Raising koi as an alternative fish production strategy

[Kobus Jooste]

I have been taking an interest in refining some of my previous income estimates and cost calculations regarding commercial aquaponics.  One idea that keeps coming back is the potential for buying large batches of small koi, grow them on and then supply the market.  I have seen a number of posts on this forum about large US breeders selling of surplus or small fish at quite low rates.  I would like to get some more info on the topic to see how these prices compare to what is charged for koi locally.

[TCLynx]

Definitely an option.  However, in our economy right now here, people are not buying much in the way of "luxury pets".  There is a pond and koi place near us that we have helped out lately by taking some plants from a pool that sprung a leak and when discussing with the owner he was saying that times are tough right now since no one is buying and his prices are quite reasonable as it is.

 

The fish farm where I get my bluegill and catfish also sells koi.  I expect I could get the really small ones for about the same price it costs me to get the food fish but they are probably not going to be the best stock nor have any fancy breeding certificates so though they might grow out very nice and be good for ornamental ponds and water features, they will likely not be "show quality".

 

Now Koi and goldfish are great fish for running huge amounts of veggies on a small fish load so for those who don't wish to eat their pets, they are a great choice for Aquaponics in that regard and aquaponics is a great choice for keeping the water quality nice for any fish keepers.

 

But raising "luxury pets" as a commercial venture is likely to have an extremely variable margin, during some economy's it will be a very good way to go but when belts start to tighten I expect that some of the koi may start looking more like food despite the bony nature of the fish.

[Kobus Jooste]

Thanks for the feedback.  I do not want to tackle the posh fish market here, but with tilapia being worth pretty little, koi seem to be a decent bet even if it only for the ornamental market.  It takes some time, effort and risk to get tilapia to a pound or two in weight, and then they are worth (per kilo live weight) not a whole lot more than what I pay per small garden koi (R25 - 30 per kg is what we have been offered in the past for tilapia, while the small koi set me back R20 per fish).  I am in the mood to cost out what it will cost to bring a large consignment in from the US, grow it on for a while and then stick them into the local ornamental market at below market average price.  I'm not sure how big the market is, but I think the possibility is there that this strategy will pay off better than flogging the tilapia at a little more than what the fish food was worth that you tossed at it. 

TCLynx said:

Definitely an option.  However, in our economy right now here, people are not buying much in the way of "luxury pets".  There is a pond and koi place near us that we have helped out lately by taking some plants from a pool that sprung a leak and when discussing with the owner he was saying that times are tough right now since no one is buying and his prices are quite reasonable as it is.

 

The fish farm where I get my bluegill and catfish also sells koi.  I expect I could get the really small ones for about the same price it costs me to get the food fish but they are probably not going to be the best stock nor have any fancy breeding certificates so though they might grow out very nice and be good for ornamental ponds and water features, they will likely not be "show quality".

 

Now Koi and goldfish are great fish for running huge amounts of veggies on a small fish load so for those who don't wish to eat their pets, they are a great choice for Aquaponics in that regard and aquaponics is a great choice for keeping the water quality nice for any fish keepers.

 

But raising "luxury pets" as a commercial venture is likely to have an extremely variable margin, during some economy's it will be a very good way to go but when belts start to tighten I expect that some of the koi may start looking more like food despite the bony nature of the fish.

[TCLynx]

Yea, I can see where the tilapia market is pretty lousy, it's too easy to import frozen tilapia fillets from China or Brazil here so among those who just want cheap food tilapia isn't going to bring in much.

 

I'm curious what are the native fish options in South Africa?

 

Probably many places you could import some Koi from and running low density systems Koi would definitely be a good choice.

[Kobus Jooste]

The only real potential fish for eating is mozambique tilapia and sharptooth catfish as far as I'm concerned.  Our river systems are limited, few are perrenial and fewer still carry serious populations of the edible stuff.  As you have stated, you then go head on with mass-produced imported tilapia and pangasius catfish.  Trout and all the other premium stuff is all exotic. Those can work, but you will have to be willing to go through an environmental impact assessment process that could cost as much as the commercial greenhouse (if not more).  To stimulate aquaculture development, our local agencies are in the process of setting up aquaculture zones in designated areas where all the permitting issues are taken care of.  There is one close to me and it is where my renewed interest comes from.

[Chris Smith]

I am liking koi in my systems more and more. The main reason is that they are much more friendly fish than tilapia. My tilapia all hide at the bottom of the tanks unless they are hungry. Koi will hang out at the surface and have some interaction with me. In smaller systems I think this is much more fun than having a hididng fish. There is a youtube video of someone feeding their koi with a baby bottle. Tilapia will never do that!

I purchased several thousand baby koi from a breeder that took one of my classes. The fish have been growing at such a rapid rate that I am scrambling to provide enough space for then all to grow. My average fish size is now 2+ inches. They have more than doubled their size & weight in a few weeks. The koi have been growing faster than my recent hatch of tilapia. It will be interesting to compair their growth rate with the tilapia over the next several months.

