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A lock on tropical fish

Half of the aquarium fish sold in stores are from the United States. Most of them originate in Florida.

By CHRISTINA REXRODE, Times Staff Writer
Published September 17, 2007

GIBSONTON

Sandy Moore walks through the main warehouse at Segrest Farms, past rows and rows of freshwater aquariums, under the whir of conveyer belts bearing color-coded buckets of fish that will be shipped across the country.

On any given day, there are 500 species of fish here. Moore points out a few favorites.

There's the plecostomi, or armored catfish, that will fight each other if their tank doesn't have a bit of driftwood in it.

In another row are the neon tetras - small, docile, blue and red fish that will probably always be Segrest's bestseller.

And there's the betta fish, or Siamese fighting fish, which for some reason were hugely trendy a few years ago. "People were selling them at kiosks in the mall," recalls Moore.

She should know: Moore is the operations manager at Segrest Farms, a 140-employee enterprise in the shadow of TECO's Big Bend smokestacks.

Segrest is a middleman in fish farming, an industry that's unheralded but unequivocally entwined with Central Florida. Segrest buys fish from local farmers who breed them, then ships them to pet stores around the country. It's a meticulous, labor-intensive process: Each fish must be counted individually to be packed up for the UPS truck or the airport.

"It is really, brutally hard work," Moore says. "Bait fish are sold by weight, you know."

* * *

If you've ever bought a tropical fish, it likely came from around these parts. About half of the aquarium fish sold at U.S. stores are produced domestically, and of those, about 95 percent come from Florida. There are a few goldfish farms scattered through Alabama and the Carolinas, which mostly make up the other 5 percent, said David Boozer, executive director of the Florida Tropical Fish Farm Association in Winter Haven.

Back in the '40s, when fish farming was just taking off, the farms were concentrated around Miami. Now, Boozer estimates that 80 percent of his 125 member farms are within 50 miles of downtown Tampa. The farmers were lured to Hillsborough and Polk counties by the relative abundance and cheapness of land, the high water table, and the soft dirt that makes it easy to dig ponds.

It's a tight-knit industry, and an unglamorous one, but its impact is far-reaching. More than 15,000 boxes of live fish are flown out of Tampa International Airport every week, according to the Florida Aquarium.

For years, tropical fish were the biggest export by economic impact from TIA, an airport spokeswoman said. Now, they're a close second to high-end manufacturing equipment, like medical and electronic components.

Florida aquaculture sales - that includes aquarium plants and food, as well as fish - total $95-million each year, according to the aquarium.

Like all agricultural pursuits, fish farming is a seasonal business. Because of breeding cycles, fewer species are available in the winter, Moore said. But that's exactly when demand increases, as people in colder climes want something to remind them of the tropics, or some hobby they can pursue indoors.

* * *

Fish farming, however, isn't as big as it once was. Moore estimates that there are about 130 farms in the area, down from as many as 200 in the early '90s. Many of the farmers sold their land to developers, who were eager to snatch it up during the housing boom that flourished several years ago.

The industry simply isn't as profitable as it used to be, said Michael Hennessy, treasurer of a Gibsonton-based farm called EkkWill Waterlife Resources. "We have a lack of water; we have a lack of labor that will work for agricultural wages; we have higher energy costs," he said.

Also, aquarium sales have fallen over the past 12 to 18 months as consumers have been hit by higher prices for commodities like gas and food, the farmers association reports.

"There are fewer farms than there were even two or three years ago," laments the 52-year-old Hennessy, "and fewer all the time."

His business is close to his heart: He started it in the mid '70s with his sister-in-law and brother.

But even he hasn't ruled out eventually selling to a developer. "We call that one extreme plan."

Christina Rexrode can be reached at crexrode@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8318.

HOW IT WORKS 

Follow the fish

If you've ever bought a tropical fish at any store anywhere in the United States, there's a good chance it started life in Central Florida. Here's a look at a fish's probable journey to your living room tank:

At the farm: The tropical fish are bred at farms, which consist of rows of rectangular ponds dug into the ground. A few farms breed fish indoors in concrete vaults, to protect them from hurricanes and cold weather. However, the required filtration equipment makes that an expensive option.

Out of the pond: Farmers can ship their fish directly to pet stores or wholesalers, or they can bring them to a distributor like Segrest Farms of Gibsonton. For fish to be shipped out, a packer scoops them into a double plastic bag filled with water and a tranquilizer. The packer adds a blast of oxygen, and a machine ties the bag with a metal clip.

Into the box: The bags are placed in plastic foam boxes with a heat pad or ice pack, depending on type of fish.

Onto the road: Each workday, Segrest fills four large UPS trucks and makes five trips to Tampa International Airport and two to the Orlando airport.

Final destination: Most fish arrive at their final destination within 24 hours. Sandy Moore, the operations manager at Segrest, said the company doesn't like for fish to be en route for longer than 48 hours, though they could survive much longer.

At Segrest, packing starts at 6 a.m. each Monday and doesn't stop until noon Friday. Pet stores like to put their new fish on display before the weekend, Moore said.

Fish fads

Like clothing, hairstyles and baby names, species of pet fish go in and out of style. Here are a few that are popular now, according to people in the industry and trade publications:

-Neon tetras

-Swordtails

-Mollies

-Guppies

-Zebra danios

-Tattoo fish, which are colored underneath their scales to make words or patterns.

-Glow fish, which are injected with a fluorescent protein gene or descended from fish that were.

[Last modified September 17, 2007, 01:19:23]