Career in Aquaculture?

[Eizoryu]

Ohaidere guys. :3 I just had some news I wanted to share, and see what others have to say or think about it. It does have to do with fish, if you don't mind bearing with me for a bit here. >w>;;

Ever since I moved to Texas back in '09, I've felt like I've had no direction, career-wise. What I thought I'd wanted to do was vet med. I learned I'm too squeamish for dealing with warmbloods and blood and surgery and such. Which is a good thing I learned it early in the course. I left Kansas State and haven't been in college/uni since then, because I couldn't justify taking classes when I had no idea what I wanted to do.

I've been in retail for the past 3ish years. Nine months in clothing, the rest at Petsmart, where I've spent all but 3-4 months in pet care. Increasingly disliking my immediate boss has made the latter quarter of it to where I dread working the same days she does. I've got an application to an art store (my other hobby) still on my desk from a week and a half ago, but I never got to completing it.

On 03/17 I found out why I hadn't moved on from Petsmart yet. Saturday, North Lake Community College's microbio professor was browsing my fish wall, looking at the Glofish. We got to talking, and I got to giving my usual fishy-related infodumps. I forget what exactly lead up to it, but he mentioned a career in aquaculture, and explained to me what he meant. About raising fish for food and/or the aquaria hobby, with a potential for dabbling in aquaponics; using plants to filter my fishes' water, or using my fishes' water to raise food-bearing plants. I love aquaria, and I love working with fish.

Guise, that was my epiphany. biggrin What is the biggest fish related thing I want to do at this point in time? Breed and raise bettas. It seemed only logical to extend that desire and love for working with our little aquatic scaly buddies to a larger-scale operation. <3
Nothing else has struck me quite like this before. Nothing else has fallen in line so well with any of my passions before, either. Whenever I'm helping customers start up their tanks, they always tell me that I must have gone to school for it, or that I seem to really know a lot about my fish and aquariums. It makes me feel all fuzzy inside to hear it, too. whee I've learned/decided that my biggest passion lies with fish. And, God willing, so will my career!
I'm so bloody happy to have an idea of what I want to do in life again!

TL;DR: I've wandered aimlessly through the last three years not knowing what I want to do for a career. Chance meeting (I attribute it to divine guidance) with local microbio professor was the bolt-from-the-blue that has aligned my career path with aquaculture: Breeding and raising healthy fish for consumption or pet/ornamental purposes.

Has anyone else ever thought about going into aquaculture? Anyone already got some education/courses relevant to it?
If so, share your thoughts! :3
I just wanted to share with other fishy lovers that I've discovered I want to carry my aquarium addiction/hobby to the next level so I never have to hate work again. <3  

[Freundschaft]

This sounds like a great idea! You should always do something you love, no matter what it is, working at a job you hate to do for the rest of your life would suck. I`ve always wanted to go into fish-related jobs, I worked at my local pet store for a while and I loved it! I graduate this year and I plan on going into Marine Biology so I can study all marine organisms, like fish, aquatic birds, aquatic mammals, aquatic plants and bacteria! I can`t wait! 4laugh  

[Akari_32]

This sounds like it'll be a fun thread! I'll be watching it ninja

If you'd like, I can link you to a good site that's specifically about Bettas and their care and breeding and such =3  

[Aquabunnee]

That's a career I've been seriously thinking about as well! I was thinking about breeding fish for pet stores (not food), but the only problem is you need a lot of space for a lot of tanks/breeding areas depending on the type(s) of fish you want to breed. It would be an expensive business to start up (facilities, livestock etc...), but it would be pretty cool.

I watched this video of these guys getting this massive koi to lay eggs and it was pretty amazing. If I find it I'll post the link.