Tilapia Production in southern illinois

[Josh615]

This is kind of directed at kellenw since he is only a few hours away from me. I am looking to expand what i have built up over the past year. i currently have indoors:

1 200 gallon grow out tank
2 75 gallon tanks
2 55 gallon breeder tanks
a 30 gallon and a 10 gallon for fry.

outdoors i have approx 700 gallons...but during winter i have to move inside to the limited tanks.

I have way to many fry/fingerlings at this point. im looking to try and go into business for selling them locally (i dont want to butt into business for anyone on here) how should i go about starting a business, and how/who should i contact to try and get an outlet for my production? im not really looking to make much money, but at the same time i dont want to sell my self short...i just dont want any fish to go to waste when they could be put to good use.

[keith_r]

i had yellow perch shipped to me via regular overnight mail, in a flat rate box, 25 2" fish was $54 do my door.. (just an fyi)
you might have some success on craigslist..

[Damon]

keith, how are your yellow perch doing? i now that the lake is turning colder by the day here in Ohio, but im wondering if your fish still eat inthe winter. i've always been interested in the application of yellow perch in the systems, mainly because ofthe temp. tolerance, their high sale price, and their deliciousness.

im always facinated by how some planst and animals, even though taken out of their natural envrioments still react as if they had seasons... my case in point are alot of larger plants on hawaii like lilikoi and plumaria (hope i spelled those right) still had blooming seasons even though the temp and sunlight were consistant year round... im just wondering if the perch eat less in the winter simply because they've retained a biological clock telling them that it's winter?

[keith_r]

i've been wondering the same thing.. i used heaters in the tanks last winter to keep the water between 68 and 72, but will probably not heat this year.. i had better fish growth in the basement this summer than outside when it was in the 90's and the water got into the 80's..
from the first batch of fish i got, that made it this far.. yp are at 10" and up, bg are 6" and up, but i'm not to sure of my starting bg stock..osu has been doing studies of yp/bg polycultures, and some of what i've read indicates that there may be better growth when with bg, all kinds of info about using the light cycle and temps to induce spawning, at some point i may try that.. i just love the taste of both so i'm trying them both.. even in the heat of summer my tanks never got above 74 or so while in the basement..

[Damon]

do they still eat as much in the winter as they did in the summer?

[kellenw]

Hi Josh,

I think I can help you out. I have several wholesale clients who are always looking for more fish.

I'll shoot you a pm with my contact info in a moment.

[keith_r]

their diet seems pretty steady to me.. i haven't been measuring exact amounts, but some days they eat well.. some days they don't..a small handful in each tank 2x a day, if there's any floating when i'm done putzing around, i usually remove it, if they're really hitting the feed, they get a little more
i have one yp that has cloudy eyes, when i toss in food, he goes to one spot and sits about a half an inch below the surface waiting for me to drop pellets into it's mouth.. kinda comical actually.. the smaller yp are more skittish

[greenfish]

Josh615, ever think about using them as feeders for some channels or something? Maybe you could sell them as feeders?

[GaryD]

Hi,

Having surplus fish biomass should never be a problem for an urban farmer. if the fish are too small to eat, they can be recycled for pet food......or they can be minced up and form part of the daily ration for chickens, quail or ducks. Another idea would be to use the fish to breed fly larvae......and there's few micro-livestock that won't eat fly larvae.

Gary