Basic thoughts on growout ponds.

We use growout ponds to selectively raise fish like Tilapia. We use several ponds that are 24 feet wide, 100 feet long and three to four feet deep. These ponds get treated before the fish are added. We select the best fish to brood. We test our water and add feed and fertilizer to keep the water in the best shape.

Some of the extra things we do are:

Add limestone rocks to the edges and road base rocks to the middle to reduce turbidity after we walk the seine. This rock also allows the fry to survive.

Add a little well water in the heat of the summer to have better depth.

Finally, we added solar powered aerators to move the water and add some O2.

Then when we seine, we select the best fish for the purpose. Our Tilapia are used for the our overwinter RAS, and dinner. The rest go to the big pond and eat algae. This year we started with five pounds of Tilapia and put more than 100 pounds into our systems with just one brood pond. We still have another seining to go. I expect another 50 pounds of fish to come out of the one brood pond. We should be very well prepared for the winter needs.