Hi Crawdad & Waterrancher,
The majority of the fish farmers in Ohio are using ponds. There are some using recirulating tanks, there a few of us doing aquaponics ( with more getting interested in it). Part of the people there just throw old Xmas trees into the water with a line staked to the bank. when the temp is right they will continually check for ribbons. Then they will harvest them, taking them indoors.
What the others do, which they showed us, was milking the females and the males. They use a hormone injection in the females to induce spawning in a orderly timeline. They use small tanks and hang the ribbons off racks or chicken wire crowns. they then have a small water flow about 1/2 gal. per hour. and an air stone with light bubbling.
When the fry hatch the are removed and counted then put into ponds that are seeded with algae. the algae is the food for the zooplankton. The zooplankton are the food for the fry.
We were told that indoor raising of fry was almost impossible ( not economical). This is why I doubt mine will survive. I don't have a pond. It doesn't mean I wouldn't try. I hate to be told I can't!
The critical time is about 12 - 18 days. when the ponds will start to clear. Meaning the algae can't reproduce fast enough and the whole pond crashes.
I met a guy from Bell Aquaculture there. It is a 10 million dollar operation. He said the owner doesn't let anyone in.
The people who came in the farthest was a father son team from Quebec.
You asked about my tanks. I have 3 (300gal) totes. The tank with the ready perch (8"+)
has 85 perch. I was going to send them to the processor, but he wanted 100 lds min. So I let them winter over.
A guy from work wants 10 lds live weight so i'll be getting up at 3 am and pack them ice.

Ironfish