Soon I will be able to get rig of my biggest tilapia in my big tank and replace then with koi. Some of my tilapia are in the 2 to 3 pound range and are eating too much food. We sell out tilapia for $4 lb so a 3 lb fish is only worth $12. I am certain that I have put more than $12 in feed into a 3 pounder!. A 3 lb  koi, on the otherhand, is worth much more. Even a fish with underisable markings should bring in more than $12. A fish with desirable markings can be worth thousands!!!

My hope is that I have a few outstanding fish, a few more good quality fish in the batch. The parents of these fish are some of the best fish on the island and I an confident I will have some good fish. I know that the bulk will have no markings or undesireable markings. These fish I will be using to stock the barrel systems I have been selling. I have had dificulty stocking the systems and have been forced to use feeder goldfish lately. The best koi fish will get to grow out in my 1000 gallon tank and be allowed to get large.

Some may argue that edibly fish should be grown in an aquaponics system. Koi are just carp that have been bread for color. People eat carp all over the world. A colorful carp is still a carp. It is dificult to eat a pet though.

A friendly, fast growing, valuable fish is making a lot of sence to me!

[Sahib Punjabi]

Namaste Kobus :-)

 

Koi.  What wonderful fish!

 

Once you are hooked, it is really very difficult to not want to keep so many of them. They come up and eat from you hand and provide stress relief as well as plenty of 'pooh" for us Aquapons. As regards looking for an economic return, here is one option that I have looked into here in FL. 

 

Get to read as much as possible (Koi for Dummies is a pretty good data source), and find out if there are any local Koi clubs. Many Koi fanatics are crazy about Koi from Japan so if you really search and find the right sources, you will be able to purchase 3 to 4 inch very good Koi fingerlings. These command the highest prize and are most sought after by Koi collectors (No, I am not there yet). You will have to grow them out to a good size (12 inches plus), using top quality Koi food (very expensive), and keep them totally separate from any other fish. Once the grown Koi have been identifed as to type (use help of local Koi officials), they will be able to suggest you possible prices and auction possibilites at their special events. You can also check local web positngs advertising sale of pure breed Koi.   The Koi that you do not sell be be selected for local breeding. Just remember, you will need to have completely separate tanks / ponds for these locally breed Koi as collectors will not pay the same premium as Koi from Japan and you do not want to lose that premium. 

 

Now as you can see, all this kind of takes one away from Aquaponics and leads one to running a Koi farm. Now that is a whole new subject and market.

 

Just my 2 cents. Hope this helps :-)

 

God bless,

[Kobus Jooste]

Hi Chris

 

Thanks for the feedback.  I think commercial AP is all about making a decent profit as much as being sustainable.  Nothing wrong with catering for the ornamental market if there is a gap (or supplying your own fish to stock the systems you promote). I also think that you are spot on with your business case statement above.  Just a dozen "good fish" in that batch you bought would be worth the effort of feeding all the others, as they grow your veggies for you.

 

Is there anyone with a conversion table for Koi vs tilapia in stocking densities?  I costed on the UVI stocking densities before but if the koi can do the same job in lower densities, it would be good news.  I know they create a bit more waste and have recently introduced 20 small koi in my home system to replace the 37 tilapia that took a trip over to the research greenhouse. 

Chris Smith said:

I am liking koi in my systems more and more. The main reason is that they are much more friendly fish than tilapia. My tilapia all hide at the bottom of the tanks unless they are hungry. Koi will hang out at the surface and have some interaction with me. In smaller systems I think this is much more fun than having a hididng fish. There is a youtube video of someone feeding their koi with a baby bottle. Tilapia will never do that!

I purchased several thousand baby koi from a breeder that took one of my classes. The fish have been growing at such a rapid rate that I am scrambling to provide enough space for then all to grow. My average fish size is now 2+ inches. They have more than doubled their size & weight in a few weeks. The koi have been growing faster than my recent hatch of tilapia. It will be interesting to compair their growth rate with the tilapia over the next several months.

Soon I will be able to get rig of my biggest tilapia in my big tank and replace then with koi. Some of my tilapia are in the 2 to 3 pound range and are eating too much food. We sell out tilapia for $4 lb so a 3 lb fish is only worth $12. I am certain that I have put more than $12 in feed into a 3 pounder!. A 3 lb  koi, on the otherhand, is worth much more. Even a fish with underisable markings should bring in more than $12. A fish with desirable markings can be worth thousands!!!

My hope is that I have a few outstanding fish, a few more good quality fish in the batch. The parents of these fish are some of the best fish on the island and I an confident I will have some good fish. I know that the bulk will have no markings or undesireable markings. These fish I will be using to stock the barrel systems I have been selling. I have had dificulty stocking the systems and have been forced to use feeder goldfish lately. The best koi fish will get to grow out in my 1000 gallon tank and be allowed to get large.

