Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have recently discovered aquaponics and I am moving ahead with building a small system to educate myself in the process and mechanics. I am intending to eventually produce tilapia for sale, but one question seems never to be asked or answered in these forums. How do people with sizeable systems slaughter and process their fish?

Commercial aquaculture uses several systems - none of which are feasible on a small scale, or desireable.

Can you share your experiences on this issue (especially if you are selling the product).

Since tilapia are warm-water fish it is easy to kill them by putting them in an ice water bath. I've also killed them with a knife point to the brain but the ice bath is gentler.

We are not producing fish for sale but most of the time we net a batch out, club them on the head (had trouble managing the knife through the brain) and then clean/gut or fillet them as appropriate. Ice water bath isn't as easy here since we are short of freezer space for making large quantities of ice to chill large tubs of water and going to the store to by bags of ice seems counter productive. Up where you are, it might be easy to time big harvests for a season with lots of snow and just haul the catch out into the snow banks for the quick kill. Then process as required by state law if you are selling.

Ask Duckpond , he's great at killing large batches of fish

budump bump
heheh , thanks , thanks , Im here all week

no your not here all week your on holiday, and i am looking after your fish

heheh lol

Back on topic, I have done all my kills, actually only 1 kill, of 45 fish, all by hand. Pulled out of the water and whacked on the head, then had throat cut.

Gnash the Barbarian seems to enjoy it

I like using ice for the tilapia, but I only kill what I am going to eat so I dont need lots of ice.