Tone Kranjčič has had a fish farm at Sromlje for 22 years now. He raises trout as well as a few carp which serve as cleaners of the pond. Some time ago he decided to start raising eco trout. He has now achieved this feat, which makes him the first and the only Slovenian fish farmer who raises eco trout, whereas a few eco fish farmers can already be found abroad. He made this decision knowing that eco fish farming would be more expensive and subject to control, and does not regret it, especially since this work brings him immense joy.
Kranjčič is not a fisherman and had not known anything about fish until building his own fish farm, which he is a proud owner of for two decades now. The farm is located at the spring of the Sromljica brook, and consists of indoor pools connected with channels along which the water circulates and self-purifies in this way. Oxygen is added to the water naturally every 20 metres, too. He didn’t have any problems in acquiring the eco-certificate for raising trout, since he had already met nearly all criteria beforehand. Kranjčič only needed to remove a few valves and prevent the water from being re-used in eco farming.
The Kranjčič fish farm obtained the certificate from the Institute for control and certification in agriculture and Tone Kranjčič is very proud of it. He gladly shares the details of the certification criteria with anyone: "The first condition is that the fish isn’t genetically modified. The water needs to be clean, drinkable, practically direct from the source. Disinfectants are medicine cannot be used. The food need to be made from bio products. Fish flour can be used, but only from fish that had been bio raised."
The food for eco trout from abroad
What posed the biggest problem was food, since it cannot be bought in Slovenia. This is why it is delivered to Brnik for him every month, in the form of a lorry load from the Netherlands. This type of food is a bit more expensive, the fish eat more of it, there are fewer fish in the channels and the population growth is smaller. Despite this Kranjčič is very pleased that he managed to raise the first eco trout in Slovenia. They differ from rainbow trout and brook trout in the outer appearance, too.

Kranjčič explains: "One can tell they’re different at first sight. Their fins are completely pink, while they have a greyish hue in rainbow trout. The difference on the plate is even more obvious. In terms of price, eco farming makes the production more expensive by about 100%. I don’t yet know how much exactly, but I’m writing it all down, keeping records, so in time everything will be clear."

Along eco trout Kranjčič still raises "common" trout, too, but his wish is to gradually focus solely on eco farming. He says he’s interested only in quality, not quantity, which is why he doesn’t plan on expanding the production. He picks roe himself and raises juveniles, about 200,000 yearly, and also sells them to other fish farms. He doesn’t know yet how many eco trout he will raise per year, since he’s noticed they grow slower. The guests of his family restaurant at Sromlje, near the fish farm, hope he won’t run out of them, since they all like eco trout very much, even though they’re 20% more expensive. An increasing number of new guests from all parts of Slovenia are visiting the restaurant due to eco trout. You can see for yourself why if you drop by at their restaurant, since eco trout cannot be bought elsewhere.