Some may argue that edibly fish should be grown in an aquaponics system. Koi are just carp that have been bread for color. People eat carp all over the world. A colorful carp is still a carp. It is dificult to eat a pet though.

A friendly, fast growing, valuable fish is making a lot of sence to me!

[Kobus Jooste]

Thanks Sahib

 

I'm reworking old commercial business plans to take forward in meetings (hopefully) with development agency representatives here.  They would like to know what the potential concepts are and I personally think that koi and table fish offer good business models for commercial aquaponics. According to recent industry reports, there is still quite some room for growth in the ornamentla fish industry here. 

 

I want to plant the seed of room for growth in that field, coupled with our previous calculations on the value of hadding a value add facility incorporated into a commercial venture as a business model.  I'm not sure if I want to get into the truly expensive fish market yet, but it is a great potential hobby option for my research system once the paid work in it is over

Sahib Punjabi said:

Namaste Kobus :-)

 

Koi.  What wonderful fish!

 

Once you are hooked, it is really very difficult to not want to keep so many of them. They come up and eat from you hand and provide stress relief as well as plenty of 'pooh" for us Aquapons. As regards looking for an economic return, here is one option that I have looked into here in FL. 

 

Get to read as much as possible (Koi for Dummies is a pretty good data source), and find out if there are any local Koi clubs. Many Koi fanatics are crazy about Koi from Japan so if you really search and find the right sources, you will be able to purchase 3 to 4 inch very good Koi fingerlings. These command the highest prize and are most sought after by Koi collectors (No, I am not there yet). You will have to grow them out to a good size (12 inches plus), using top quality Koi food (very expensive), and keep them totally separate from any other fish. Once the grown Koi have been identifed as to type (use help of local Koi officials), they will be able to suggest you possible prices and auction possibilites at their special events. You can also check local web positngs advertising sale of pure breed Koi.   The Koi that you do not sell be be selected for local breeding. Just remember, you will need to have completely separate tanks / ponds for these locally breed Koi as collectors will not pay the same premium as Koi from Japan and you do not want to lose that premium. 

 

Now as you can see, all this kind of takes one away from Aquaponics and leads one to running a Koi farm. Now that is a whole new subject and market.

 

Just my 2 cents. Hope this helps :-)

 

God bless,

[TCLynx]

As noted, cull koi can be food so there are diverse options.

 

Now koi, carp and goldfish are often thought of as dirty fish.  Part of this might be that if you feed them high quality food they produce high quality waste and I'm not sure what their feed conversion ratios are but if you think of the feed as your plant fertilizer then the costs may not seem so bad.  Another reason they sometimes get blamed for being dirty fish is in earthen ponds or ponds with plants in with the fish, well they may tend to dig around in the dirt at the bottom and stir up much silt causing the water to get all cloudy which can be undesirable in some situations (like a pond where the owner is trying to show of crystal clear water.)

 

Anyway, I have no doubt that a low density of these ornamental fish can provide ample nutrients for lots of plants, just watch one of Robs harbor freight greenhouse videos and realize all his plant growth is being driven from a 55 gallon barrel with some goldfish in it.  Sorry I can't really compare numbers with the UVI model since I don't believe a system that removes solids from the system can really relate accurately with a system that doesn't and therefore the feed amounts needed to support a given plant space are way different no matter what kind of fish you are feeding.

[ColoradoAquaFarms]

I raise both Koi and Tilapia, and by far Im more impressed with the Koi. The market is denver is good for Koi and if you are willing to ship them the National market is pretty good. 

 

In my opinion the only problem with Koi is there stocking density. They can not be stocked very densely without disease issues. I have two 1200 gallon tanks, one with Koi and the other with Tilapia, the Tilapia eat two to three times as much feed as the Koi due. This makes sense considering there are 4 times the amount of Tilapia than Koi. I was going to switch to all koi, but with my amount of needed daily feed to run my system I have to stick with Tilapia for now. When I expand I was thinking of going with much larger fish holding capacity so I can grow Koi and maybe striped bass and Sturgeon.

 

Also from previous posts, the Koi from Japan with paperwork are worth far more, and some buyers wont even look at your fish unless they are form Japan.

 

Aloha

[Jay Wolf]

I am curious if Koi waste (aka poop) is as good, better, or worse for plants than other fish.........  Anyone have idea on this topic?

[Sahib Punjabi]

No difference...just a lot more than other fish. Gold fish (are more tolerant on oxygen needs), & Koi are really wonderful fish for Aquapons not wanting an eating fish :-)

Jay Wolf said:

I am curious if Koi waste (aka poop) is as good, better, or worse for plants than other fish.........  Anyone have idea on this topic?