Where do I find information about starting an "Aquaculture" venture?

Visit the Resource Contacts page.

Visit the Links page.

Visit the  Reference Material page or Technical Information pages.

Does the Short Course focus mainly on freshwater aquaculture?
We focus on general principles that are applicable to both fresh and salt, although, generally most of the examples revolve around fresh.  We've never had, in 9 years, anyone be disappointed about attending.

What type of educational background and/or experience do I need in order to understand the information that will be taught in the course?
There is a variety of people who take the course.  We teach different levels concurrently; some people have minimal background to none --- and others might be PhD Biologists managing a national aquarium.

What species should I grow?
- Do not grow any fish at all, but buy fish from other growers and sell them (you are a holding facility for live fish).
- Grow a species that you have an assured supply of high quality fingerlings.  
- Grow a species that there are feeds available for (seems simple, but some species are still in the development stage).
- Grow a species that there is an existing demand for the product.  Do not try to develop markets for species that are not well known.  
- Grow a species that someone else is already having some success with.  Try to avoid being the “pioneer”.  You can do that once you are successfully raising a more common fish.

What should I do first to become successful in aquaculture?
- Attend a short course (like you are doing)
- Read a good book on the subject (like you have now in your hands).
- First develop your marketing plan and be sure that you can sell the quantity of fish you plan to grow.
- Plan your farm on paper (use the software in the book to do this).
- Re-plan.
- Pay a professional consultant to review your plan.
- Join a State Aquaculture association, join the Aquacultural Engineering Society and the World Aquaculture Society and become an active member.
- Design, Build and Operate a prototype system before you “expand” to a whole farm stage.
- Volunteer or go to work for another fish farmer (they may not like the competition, but they may view it as an opportunity as well).
- Don’t spend all your time re-inventing the wheel; spend time learning and practicing how to “drive” the wheel.

Why do most fish farms fail?
- They have ignored the above advice.
- The fish go into the water BEFORE a functioning alarm system or backup generator is in place and has been tested.
- The rule of life in fish farming, “lose water or lose flow => lose fish” is not taken seriously.
- An under appreciation for the sensitivity of the biological system.
- Inadequate system size to pay capital/operating cost and achieve economies of scale...  farms are just too small for economic viability.
- No business plan or a business plan based on projections that weren't realistic.
- Under capitalization......Sometimes farms mistakenly believe that they will receive additional funding (e.g., government backed loan/grant programs or investor not fully committed) that has not yet been guaranteed.  Once fish farm construction has started, the farm will have great difficulty succeeding if all investment money is not provided.  Under capitalization will also be a severe problem if construction and start-up take longer than planned or cost overruns are encountered, which can consume all capital before any fish are produced.
- Severe overestimation of the system's true carrying capacity (and thus production capacity), which is sometimes the result of poor engineering design and sometimes due to lack of understanding of all limits on carrying capacity (maximum feeding biomass) and production efficiency (production: standing biomass).
- Inadequate ability to Niche market fish and obtain premium price.

What is my biggest expense item in fish farming?
Labor far and away.  This drives designs to be large scale.  Start at the hobby level where labor is not counted and see if you can sell the fish for more than your direct costs.

How much energy is used to produce fish?
Pumping is the major energy input and will be around 1.5 to 2.0 kWh per lb of fish produced.  Heating energy will be roughly about 1/3 of the electrical energy.  Access to cheap electrical energy can be a great advantage.

How dense can fish be maintained?
Tilapia can be grown at near 1.0 lb to the gallon if the fish are above 100 grams.

What is generally the most important water quality parameter to control for?
Oxygen is the most critical, since a loss of oxygen will result in the whole tank of fish being dead in roughly 15 to 20 minutes.  This is why you need alarms, dialers, backup generators, and preferably 24-7 coverage.

Why do most systems fail?
Oxygen is the most critical, but systems perform poorly usually related to ineffective TSS removal from the system.  Each lb. of feed fed basically produces a GALLON of manure that has to be removed, or water quality quickly deteriorates.

What are typical feed to gain ratios (FG) for fish?
Fish are the most efficient converters of dietary energy into flesh of the farmed animals.  Fish will often be around a FG  = 1.00, while chickens are 2.0, pigs are 3.0 and beef are 4.0.

How can you have a FG less than one?
Feed to Gain ratio is based upon feeding feed which has a moisture content of around 5 to 8% of fish flesh is 75% water.