Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Pretty shore charley carp is made from the murray darling system

yeah, I forgot about the Australian sources... I was actually thinking of the American rivers and their problems with the carp (remember, the ones that jump up and hit people in the face )

I know there are some harvesting the carp in the US, for fish meal. Remember seeing a documetry about this one fisherman, who thought his carreer was ruined by the carp, then he started fishing carp, and made more then double his best year of fishing previously (was making over $100k on carp, even though the price per kg was like 1/30th or something he got for other "eating fish")

Your right Daniel, only thing was that the company is marketing the carp to the growing immigrant Asian population here in the US. (The processor you are talking about is in Illinois, and he saw the potential when he saw the figures on the amount of fish being imported from Asia.) Most non-Asian Americans are prejudiced against the carp due to its extreme boneyness, but the Asians buy and use them on a regular basis.

As to converting them into fish meal for gardening, you are correct that they can be ground up, but they require cooking in order to cut down on the problems with decaying. If raw fish meal were to be used it would need to be spread onto the soil during the winter and immediately turned in.

As to the matter of making it into fish pellets for feeding other aquatic species, it is ground and mixed with other ingredients (usually soybean meal) and then ran through an extruder. Extruders have been used for years in the animal feed and snack food businesses. It is like what someone else mentioned, a grinder with a die on the end, along with a cutter to cut the "spaghetti" into pieces. The extruder also has a heat chamber in the auger section where the paste is slightly cooked before running through the die, and then the pellets move through ovens on a conveyor belt where the final cooking is done. As memory serves me, there is a company that is making fish meal pellets down in Louisanna, but I am not sure if they are concentrating on Carp, or merely the refuse from fish processing plants. (Sorry about all of the info overload about making pellets. Now let me tell you about this plant near here that is making pellets for heating... OOPS, wrong thread!)

Kevin

making pest species into fish food seems like a perfect use for them

I've been working with one of our grain and feed mills trying to develop a crayfish feed. One of my biggest challenges is that they want to use fish meal for the protein source and I would rather get away from it. I have concerns about pathogens being carried in the feed and the closer the critters are, the higher the chance it being a problem. I'd like to experiment with poultry meal, but the number of chemicals used in poultry production is terrifying! So right now that project is on the back burner.
Be careful of what you feed your fish, because evenutally that's what YOU will eat!

emsjoflo,
You make a good point. Visitors leave things open to dangers. You could seperate the system into a show piece and the actual production area. So what the tourists would see is little more than a demo system. That way the risks would be limited.

on the face of i guess it could be viable.
In the sense, anything can be made viable with enough money backing it and making it happen.
probably quicker easier businesses to get into though.

i've always wanted a job thinking up witty comebacks to idiot drivers. or do jobs like drive through service, and when someone is rude to me, blow up in their face unexpectedly and give them their come-up'ns.

Obviously, the two main products we have are produce and fish.

For produce:

I remember reading a research paper about the economic productivity of various grains and fruits by the University of Iowa. Heirloom tomatoes and strawberries came out on top.

I just looked at my grocery store's ad, and non-heirloom on-the-vine tomatoes are on sale for $2/lb. So I figure $3.50/lb for heirloom varieties.

For fish:

It seems that with our relatively low fish density compared to the produce our best bet is going after high-end fish. Basically this means aquarium fish. I don't know about AU, but in the US koi and cichlids are very popular. Large koi can go for $100 each.

So how does this translate to a commercial operation?

I think the easiest way would be a per-area calculation. Say in a 1 square meter you can get 2/3 m^2 of tomato production and 1/3 m^2 of fish production. Of course there are height considerations, but this is just a rough first-order approximation.

So 1/3 m^2 of fish will be what... 20 fish? = $2,000 revenue

Since my system is just getting started, my estimates on crop production are really guesses based on Jaymie's and others' system pics. (aka, this is an invitation to refine the numbers!)

2/3 m^2 with 3 growing seasons (under greenhouse) would produce what.... 40 kilos per season? 120 kilos per year -> 250 lbs/yr = $900/yr revenue.

