Fish Farming at Blue Ridge Fish Hatchery

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By: leelefever on December 29, 2005 - 5:50pm
My family's business, Blue Ridge Fish Hatchery, often inspires a bit of curiousity in those that hear about it.  Blue Ridge is one of the nation's largest and highest quality producers of Koi, or japanese carp, and this post is all about Blue Ridge and how it raises and sells fish.
 

A Little History

 
My Dad, Wyatt LeFever, grew up around fish farming.  His grandfather founded a company called Berry Water Gardens which became a national supplier to the pet industry and sold mostly tropical (warm water) fish for aquariums.  He saw a niche to sell goldfish, which are cold water fish, also for aquariums.
 
In 1958 he founded Blue Ridge Fish Hatchery and became one of a small number of organizations to sell goldfish in the US.  In the past 48 years Blue Ridge has experienced a lot of growth, innovation and a few diseases. The biggest innovation was the Butterfly Koi, which you can read about here.  Over the years, Koi have become the specialty of Blue Ridge, and most end up in garden pools across the country.
 
In the last 5 years my brother Randy and uncle Rick have become the sole owners and operators of Blue Ridge. 
 

Hatching and Raising Fish

 
As a hatchery, Blue Ridge breeds fish. The company has breeder fish that are put together in the spring and a few weeks later, eggs are gathered and hatched in high tech hatching cones.  Once the baby fish or "fry" reach a certain size, they are turned out into the ponds to mature.  
 
The fish are then fed (via automated feeders) from a consistent part of the pond. Over time, this teaches them to come to a particular corner when a truck arrives.  When it comes time to harvest the fish, a net with weights on the bottom and floaters on the top called a "seine" is stretched across the corner of the pond trapping the fish. They are placed in buckets and into trucks that haul them to the distribution facility where they are sorted by size and color.
 
Selling Fish
 
The fish are kept in vats until they are sold.  The vats have a constant supply of water that is constantly filtered with biological and ultra violet radiation filters, ensuring health.
 
Once the fish are ordered, they are counted and packed into plastic bags filled with oxygen and placed inside cardboard boxes.  The vast majority are shipped on commercial airline freight across the country.
 
Not all the fish sold by Blue Ridge are raised by the company.  A percentage are raised in Arkansas and resold by Blue Ridge.
 
To give you an idea of the scale, Blue Ridge may sell over 20 million fish in a year.  The biggest market in the last 10 years has been in Koi for garden ponds, though a higher percentage of normal goldfish are sold as "feeder" fish, which are bred for the purpose of feeding bigger fish.
 

About Koi

 
Koi orginated in Japan and is a colorful version of the common Carp, which can be found in lakes and rivers around the world.  Today Japan remains the leader in high quality Koi, some of which compete in shows and competitions.  Blue Ridge's breeders or "brood stock" are bought in Japan and shipped to North Carolina to become the parents of the Koi Blue Ridge sells.
 
You can read a recent interview with my brother Randy here. 
 
Here some other pictures...
 
This photo of various Koi was taken in the pool in the next picture...
 
 
 
Sachi and Koi at my parent's house in Kernersville... 
 
 

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