Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I'm in the USA in WV to be exact. The plan is to run three greenhouses with aquaponics. One of them will be open to the public as a pick your own type thing. Not sure about this but I'm thinking about on the grown fish tank that will be in the pick your own greenhouse letting the kids fish for fun buying the fish they catch. There wouldn't be any returned to the pond. I want to sale greens to restraunts & schools & the fish off to those business as well. My understanding is I have to sell live fish that I can drop into a ice bath as they buy them.

What I've been looking for as how much I can expect to sell the fish in this manner. I plan on the first fish being blue tilapia. From the sound of what it takes to blue tilapia & these things as fingerlings are way too expensive.

1" sorted fingerlings are $2 each plus shipping. I did think about getting unsorted which is still expensive. I'd sort them after some growth & try to sale the small ones to a pet shop or as pets or fish bait. I'm not sure I'm allowed to sell them as fish bait tho. I have to get a permit because I'm getting them from out of state but it doesn't seem like they care once they are in the state. I don't believe the can survive in our zone because of the child we get.

I'm also considering perch at the same time & rotating them every year so I'm sticking fingerling growing fish that are a year old & selling two year old fish all at the same time. This sounds like it will work better in my area.

I look forward to answers to my questions but would also appreciate any advice, suggestions, & welcome anything you can give me.

We get a few people coming here wanting us to plan their fortune making commercial system.

So sorry if this sounds rude, but what's your experience with Aquaculture/Hydro/Aquaponics?

Absolutely zero. Education is zero as well so that is why I'm hear researching before I get started. I only have a small system running on a aquarium to get a little idea what I'm doing.

I didn't know I came off as asking someone to plan my future. I'm fully aware you can't do that from your chair reading my post. I am reading everything I can along with watching videos on YouTube. Even with this it won't plan my future ether.

Even with all the reading Google hasn't helped me determine a asking price for local raised live fish. Even the ones with sites that are selling fish haven't listed a price.

I'm really wanting to sell fruits & vegetables & didn't even know about aquaponics until a couple of weeks ago but I love the concept & see it has been proven for years.

I thought my plan was pretty well laid out except for numbers of how many & what size. My only real question was what does a live tilapia cost. I just added I'd love to talk about it if anyone wanted to.

Anyway thanks for taking the time to reply to my thread.

Ryan Chatterson sells his tilapia live at chinese markets for $11 per kg.

However, people loose a lot of money walking into commercial with proper experience.

Go do an aquaculture course, and report back then.

If you mean course as in college course of formal schooling then I don't do well with that type of learning. However I did see that one of the sites in the AU ordered a online class that thy require before you can buy their system. I'm not interested in their system but I may look into their course. Thanks.

There is actually more into the plan. I'm not new to gardening of selling. I've worked for a greenhouse, I've managed retail, & I've farmed animals all my life. I'm still going to manage a few cattle, rabbits, & some poultry. These things I already know. The problem is my good ground is limited so I don't want to till it up for gardening. Everyone is getting tired of eating stuff that has pesticides &fertilizer also but they still want pretty plants.

Trust me I'm doing my research. I've got 6 months to do it in. I also have a full time job to back it with.

Thanks

Why do an online course from someone in Aus who has no decent practical commercial experience? Go do Ryans course....

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=25651

Check his farm thread here, he's walking the walk..

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=12589

I just mentioned it because it was the only one I've ran across so far. Thanks for the links.

Hmm. He is in FL. That is almost like being in a different country to me. Lol. Way different climate. Although reading his post reminded me of a question I hadn't come across a answer to yet. But I also hadn't looked for one yet. I was thinking about bees in the winter. In my climate bees freeze to death in the winter. If I'm heating a greenhouse & providing light, would keeping a hive inside keep them working through the winter? If so that would be yet another thing I could have for sale.

Welcome to the forum.

There isn't many members running a commercial AP system. Those that are, only check in now and then and you won't get much out of them in the way they run their systems or business. So in short you will have difficulty getting advice on how to do this.

Research, build a small system and learn from there. You have a long way to go.

