Net profits: Indiana farm grows koi, goldfish

MARTINSVILLE, Ind. — Have you ever wondered who grows the fish for your aquarium?

Ozark Fisheries, with locations in Martinsville, Indiana, and Stoutland, Missouri, is a family-owned farm that raises goldfish, koi, crawdads, snails and tadpoles.

A virtual tour at the Farm Bureau Fusion Reimagined Conference gave an inside look at how the company raises fish and ships them across the United States.

“We raise five different species of goldfish,” said Joe Cleveland, vice president of the Indiana farm. “The most popular is the common goldfish. When goldfish are spawned, the offspring are all black. It takes about 90 days to develop their true (orange) color.”

Seines, or nets, are used to bring in fully grown fish from the pond. They are put in buckets and transferred to a live haul truck in the field.

From there, the truck heads to the shipping facility.

“After we unload our fish into this facility, they go into 2,000-gallon tanks,” Cleveland explained. “We put salt in to reduce the stress the fish have gone through being caught and brought here. Once they’ve been given enough time to rest, we’re going to size the fish.”

The fish are sorted and shipped in cardboard boxes using FedEx, DHL or UPS 24-hour delivery services.

“We use plastic bags inside to hold the fish and water,” Cleveland said. “We use pure oxygen inside the bag. That’s the most important part when it comes to shipping fish.”

The boxes are weighed, sealed and addressed. From there, the fish are ready to be shipped.

The cycle comes full circle as more fish are spawned each spring.

“We ship our fish year-round, but the busiest time on the farm is April through June, when we spawn our new crop,” said Joe’s wife, Sarah Cleveland. “We lay mats in the ponds for the fish to lay their eggs on. We collect them and bring them into the hatchery.”

The mats are placed in tanks, where water temperature is monitored to stay between 65 and 75 degrees. Once eggs are laid, it takes three days for them to hatch. The eggs are harvested on day five.

One tank contains 300,000 to 500,000 tiny fish — each about the size of an eyelash.

The fish will be transferred to ponds and will acclimate to the new water temperature.

They are fed daily until they reach sellable size — which is often 1.5 to 3 inches. Larger fish take longer to grow.

Ozark Fisheries supplies pet stores, wholesalers and other businesses with goldfish and koi throughout North America.

Learn more at www.ozarkfisheries.com.