The ultimate aquaculture equipment checklist (fish vs shrimp)
A practical, system-by-system checklist of every piece of equipment a modern fish farm, RAS facility or shrimp pond needs — from aeration to biofiltration.
Setting up an aquaculture operation — whether you are growing tilapia, salmon, sea bass or shrimp — comes down to specifying the right equipment for each subsystem. Get this list wrong and you will pay for it for the next 10 years in FCR, mortality, oxygen bills and labour.
This checklist covers the equipment categories every modern fish farm, RAS facility or shrimp pond needs, with notes on what changes between finfish and shrimp systems. FishMatch Group sources every category below from project-matched manufacturers worldwide — use this as your scoping document before you request quotes.
1. Tanks, ponds and civil works
RAS: circular fibreglass or concrete tanks with dual-drain bottoms sized for target biomass density (typically 40–80 kg/m³). Shrimp: lined or earthen ponds 0.3–1.0 ha, with dedicated nursery raceways. Cages: HDPE circular pens for marine finfish, sized to current and depth.
2. Aeration and oxygenation
Shrimp ponds: paddlewheel aerators (2 HP per 400–600 kg of biomass) plus bottom diffusers. RAS: low-head oxygenators, oxygen cones or U-tubes fed by on-site PSA/VPSA oxygen generation. Never undersize — dissolved oxygen is the single biggest driver of survival and growth.
3. Water treatment and filtration
RAS non-negotiables: mechanical drum filter (60 µm), moving-bed biofilter sized to ammonia load, CO₂ degasser, UV or ozone disinfection, and a protein skimmer for marine systems. Match TAN removal capacity to peak feed load, not average.
4. Feeding systems
Finfish: automatic belt or pendulum feeders, or centralised air-blown feeding with per-cage doser (Akvasmart-style). Shrimp: acoustic (sound-triggered) auto-feeders significantly improve FCR versus broadcast feeding — a proven 10–15% feed saving.
5. Water quality monitoring
Continuous DO, temperature, pH, salinity and ORP probes tied to a SCADA with SMS/alarm dialler. Add TAN, nitrite and nitrate lab kits for weekly checks. For RAS, alkalinity monitoring is non-negotiable.
6. Temperature control
RAS: heat pumps or heat exchangers with plate-and-frame recovery on the discharge water. Tropical shrimp: greenhouse cover for winter operation in subtropical regions. Salmon smolt/post-smolt RAS: chillers sized for summer intake temperature.
7. Biosecurity and disinfection
Perimeter fencing, vehicle wheel dips, dedicated boots per zone, footbath at every doorway, UV or ozone barrier on incoming water, and a documented pond/tank sanitation protocol between cycles. In shrimp, the difference between EMS/AHPND outbreaks and clean cycles is biosecurity discipline.
8. Grading, harvest and post-harvest
Fish graders (bar or roller), fish pumps with counters, ice slurry harvest tanks, slaughter/stunning line for finfish. Shrimp: harvest pumps, chill kill tanks, size graders and IQF tunnels for processing.
9. Backup power and monitoring
Generator sized to run all aeration, oxygenation and pumping under full load, with automatic transfer switch, plus alarm dialler tied to DO, temperature, water level and power sensors. This is non-negotiable — a 4-hour power cut without aeration wipes an entire crop.
10. Nursery and hatchery kit (optional)
PL nursery raceways with biofloc, live-feed enrichment tanks (Artemia, rotifer), broodstock maturation tanks, algae culture units and larval rearing tanks with air-lift circulation.
What to do next
Send this checklist — with your species, target tonnage, country and system type — to the FishMatch Group sourcing team. We will return project-matched supplier quotes for every line item within a few business days, with no buyer fees.