🐟 Raise your own
Backyard aquaculture
Catch your own, raise your own. If you already love fish, the natural next step is growing them yourself - food fish for the table, crayfish and prawns for the pot, shrimp for live bait, and koi just for the joy of it, all in a tank, an IBC tote, a pond or an aquaponics system. Pick a species to see what it gives you, the space, water and effort it takes, and how to raise it.
🐟 Food Fish
Grow-out species for the table and freezer - from forgiving tilapia to premium trout.
🐟 Beginner Tilapia
The workhorse of home aquaculture - tilapia grow fast on cheap feed, tolerate crowding…
🐟 Beginner Channel Catfish
The most farmed food fish in North America for good reason - catfish are hardy,…
🌈 Intermediate Rainbow Trout
The cold-water counterpart to tilapia - trout need clean, cool, oxygen-rich water, but…
🐟 Beginner Common Carp
Farmed for thousands of years across Europe and Asia and still one of the toughest fish…
🎣 Intermediate Largemouth Bass
The classic stocking fish for a backyard pond - bass give you both a sportfish to catch…
🐟 Beginner Bluegill
The perfect starter pond fish - bluegill breed readily, eat almost anything, feed your…
🐟 Intermediate Yellow Perch
One of the best-eating freshwater fish you can raise and a strong fit for a cool…
🐟 Advanced Hybrid Striped Bass
A cross bred specifically for farming - hybrid striped bass grow fast, handle tank life…
🐟 Intermediate Brook Trout
A hardy, beautiful char for the coldest clean water - brook trout tolerate a touch more…
🐟 Intermediate Brown Trout
The toughest of the common trout - brown trout handle slightly warmer, less pristine…
🐟 Beginner Tench
A tough, bottom-dwelling European pond fish that thrives in warm, low-oxygen, muddy…
🐟 Intermediate Black Crappie
A popular sweet-eating panfish for a pond - crappie school, breed readily and give fine…
🐟 Intermediate Barramundi
A fast-growing tropical sport and food fish that thrives in warm recirculating systems…
🐟 Advanced Murray Cod
Australia's iconic native freshwater fish and a premium aquaculture species,…
🐟 Beginner Jade Perch
A hardy, fast-growing Australian native that is one of the easiest and most productive…
🐟 Beginner Silver Perch
A hardy Australian native that tolerates cooler water and crowding, making it one of…
🐟 Beginner African Catfish
A remarkably hardy, air-breathing catfish that grows explosively fast and tolerates…
🐟 Intermediate Pangasius (Basa)
A fast-growing Asian river catfish, the source of basa and swai fillets, that tolerates…
🐟 Intermediate Pacu
A big, hardy South American relative of the piranha that eats a largely plant-based…
🐟 Intermediate Arctic Char
A premium cold-water salmonid, related to trout and salmon, that tolerates crowding…
🐟 Advanced Atlantic Salmon
The world's most farmed premium fish, a cold-water salmonid increasingly raised in…
🐟 Intermediate Gilthead Bream
A prized Mediterranean food fish farmed widely in warm brackish and marine systems,…
🐟 Intermediate European Seabass
A prized silver marine food fish, farmed alongside gilthead bream in warm brackish and…
🐟 Beginner Milkfish
A hugely important tropical aquaculture fish across Southeast Asia, hardy and…
🐟 Advanced Cobia
A fast-growing premium marine fish, one of the quickest-growing saltwater aquaculture…
🐟 Advanced White Sturgeon
A huge, ancient fish farmed patiently for premium caviar and firm meat, demanding cool…
🐟 Advanced Coho Salmon
A prized Pacific salmon increasingly raised in cold land-based recirculating systems,…
🐟 Beginner Rohu
A major Indian carp and a cornerstone of South Asian pond aquaculture, a hardy,…
🐟 Beginner Catla
The fastest-growing of the Indian major carps, a big-headed surface and mid-water…
🐟 Beginner Giant Gourami
A large, hardy, air-breathing gourami farmed as a food fish across Southeast Asia,…
🐟 Beginner Climbing Perch
An extraordinarily hardy air-breathing food fish that can survive out of water for…🦞 Crayfish & Prawns
Freshwater crustaceans you can raise in a tank or pond for the table.
