Fish Cage Ideas

[dooleysm]

I believe I have located a local supplier of tilapia and I'm strongly considering trying to raise some for consumption this summer. Anyone have any good ideas on how to construct a cage?

I haven't put a whole lot of thought into it, but what I'm thinking so far is a pvc frame (3x3x3 maybe?) and some kind of poultry netting to keep the fish in. That would be easy to construct, but I'm worried about the price of the pvc (through the roof) and whether I can find poultry netting with small enough holes to keep the fish in. I haven't talked to the fish supplier yet, so I don't know how big or small of fish I'll be able to obtain. I assume that I'd be able to make the pvc frame airtight and that would be sufficient to keep the cage suspended at the right height?

What do you guys think?

 

[CharlieTR]

This should tell you a lot about cage raising tilipia.

http://aquanic.org/publicat/usda_rac/efs/srac/281fs.pdf

 

[SPIKER]

You didn't give much info on youre location or current water spots ect.

assuming you have access to a pond already what many people are doing is getting larger above ground swimming pools and pumping pond water into them creating over flows so water goes back into ponds (through a few small dams so that anything that MAY get past doesn't get into pond) small sub pumps are used and PVC as pipping spray the water from depth of pond over the pool surface agitating the water slightly and causing it to swirl around the pond edges creating a current in the pool. place one or two wooden boards full depth in the pool anchored to side/floor so there is some eddys/slack areas behind the boards in the water. feed lightly the fish use a filter sucker to get rid of waste and un-eaten food...

not a recipie for success but works on small scale, dont over stock with fish as it is easy to loose them all, keep a cover handy in case of high winds and or cold spells...

they are warm water fish & grow fast but not all that fast..

mark m

 

[knute_m]

I believe I have located a local supplier of tilapia and I'm strongly considering trying to raise some for consumption this summer. Anyone have any good ideas on how to construct a cage?

What do you guys think?

You can get lots of great information about building and raising fish in cages over on the Pond Boss site. Pond Boss Forum - Powered by UBB.threads™

 

[Cat_Driver]

Aroud here there is a HUGE talapia grower and he grows them in above ground tanks as most of teh 15 fish growers do.

He does about 400,000 lbs a year.

Here's a great article on them.


http://geoheat.oit.edu/bulletin/bull20-1/art1.pdf

 

[RobA]

Pond Boss Magazine has had articles on fish cages. You can order order older issues.
Pond Boss Magazine Products Page!
(click on "Pond Boss Library" on lower right corner of the page, there is a list of back issues)

Pond Boss message board has lots of info. Here is a post:
New Fish Cage Designs? - Pond Boss Forum
(there are more discussions on cages if you search the site)

Jann's Netcraft sells netting:
The complete source for Lure Making, Rod Building, Fish Hooks, Fly Tying and Fishing Supplies

Aquatic Ecosystems sells netting too:
Aquatic Eco-Systems - Aquatic Supplies for over 25 years.