Ill second the others and Ryans course is the only one in existence worth doing. If you can't do that one, don't bother. Be very careful with the info out there, you will find straight honest info on this forum.

Sometimes I think we need to differentiate between a 'commercial' business and I just want to eventually make a few quid on the side (or even earn enough to live) as a family business.
I am not sure why you have a 6 months timetable and I would go with Charlie on the set up a small system and see how you go; this is not a profit thing but a learning experience.
Most of what you read on the internet is bullshit in terms of fish and vegies.
There again some people have made lots money out of nothing, based on peoples vulnerability and marketing hype.

Hi
IMO you should look to the local knowledge/experience resources, if you plan a commercial operation

Here are some doc/pdf from West Virginia State University (your back yard)

http://aquaculture.ext.wvu.edu/r/download/45622
http://aquaculture.ext.wvu.edu/r/download/59163
http://aquaculture.davis.wvu.edu/r/download/43910

Also Tilapia is a specie that you'll recive the lowest prices on, so maybe choose a differente specie to raise ?

good luck

cheers

Well to give a little more info: I'm buying some land & going after a government loan. Terms are I have to make a profit. Everything I'm planning I already know how to do except for fish. I don't know of anyone else around here doing it so I thought it would be nice to add. I believe in diversifying so if one thing fails I don't lose everything. I'm just learning about AP & it sounds like such a great concept. I also want something that my wife can run & my kids will be interested in. This will be a family business unless it nets enough that requires help. The goal is for it to pay for itself then hopefully to the point it becomes my full time job that I can leave the one in at now. I make decent money & can still pay the bills & bail out the farm even if most of it fails. I'm going to try my hardest to ensure that isn't the case tho. I've always done all my own work & maintained everything myself. I am good at budgets, mechanical, electrical, & with a good guide or a great deal of searching I can get through electronics. I enjoy farming which is surprising since when I was a kid I said I'd never go back to farming. But since being on my own I found out I actually like hard work & I can't stand not being in the country. My kids are actually pretty good workers & enjoy the animals & gardening.

Charlie
Thanks for the welcome & heads up. I didn't really expect a major operation to be of much help I've already found there doesn't seem to be much info of that nature out there but I didn't really expect there to be ether. My family has ran a profitable farm for a long time which was also backed by a full time job working for someone else. This farm is Mom & Dad's tho. I'm want to make mine my kids & hopefully grandkids farm.

Sleeps
Thanks for your input. The reason for the 6 month plan is it should be about 6 months to close the deal. & I need a plan on paper at that time. I also really don't have expectations of making more money then I know how to spend. I know the vegetables don't turn a large amount just selling a few. The fish I want to raise the vegetables & hope they pay for their keep with a little bit of profit to help.

Soltun
Thanks for your input & links. Every link someone suggest is worth reading saves me time searching for good info & helps credit it. The reason for tilapia is to get the system running faster & have some kind of return the first year. Actually perch seem like the best option for us. I'll be looking into other options as well.

This conversation doesn't have to come from major operations. I welcome input from everyone. You never know who can have useful input. I'll ether build off an idea or if I don't think it will work for me I'll pass it by but I'm just as open & thankful for the response ether way. I've been given good ideas &a new prospective even from kids before so I'll listen to anyone's idea.

Also on the subject of not fallowing everything you read on the internet. I've read several times about people not only thinking it was a good idea to use human waste on there garden but those that actually do it. I don't know how these people don't kill their self off. I've even seen it on YouTube from a guy that really acted like he was in the know. So yeah I get not to believe everything you read. But I still like YouTube. "You can learn a lot from a dummy." Lol

Hi again



It's OK and not deadly

http://www.ecosanres.org/pdf_files/ESR2 ... uction.pdf
http://www.weblife.org/humanure/default.html

cheers

It can be of you get an over load of coccidiosis or one of the other nasty parasites we host.

Same with dog poop. We share some common parasites with them as well. The reason it is safe to use other manures is we can't host the same parasites as they do so if we ingest the shed eggs or live parasites they just did off.

Hope that helps explain why it is a bad idea.