I'm in Iowa too! I would love to hear more about your system. We are doing it pretty simple with a barrelponics inspired system that we have expanded a little bit. My hubby and I are waiting to do the full expansion until we move back to Arkansas since it will already be a lot of work to move our existing system.
I got tilapia from White Brook Tilapia Farm in Kansas City, Missouri. Sara is absolutely the sweetest young lady. She explained a lot of things for us on how to care for the fish. We also met their hatchery manager. I forget his name at the moment, Kyle or Kirby, maybe? He was really helpful and gave us some instructions on how to test our water, how to breed the fish and a bunch of other info too. Super nice people, the both of them. We road tripped it down there and stayed with some very good friends of ours over a weekend to save on shipping costs. The fish are doing great, but we did lose a few at first. It was our fault though. I forgot to turn the pumps back on after fixing a leaking pipe. I really need to pay more attention to things like that.
I would also be interested in a source for common carp. If you find one, please pass along the info. I hear carp are compatible with tilapia in the same tank, so it would be fun to add a few once we move and upgrade the system. Right now we wouldn't have enough room for carp since they get so big but the upgraded system would be perfect.
I haven't called any of them yet but will soon. Instead of waiting for the green house I plan to build, we just made some room in our laundry room dowstairs to house a 110-gallon stock tank and a 50-gallon grow bed. It would be good for fingerlings to grow out as well as for the winter. Do you have recommendations on veggies to grow indoor?
I wondered if we had any updates from the other Iowa people. Glad to find others in my crummy state that have something going. I would be interested to see how things are going for you.