The cost of seed is just too high IMNSHO. Think about HSB which are available for .20 cents each for heavens sake. It's like they want all your profit without doing any of the work. Its 3000 fingerlings, for heavens sake.
I think 12 bucks exceeds the price of your competition for feed trained fish. So it depends on convenience, expertise and other factors. Maybe you should go into the business of providing 2" to 3" fingerlings for .75 cents to a dollar and show that supplier where greed leads. In your 1/4 acre you could produce >17000 fingerlings for less than $100 in organic fertilizer. How hard could it be? So even if the crop "failed" and you got only 3000 2"-3" fingerlings ... it would still be worth $9,000 over purchasing from that supplier.
One of your 1/4 ponds could grow the fingerlings. and then at harvest, transfer its water to the other pond (filtering). Retain 3000 fingerlings for growout in the other pond. Market the rest of your fingerlings. For those buying in volume (probably other fisheries suppliers for growouts), cut them a deal and price the smaller volume stuff like LMB fingerings. Within a few years, I bet you will sell out annually.
Allow the fingerling production pond to dry and grow something else in it for a second crop in the same year.
Last edited by jpsdad; 12/12/20 12:44 PM.