🦞 Intermediate Redclaw Crayfish
A tropical crayfish built for aquaculture - redclaw are peaceful for a cray, grow…
🦞 Beginner Yabby
The Australian yabby is the toughest crayfish you can farm - it survives drought by…
🦞 Advanced Marron
The marron is the prize of freshwater crayfish - large, clean-tasting and high-value -…
🦐 Advanced Giant River Prawn
The giant freshwater prawn grows big and sells at a premium, but it carries a catch -…
🦞 Beginner Blue Crayfish
The electric-blue Florida crayfish is kept as much for looks as the pot - a hardy,…
🦞 Beginner Red Swamp Crayfish
The classic Louisiana crawfish, a hardy, prolific, fast-breeding species farmed in warm…
🦐 Advanced Whiteleg Shrimp
The world's most farmed shrimp, a fast-growing warm-water species raised at scale in…
🦐 Advanced Giant Tiger Prawn
A large, striped, premium marine prawn farmed across Asia in brackish ponds, growing…
🦞 Intermediate Signal Crayfish
A large, fast-growing North American crayfish farmed for its size and meat, hardy and…
🦐 Advanced Banana Prawn
A commercially important marine prawn farmed in warm brackish ponds across Asia and…🦐 Shrimp & Snails
Small tank species for live bait, algae cleanup, and easy breeding to sell or trade.
🍒 Beginner Cherry Shrimp
The easiest live thing to breed in water - a handful of cherry shrimp in a planted nano…
👻 Beginner Ghost Shrimp
Cheap, transparent and endlessly useful - ghost shrimp are the classic home-raised live…
🦐 Intermediate Amano Shrimp
The hardest-working algae eater in the hobby - a few amano shrimp keep a planted tank…
🐌 Beginner Mystery Snail
A big, gentle, colourful snail that grazes algae and scraps without touching healthy…
🐌 Beginner Ramshorn Snail
A small flat-coiled snail that breeds prolifically and grazes algae and leftovers -…
🐌 Beginner Nerite Snail
The premier algae-eating snail - nerites clear glass and hardscape of tough algae and,…
🦪 Advanced Freshwater Mussel
Living water filters that clean a pond by straining plankton and particles -…
🦐 Intermediate Bamboo Shrimp
A large, peaceful filter-feeding shrimp that fans the current with feathery appendages…
🦐 Beginner Neocaridina Shrimp
The hardy, colorful dwarf shrimp (cherry, blue and more) that breed readily, graze…
🦐 Advanced Crystal Shrimp
The striking red-and-white (and black) caridina shrimp of the high-end hobby, demanding…
🐌 Beginner Assassin Snail
A handsome, striped predatory snail that hunts and eats nuisance pest snails, offering…
🐌 Beginner Malaysian Trumpet Snail
A small, cone-shelled burrowing snail that tunnels through the substrate day and night,…
🦐 Advanced Sulawesi Shrimp
Tiny, vividly colored freshwater shrimp from Indonesia's Sulawesi lakes, prized by…
🐌 Beginner Rabbit Snail
A large, charming freshwater snail from Sulawesi with a long shell and rabbit-like…
🐌 Beginner Japanese Trapdoor Snail
A hardy, cold-tolerant snail that cleans algae and detritus in ponds and tanks,…
🐌 Beginner Pond Snail
A small, fast-breeding freshwater snail often raised deliberately as free,…
🦐 Intermediate Tiger Shrimp (Caridina)
A small striped freshwater Caridina shrimp prized by hobbyists, cousin to crystal and…
🐌 Beginner Black Devil Snail
A long, glossy black brackish-to-freshwater snail that grazes algae and detritus,…🎏 Ornamental & Pond
Koi, goldfish and breeders - raise fish for the hobby, the pond, and the fun of it.
