TIPPCO FISH

Aquaculture has been interesting to Phil Shambach since the early days of his career. While working in a biology lab after graduating from Ball State, he and the lab owner discussed the owner’s plans to grow freshwater shrimp. These conversations sparked Phil’s decision to learn more and he went back to school. “I went to Auburn University in Alabama and got a degree in aquaculture,” Phil says.

An internship at a sport fish farm led to working for Farmers Catch, a tilapia farm that was part of Southern States Co-Op. Phil was promoted to manage a fish farm in Delaware which he did for six years and enjoyed the role. “I really loved the job but it became clear that if I wanted to move up, I would have to manage people not fish,” he says. “I realized I would rather go out on my own and still get to work with fish.”

He came back to Indiana and started TIPPCO FISH in Romney, choosing to raise tilapia indoors in a Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) which is an environmentally controlled system. Phil uses the analogy for the RAS system that it is similar to a home aquarium with fresh water and a filter, just on a much bigger scale. “These are clear water fish and you can see them swimming around in the tanks,” he says.

The process starts at TIPPCO FISH with the arrival of “fry,” the term for 30-day old tilapia sourced from Miami, Florida. It takes six to seven months to raise each fish to the full size of a pound and a half before being ready for delivery. The fish eat pellets made mostly out of soybean meal made by a steam extruded process in a manner similar to how dog food is made. There is not a local feed supplier for these special pellets, so the tilapia’s food must be shipped from a plant in Louisiana.

To meet customer demand for consistent supply, new fry arrive about every four weeks and Phil is harvesting fish each week. “At any given time, we will have between 70,000 to 100,000 fish on the farm,” Phil says. His wife, Amy, helps out a great deal with the operation as does his daughter Riley and his two stepsons, Zane and David.

Phil personally delivers the live fish, using insulated blue totes that hold 256 gallons of water transported in a repurposed beverage truck. TIPPCO FISH customers are primarily Asian markets, located in major metropolitan areas such as Chicago and Indianapolis where international grocery stores serve consumers who want to see their fish displayed live in the store. “This is a market niche where imports can’t compete due to the fish being delivered live,” Phil points out.

Promoting and expanding aquaculture in Indiana is a passion, and Phil serves as the President of the Indiana Aquaculture Association. This group enables aquaculture producers by promoting, marketing, educating, and nurturing aquaculture and aquaculture research in Indiana. Phil would like to expand the industry, pointing out that tank-raised fish in Indiana provide a very safe seafood supply without the worries of environmental contamination.

There’s no doubt Phil is committed to raising fish as his farm suffered a fire two years ago that destroyed the operation and the fish were lost. “Reconstruction took a year, and the fire was a lot to come back from,” he reflects. Phil is looking to the future and would like to expand with more tilapia and perhaps other species that would be processed. From the farm to the table, fish is delicious for the Shambach family. “We eat a lot of fish, and enjoy it pan fried with garlic, butter and lemon,” Phil concludes.