I have been toying with the idea of starting an aquaponics setup in my back yard. I am still trying to debate what kind of fish I would like to raise. Would there be any market for raising golden shiners to jumbo size? I was thinking people might want to buy them for lake/pond stocking. Is this a pipe dream or do you think I could sell 100lbs or so a year to break even?

GSH are pretty common and cheaply acquired nationwide. I think with the right species you're onto something - I would not suggest GSH. Couple hatcheries that make bait runs to NE sell them very cheaply. Too bad I just found them recently...

I am open to suggestions... I am planning on using a 100 gallon stock tank to put them in. I figured I could raise 30-40 lbs of fish in there.

Golden Shiners don't do very well in tanks for extended periods of time. High mortality rates. Been a few studies with these in the past. I've never had any survive very long.

Let us know on how it works out!

Tilapia? That's what I'd do, or maybe something harder to source like spotfin shiner or lake chubsuckers. Those carry significantly more value on the market should you elect to sell them. How the shiner or suckers would fare in an ap system is beyond my judgement.

In my area really large shiners for bait for musky and northern pike are hard to find so it could be an option in my area. You are on the right track in finding a niche market fish. OTOH you should gain some experience and go from there as IMHO as RAS and Aquaponics is a learning curve.

Bluegill are fairly easy to raise in an RAS.

Build your own system from scratch and you can same a lot of money.

Cecil, you use bluegill in a aquaponics system?

Yes I'm doing bluegills and tilapia in the same outdoor aquaponics tank this year. The bluegills will be sold later and the tilapia are for the table this fall. This frees up two tanks in the basement, one for perch fry and the other for bluegill fry.

Thanks for the tips guys. I think you are right about gaining some experience before trying anything too challenging. I will probably just do cats or BG the first year and get my feet wet. I also was thinking the tank would be a good tool to use for ladder stocking HSB. I could grow the for 6-8 mo. so they would be less likely to get eaten. Does 30lbs. sound about right for 100 gallons? I have heard inittially to stock roughly 1" of fish per gallon. I am assuming u just thin them as they get larger. I was thinking i could use FHM as the sacrifices.

Hybrid striped bass are tricky for a newbie. They also can't handle potassium if you add it for the plants.

30 lbs. for 100 gallons sounds heavy to start out if that is what you mean. Harvest weight of a 1/3 of a pound per gallon is doable. I've done over 1/2 pound per gallon on yellow perch but that was after a few years of experience and watching the water quality.

I bring YOY fish inside for the winter along with three high schools that do it for me. You can definitely get some size on the fish over the winter. One of my YOY perch that was a month over a year old got to 12 inches at one of the high schools.

Just remember you can't just add fish and go. You have to cycle your tank first and you need sufficient biofiltration and mechanical filtration or you will run into problems.

Found my tank today. I got two 275 gallon IBC tanks for $20 each only 20 miles away. My wife thought I won the lottery. In a way I feel like I kinda did.

What did they have in them originally?

Some sort of ammonia product. I figure I will pressure wash them extensively with soap and water. I plan on cutting the tops off of them so I should be able to scrub them really well.

I think you'll be fine.

I personally don't like how the IBCs look and I'm stuck on circular tanks for their self cleaning, fish exercise, and even distribution oxygen but that's just me. We work with what we have right?

That's all you can do. Nothing beyond that.

The IBC's are usually made from an Inert material, so if you clean them out well, shouldn't have any problems.

A company I do some programming for has a bunch of these outside. I asked how much they wanted for one these. He said I wish you could take them all, but they have to go to an industrial waste facility to get the leftovers out, then they refurbish them and sell. This company has to pay a hefty price for them to legally get rid of these IBC's. All part of business tho.