# Growing edible fish



## AquaNeko

As the topic says already I'm curious if anyone here has or is growing edible fish on top of thier display/show fish?


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## Jackson

AquaNeko said:


> As the topic says already I'm curious if anyone here has or is growing edible fish on top of thier display/show fish?


Yes it take a lot of space and it is not worth it LOL

I do it so I can feed baby turtles thats all.


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## Hitch

If you mean mass growing of edible fish..like a fish farm...then no. Unless someone on here actually owns/works for a fish farm.

But yes, I have a friend who goes fishing a lot and keep them in a very large tank when they get home to keep the fish alive.

and yes, I have done the breeding guppies to feed my turtles too...god I miss my turtles...


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## KnaveTO

A few of the species we keep are used as a food source in various countries for both SW and FW


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## Hitch

KnaveTO said:


> A few of the species we keep are used as a food source in various countries for both SW and FW


yap yap..as one example, the weather/dojo loach is a common food fish in south east Asia.


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## Platypus

I would geuss you would need large aquariums to grow fish thats edible and a lot of patience and fish food, which would probably cost you more then buying it in the stores.

Also its what you consider edible. You could probably eat cichlids but...


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## Cory

People in the areas of S. America where Discus are indigenous eat discus and arrowana are also a common food fish in S. America. I think you're asking more along the lines of the North American pallet though so things like trout and carp and in that case, yes some people do keep these fish but I have yet to come across someone who keeps them with the intention of eating them later.


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## AquaNeko

I meant human edible fish. I'm not talking mass commercial fish farm size but more like probably 1-2 edible fish per person. I was thinking either perch or tilapia.

I have heard that tilapia is a fast growing fish and plate ready in about 6 months (which is pretty fast). 

I was thinking of using a swimming pool turned into a fish tank then incorperating the aquaponics setup so that the water will be totally cleaned by edible crops on top which roots will filter out al the nitrates and grow edible items. Heavy feeders like zucchini will suck a lot of nitrates out.


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## characinfan

Tilapia -- yuck. Taste like mud.


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## bigfishy

Me and Jackson have LARGE edible F/W fish in our display tank (we don't eat them thou)

They are consider a delicacy in Southern part of Asia, and they taste SUPER GOOD. 

BUT!!!! 

the catch is the cost

Cost like gold bar!!!

The fish I am talking about is Datnoid!


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## Jackson

LOL I think you would be better off just buying the fish from the market. I can not comment on taste or how good fish are for you. I think they are nasty and they make me sick. 

I do love keeping them as pets


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## gucci17

I LOVE fish but don't think I can raise a fish in one of my tanks to eat it later on. Seems kinda weird...I've heard of some arowana owners eating their dead arowana.


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## bigfishy

gucci17 said:


> I LOVE fish but don't think I can raise a fish in one of my tanks to eat it later on. Seems kinda weird...I've heard of some arowana owners eating their dead arowana.


I don't know what Silver Arowana taste like, but I heard Asian Arowana's meat is tasteless and it have a lot of bones


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## bluekrissyspikes

african people eat lungfish so i guess i have an edible fish too, although i wouldn't want to eat him, he is big enough to feed a few or several people.


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## BillD

Tilapia do not taste like mud.


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## Jackson

BillD said:


> Tilapia do not taste like mud.


Thats what I was thinking. I thought they are very healthy and taste great or is that all bull? 
I also know they are not too cheap and dont smell like death when they are being cooked.


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## AquaNeko

Jackson said:


> Thats what I was thinking. I thought they are very healthy and taste great or is that all bull?
> I also know they are not too cheap and dont smell like death when they are being cooked.


Well tilapia is also used for fish and chips so I don't think they taste like mud. Perhaps that user had a badly prepared dish. Who knows.


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## AquaNekoMobile

gucci17 said:


> I LOVE fish but don't think I can raise a fish in one of my tanks to eat it later on. Seems kinda weird...I've heard of some arowana owners eating their dead arowana.


Just don't name the fish then if it's going to be dinner.  Still sourcing out some parts before I start my urban homestead setup. I'm doing it more for sustainable and I don't like travelling too far for my food. Also because I can control the quality.