So approx $3k/yr/m^2 in revenue. Call it $2k for conservativeness.

Hardware costs scale well with size, as does greenhousing.

Say you have a 1/2 acre lot to farm on (many housing lots in my area are this size). That's 22k ft^2 or 2k m^2. So total revenues could be... $4,000,000???

You'll have losses for foot paths and the like. So take out 20% and we're still at $3,200,000 in revenue.

Your costs will be:

water (minimal after startup)
fish food (worm farms underneath growbeds and flies?)
supplements (chelated iron, etc)
salt
plant seed (in the beginning)
fish (replace each year or breed? - I know koi breeding takes a very experienced eye to get sellable coloration)
rent/mortgage - biggie
greenhouse - moderate
pumps - small/moderate
electricity - small/moderate
grow media - moderate
tanks - moderate
GBs - moderate
hired help - biggie

All in all, it seems rather viable to me. Like any agricultural venture there are risks involved, but a greenhouse and maybe a backup generator should take care of most of them.

I have been considering a commercial venture in Aquaponics.

We have done a small business plan considering the costs etc and considering the market. There are a couple of opportunities that have not been considered (as far as I can see) on this topic.

The first one is a Community Funded Aquaponic system. CSAs are a method of farming where people pay a weekly 'subscription' and they get an equal share of the harvest for that week. For example, you might have 20 shares at $20 per share. Each week everyone might get $30 or $40 worth of veges for their $20. The only thing is that they share the risk. If there is a problem they get less. Share the benefits and share the risk. There is more to a CSA than I have mentioned here but it is another opportunity.

Also, with the fish, selling directly to restaurants. I would like to grow Barra and sell them directly to Local restaurants.

I have already spoken to some chefs and the chance to sell fresh, locally grown Barra as their Fish of the day is something they are very interested in.

I am also interested in selling at the local Farmers Market. But the important thing is to diversify and plan. I plan to generate an income from Snails, AP, Training, Farmers Market, selling direct to restaurants etc.

Finally I will not be depending on the AP as my only income. My wife and I are establishing a Trivia business to run trivia nights for clubs and charities. (www.trivianutz.com.au) I am also in the process of becoming a wedding celebrant. All of these income streams will help to make the process viable.

Finally, Mungbean, I live in Lismore. I moved here a year ago. If you move up here, let me know. It would be great to meet you. We can maybe share ideas and research. I already have a pilot system running in my backyard.

Thanks

Simon

Keep your head down Simon.... as soon as the regulatory authorities get wind of what you're trying to do they'll slaughter you....

Particularly with regard to the transportation and sale of fish .... they'll cite public health concerns and impose restrictions and levies on you to the point you bleed to death.

Or leave the commies

Hi
In Trinidad food prices are VERY high for things like tomatoes,cucumbers, lettuce etc
I am starting my home system today and following the small advise of the "How to hydroponics" pdf that is available here on going commercial soon. It said to try a small system for about 3-6 months with constant record keeping.
They started the hydroponics here but from local sources it is hard to maintain because of water sources, cycling and local water authority.
I was thinking of building one of these and integrating aquaponics
http://www.omegagarden.com/
If anyone wanna give it a try
The local government is giving and adding incentives for any type of agriculture here as we are more industrial/ oil country and the fast money idea is in the head of our youths. lol I am only 28 myself
I want to start commercial warehouse idea showing traditional farmers that you don't need soil
Hope things work out with me
I know my dreams are high, so wish me luck

Good luck dude :-)

Triny, I got no idea how you're going to incorporate aquaponics into one of those systems, but if you think you can do it, give it a try

ALL the hydro forums I've ever been on suggest that that particular style of hydro garden is only barely effective in indoor situations and is HUGELY costly....

Not even the "cash" croppers use them

Do your research brother........

Dont worry i think i have some ideas up my sleeves
I will post if i am successful
Jus wanna get the basics down first
Thanks man