🎏 Intermediate Koi
The living centrepiece of a garden pond - koi are hardy, long-lived and tame enough to…
🐠 Beginner Goldfish
The most forgiving ornamental fish there is - goldfish handle cold, heat and beginner…
🐟 Beginner Guppy
The fish that breeds whether you want it to or not - guppies give live young every few…
🐡 Intermediate Betta
The showpiece of small-scale breeding - a single betta lives happily in a modest heated…
🐟 Beginner Platy
One of the easiest fish to breed - platies are peaceful, colourful livebearers that…
🐟 Beginner Molly
A larger, hardy livebearer that breeds as freely as a guppy and even tolerates a little…
🐠 Intermediate Freshwater Angelfish
A graceful, tall-finned cichlid that is one of the most popular ornamental fish, easy…
🐠 Advanced Discus
The regal, disc-shaped king of the aquarium, a stunning but demanding cichlid that…
🐠 Beginner Dwarf Gourami
A small, brilliantly colored labyrinth fish that breathes air, tolerates calm community…
🐟 Beginner Corydoras Catfish
Charming, peaceful little armored catfish that patrol the bottom in social groups,…
🐟 Beginner Bristlenose Pleco
A small, hardy suckermouth catfish that stays a manageable size and grazes algae…
🐠 Beginner Zebra Danio
A tiny, tireless striped schooling fish that is famously hardy, tolerates a wide…
🐠 Beginner Harlequin Rasbora
A small, peaceful copper-and-black schooling fish that shoals beautifully in planted…
🐠 Intermediate German Blue Ram
A small, jewel-colored dwarf cichlid with electric blue speckling, a peaceful…
🎏 Beginner Neon Tetra
The iconic small schooling aquarium fish, a peaceful, brilliantly blue-and-red tetra…
🎏 Beginner Cardinal Tetra
A larger, even more vivid cousin of the neon tetra whose red stripe runs the full…
🎏 Beginner Swordtail
A hardy, active, colorful livebearer whose males sport a distinctive sword-like tail…
🎏 Beginner Kribensis
A small, hardy, brilliantly colored West African dwarf cichlid that is easy to keep and…
🎏 Beginner Pearl Gourami
An elegant, peaceful labyrinth fish with pearl-spangled sides and long feeler-like…
🎏 Intermediate Oscar
A large, intelligent, personable South American cichlid famous as a 'wet pet' that…
🎏 Beginner Kuhli Loach
A small, peaceful, eel-like bottom-dwelling loach with striped bands that scavenges…
🎏 Beginner Tiger Barb
A lively, striped, energetic schooling barb full of activity and color, hardy and easy,…
🎏 Beginner Rosy Barb
A hardy, peaceful, rose-flushed schooling barb that tolerates cooler water than most…
🎏 Intermediate Rummy-Nose Tetra
A striking tetra with a bright red nose and striped tail that schools more tightly than…
🎏 Beginner Honey Gourami
A tiny, gentle, honey-golden labyrinth fish perfect as a peaceful centerpiece for a…
🎏 Beginner Endler's Livebearer
A tiny, dazzlingly colorful cousin of the guppy, hardy and endlessly prolific, whose…
🎏 Beginner White Cloud Mountain Minnow
A tough, coldwater-tolerant little schooling fish often called the 'poor man's neon…
🎏 Intermediate Boeseman's Rainbowfish
A stunning rainbowfish whose body shades from blue-purple in front to fiery orange…
🎏 Intermediate Congo Tetra
A large, shimmering African tetra with iridescent rainbow scales and flowing fins, a…
🎏 Beginner Cherry Barb
A small, peaceful barb whose males glow deep cherry-red, gentle enough for a nano or…
🎏 Beginner Gold Barb
A hardy, golden-bodied schooling barb that tolerates cooler water, stays peaceful in a…🌊
Get the water right first
Almost every failure in home aquaculture comes down to water - too warm, too cold, too little oxygen, or too much waste. Before you stock a single fish, it is worth understanding tanks, ponds, filtration, aeration and water quality so your system carries the load.
Systems & water quality →Explore aquaculture
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What should I raise?Match a species to your space, water and goal.
⚙️Systems & setupTanks, IBC, ponds, RAS and aquaponics explained.
📐Stocking calculatorHow many fish your tank or pond can carry.
Calculators & helpers
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Tank & pond volumeLitres and gallons from your tank's size.
🍽️Feeding rateHow much to feed by species, size and temperature.
💧Water changeLitres to swap and dechlorinator to add.
🌿Aquaponics ratioFish tank to grow bed sizing.
📊Feed conversion (FCR)Feed in versus growth out.
🧪Water quality targetsIdeal temp, pH and levels by species.
♻️Nitrogen cycle helperWhat's happening while your tank cycles.
🩺TroubleshooterGasping, cloudy water, sudden deaths.
🤝Compatibility checkerWhich species can share a system.