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## Lee_D

To be moderatley cost effective you would have to feed the fish in your pool with wild, locally collected food. Minnows and insects and stuff like that. Since your pool is likely outside, the fish would also need to be able to contend with a canadian winter. Summer would be to warm for trout and perch are to small. You would likely be best with large mouth bass. Sounds like a lot of work to grow something you can catch easily in any nearby pond. And I think Bass are Danged Ugly in an Aquarium. (To much Green)

Lee


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## cb1021

How about breeding rabbits for their meat? I hear they breed like crazy.


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## BillD

Tilapia do not taste like muck, but if you were wanting to grow them to plate size in 6 months, you would need to feed heavily. The food used is commercially available for aquaculture (trout pellets) and much cheaper than tropical fish food. Having seen the Tilapia farm at Sir Sanford Fleming College in Lindsay, I was surprised how dirty the water was in spite of the large filters and oxygen injection. The fish density in the tanks was very high. They were producing around 750,000lbs per year. Their original stock came directly from the Nile, and when we were there they had had no disease since they started up several years before. We were not allowed past the entry and even then we had to walk through a disinfecting mat. they were very concerned about the introduction of disease.


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## solarz

Setting up a fish farm seems to me to be the opposite of setting up an aquarium. You're ditching the most important aspect of an aquarium, aesthetics, in order to favor cost efficiency.

So the question is, why would you want to?

On a related note, one fish farming method I find very neat is to grow fish in flooded rice fields. I saw a TV show in China on that practice, and the farmer had a very ingenious way of feeding the fish: he would install bug-zapping lights in the field over the water. At night, insects would be attracted to the light, get zapped, and fall into water. Free food for your fish, AND controlling local insect populations!


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## PACMAN

solarz said:


> On a related note, one fish farming method I find very neat is to grow fish in flooded rice fields. I saw a TV show in China on that practice, and the farmer had a very ingenious way of feeding the fish: he would install bug-zapping lights in the field over the water. At night, insects would be attracted to the light, get zapped, and fall into water. Free food for your fish, AND controlling local insect populations!


Good idea! Kill those mosquitoes!


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## Storm

I have seen many examples of this where people do produce their own food. It has been in the Toronto Star serveral times. The number one thing that people can do which does not take that long or is that expensive is simple fruit and vegtables. They are easily cultivated and require little maintainance(depending on what you plant). Now I would consider fish a considerable step up. I have seen some setups where the main goal was aquaponics for those who want to grow items like lettuce or herbs all year long. In those cases fish like tilapia were introduced to the water holding tanks to produce natural fertilizer for the plants. In the end the main goal was the hydroponics and the fish produced were not anywhere near enough to sustain a person yet they produced a by product which was comsumable vs an expense like ferts.

It all depends on the goal. As some have mentioned above if the goal is to sustain a person or even a family a larger environment would be needed. swimming pools perhaps would be the way to go. 

Last thing i want to mention is to remember the higher up the food chain you go the more energy it takes to produce. Plant matter is the lowest on the food chain and therefore requires the least amount of energy to produce. Prey animals who eat plant matter being second and predators third. In the end if you wanted a self sustaining life style you would be consuming more of the lower items on the totem poll and less higher items.

Just some food for thought.


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## AquaNekoMobile

I'm laso lookingi nto rooftop gardening for fodder crops. Simple veg on the roof top which will have no problems taking in h20 when it rains and any water that is filtered down ends up in the pond or water barrel.

Also rooftop gardening adds growing space.


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## qualityshrimpz

Does anyone know where i can buy some tilapia to breed?


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## AquaNekoMobile

I don't but I only know of one aquaponics reference from Neilson and Pade which was Sid's Pond which is north of the GTA. Check out the place they may have an naswer for you.


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## acropora1981

I am designing a fish farm which I plan on building in the Ottawa valley.

I am just trying to do the numbers to see how cost effective my system is, because, as the joke goes:

Q: How do you make a million dollars in aquaculture?

A: Start with ten million dollars.


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## splur

Depends on what you consider edible, that goldfish looks might tasty


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