MARTINSVILLE — Did you know your pet goldfish or koi may have come from right here in Central Indiana?
Ozark Fisheries in Martinsville is celebrating 100 years of raising and selling these fish.
"This area in Martinsville is known, it's the artesian area, so it's known for lots of groundwater," said Joe Cleveland, Vice President of Ozark Fisheries. "Flowing from natural springs."
You need a lot of water to raise a lot of fish.
"We have an estimated number of fry that we hatch from our farms, which is about 100 million per location," Joe Cleveland continued.
Ozark Fisheries has two locations today: Martinsville, Indiana, and Stoutland, Missouri.
Ozark Fisheries was started in Martinsville in April 1926, so they will be celebrating their 100th anniversary in 2026.
During those 100 years, Ozark Fisheries acquired Grassyfork Fisheries, which started selling goldfish in 1899 in Martinsville.
"We're the oldest privately owned fish farm still in operation in the United States, especially doing goldfish and koi," said Vice President Margaret Cleveland.
The farm is currently on its fourth generation of fish farmers.
Fish start out in the hatchery. Once big enough, they're moved to one of the hundreds of ponds across the property, where they'll continue growing.
"When they're the right size and color, we can harvest them out of those ponds and sell them to the customer," explained Margaret Cleveland.
The ponds, which are right off of I-69 by the First Methodist Church, have fish in them throughout the entire year, even during winter.
In the winter, when the ponds are covered in ice, it takes a little extra work to fish out the goldfish and koi.
Breaking through the ice, farm staff are able to put a net in the pond, luring fish with some fish food, and successfully capture the needed amount of fish.
"We ship fish nationwide, all across North America, into Canada and Puerto Rico. We ship for overnight delivery, so the fish are packed here at our location, then UPS or FedEx picks them up, and they are shipped overnight," Margaret Cleveland explained.
From the pond, the fish are transported to an indoor facility, full of holding tanks.
Fish are sorted by size and type, then scooped into colanders before being weighed. Ultimately, the fish are then put into bags inside cardboard boxes to be shipped.
Currently, the cardboard boxes are donned with the 100 years logo, plus the 'live fish' label.
"Ozark Fisheries was the original farm to ship live fish in a cardboard box," Margaret explained. "In the early history, we shipped fish by railroad in big metal cans, and then we switched to shipping in a cardboard box with insulation."
Fish are sold to a variety of pet stores across the country. If you've ever had a pet goldfish before, "It's a good chance that if it's in the state of Indiana, that it's coming from our fish farm," Joe Cleveland said.
The fishery is not open to the public for in-person sales, but they do offer farm tours for school and FFA groups.
What is the busiest time of year?
"These ponds are production ponds that we are growing the fish from an egg. We're hatching the egg out in our hatcheries, and then restocking our facility," Joe Cleveland stated. "And that happens in the time frame of May and June, so about a 60-day window to reproduce the crop that we need to grow for sales for the next 12 to 24 months."
Over the past 100 years, the work done around the farm has not always been considered part of the agricultural world.
"Just like any other crop you're raising, we spawn our fish. The fish that lay their eggs, we hatch them out in a hatchery, and then we move them to ponds where they live most of their lives here on the farm, and so we put that crop into production. We have to feed it. We have to take care of it," explained Margaret Cleveland.
"A lot of people don't realize that aquaculture is a part of agriculture. For a long time, we had to fight to be considered part of agriculture," Margaret Cleveland continued.
While the anniversary is officially in April, Ozark Fisheries has started their 100 year celebrations already, and they are including all of their family members who helped get the farm to where it is today.
"My grandmother is still alive," Margaret Cleveland said. "My great-grandfather started the farm, but my grandmother is still alive. We're planning several different celebrations throughout the year. We just finished a 100th centennial book about the history of Ozark Fisheries. We've got a lot of fun things planned."
You can read more about the history of Ozark Fisheries here.
You can find the farm's Facebook page here (which is full of plenty of fish videos).
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