Backyard fish farming - you have some experience with it?

The term recirculating aquaculture system, or aquaponics, and I am sure there are others - you yourself do any of this, or know someone who does?
found out the World Aquaculture Society is in Baton Rouge LA where I used to live and they told me to contact the Aquaculture High School in Bridgeport CT - wow! I even know where that is!

Something else to consider......

Contact your local and state environmental regulators and find out what kinds of permits are required for a fish farming operation. Animal waste, especially from aquaculture and terrestrial animal feeding lots, is a major pollutant of natural waterways. Depending on the size of your fish farm, you may need special equipment to filter and sanitize any water you plan to release from the pond.

Fish farming is a difficult endeavor. Providing enough surface area, depth, and oxygenation will be the main issues. A local farmer in my home town had two very large ponds holding rainbow trout up to 10 lbs. Each pond covered around an acre and a half and bottomed out around 25 ft. He also made sure that the banks held vegetation to provide shade for the fishes. Every three or four years he would empty the smaller of the two ponds and transfer the larger fish into the bigger pond. He then purchased more fish to stock his refilled pond.

On a flavor note, fish early in the season (before June) had a much firmer meat and better flavor. Also, a solid food source for the fish, a large bug population is desirable.

I've been toying with the idea of doing this. I haven't done it yet. It still is a revolutionary concept. I particularly love the fact that it's an organic farm. I'm still researching and deciding how I want to set mine up. I think I've located a pool to house them in. It's used and I hope it works. I believe I'll keep mine heated with solar panels in the winter. And I still need to decide on a good cover.

I'll let you know how it goes.