Fish in 55 gallon barrels

[Theo]

Yes, the 1973 article from Organic Gardening seems to be the granddaddy to the ehow article. Since 1973, has anyone had success with this method? A while ago, I saw some postings about a guy who was dead set on barrel fish--maybe on this forum, but from a few years ago--he got everything set up and was giving week by week updates on his fish. Then--he stopped posting. No more fish updates. So it seems there is some critical point when these fish ventures fail. Maybe because of the difficulty of daily maintenance--if you have to leave for a couple of days, your fish die. Or maybe they reach a certain size and the barrel becomes too small an environment. We won't know without more research!

 

[Joel_BC]

These folks report success:

http://survivalplus.com/foods/RAISING-CATFISH-IN-A-BARREL.htm

I remember that article. I saw it many years ago in a magazine (an old back issue from somebody's stack of Mother Earth News, or something?). It really did seem like a straighforward, simple approach. Catfish are supposed to be very hardy, adaptable... "tough". I've always heard it's pretty easy to raise them... but some people say that barrel-raised fish aren't terribly high-quality in terms of table food, because the fish do not get much exercise (and the part of the fish we eat is the musculature, the meat).

Here's a couple of things from Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCn1ezgjAK8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW7uNDS_biU
The second one just shows equipment - no commentary. These systems are not as simple and cheap as what's described in the article Beekissed has provided. Possibly the fish meat is better, though.

Happy New Year, folks!

 

[Bettacreek]

Hmm. $15 for a rod, $0.98/doz hooks, dig up some worms or pay $4 for a sturdy hand net to catch bait minnows... Not entirely sure why anyone would go through the hassles of raising the fish themselves.
I caught tiny catfish and put them in my pond last year. They were maybe an eighth of an inch long when I got them, and over three inches a month or two later. I imagine they'd grow better if they were actually cared for. Still, think it's easier to go fishing. $3 for a tub of chicken livers and you're set. Sure beats the massive input for daily water changes, electricity, initial price of the fish, etc.

 

[Joel_BC]

Hmm. $15 for a rod, $0.98/doz hooks, dig up some worms or pay $4 for a sturdy hand net to catch bait minnows... Not entirely sure why anyone would go through the hassles of raising the fish themselves.
I caught tiny catfish and put them in my pond last year. They were maybe an eighth of an inch long when I got them, and over three inches a month or two later. I imagine they'd grow better if they were actually cared for. Still, think it's easier to go fishing. $3 for a tub of chicken livers and you're set. Sure beats the massive input for daily water changes, electricity, initial price of the fish, etc.

I can tell you why someone might want to get into low-cost aquaponics. I live within a four or five-minute walk from the banks of a river. But due to the building of power dams decades ago on the greater system of this river, the food chain (involving returning salmon) was disrupted, and the population of trout that fed on that food chain dropped to maybe 10% of what it once was. A combination of less food for the fish, and fishermen fishing-out the river. Consequently, and for very good reasons, the biologists who manage our river have brought about a catch-and-release policy - while we wait to see if the remedial measures the biologists are taking will actually increase the trout populations to decent levels. That will take years.

Now, for someone else in another locality, possibly they just live too far from good streams, rivers, or lakes to fish in. Pretty easy to understand.

Not everybody lives near enough to good fishing.

 

[pinkfox]

ive never had a problem with areation BUT all my set ups have a large surface area so yes i would agree in a barrel set up areation could be a HUGE issue...you need surface area for O2 exchange, a bubbler/areator agitates the ater surface reaking the tension and effectively increasing the sufrace area in a smaller sqftage...

plants will help with areation in any set up but im not sure if it would effectivly work for an actual barrel shaped set up...
I think raising them in a trough or kiddie pool ect woudl be a better choice.

 

[Denim Deb]

Wonder if the neighbors would notice if I put in a big pond in my yard to raise fish in.

 

[pinkfox]

i had an aquaintence who took a free 16ft above ground swimming pool off craiglist in whihc to raise tilapia...seems to be working out pretty well for him last time i talked ot him...he runs a normal pool filter whish hs stuffed full or the orange nets (the nets oranges are sold in) and a metric buttload of fishtank carbon.

he made tables out of plastic crates so he can grow lillies and irises in there too.

from the neigbors poitn of veiw it looks like a swimming pool.

another friend converted their above ground pool which they never used into an amazing koi pond!

 

[CheerioLounge]

Hmmmm, I just happen to have an above ground pool in storage... Something I might have to consider. However, "J" may miss it this summer when it's 115 in the shade!

 

[Theo]

I'm trying to visualize a metric buttload

 

[Denim Deb]

Hmmmm, I just happen to have an above ground pool in storage... Something I might have to consider. However, "J" may miss it this summer when it's 115 in the shade!

He could always go swimming w/the fish-unless you're planning on raising piranhas.