phrasing.
Sorry don't mean to be a dick but I'm sick of reading this blatant lie all over the web. It's like the KFC mouse or finger. Trust me if I agreed with this study I would be the first one to say so because I feed this fish to my family and not for profit. Nobody wants to be responsible for killing their family.
The fatty acid ratios in the fish is also based on the feed. Tilapia are not the problem but rather the food they were fed.
Best Fishes
David
www.goldfishgarage.com
Best Fishes
David
www.goldfishgarage.com