Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Mike, great to hear you are getting 100 blues at such a cheap price. They really are easy to keep and yes, rapid change is the problem as opposed to slow acclimation. Blues are mouth brooders too, so you can breed them much easier in tank culture if you want. In fact, I can assure you that within a month or two of getting your fingerlings you will start getting fry whether you want them or not. I started with 12 niles and I currently have more than I can stock. The other nice thing about blues is that you can utilize all the publications on Nile Tilapia as the two are near identical. Lastly, since you have access to reds, you might want to experiment with cross breeding. There's some money to be made in it.

Here's a link.

http://www.cherrysnapper.com/downloads/ ... tilapia%22

http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum ... 5428#15428

I posted some of my favorite Tilapia links over on the Tilapia Thread. There are sooo many more but these are the favorites I keep coming back to.

Thanks michael, very interesting stuff indeed.

I picked my fish up from the hatchery this afternoon. The owner was really interested in the AP angle and asked if he could come round and have a look when he is in my neck of the woods again.

We chatted for a while and when it came to paying he only charged me for half the fish and threw in 3kg of tilapia pellets for free! The cost of the diesel to drive out there was more than the fish.

I'll see how the little guys are doing in the morning, test the water parameters and post the results on my system topic.

Later.

GO Mevans, great stuff. It's pretty funny dealing with hatcheries who normally sell in quantities that are 100 times what we need, but if you get the right guy, it's a breeze!

Had unexpected family responsibilities - bugger - on sunday so I didn't get to do any more work or measuring of anything. Am now at work kicking my heels till I can get home and get stuck in again.

Great Mike...did you post pics of your system? What are you keeping your fish in?

I haven't got any new pics but the tank (concrete) and the prototype growtower is at http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/vie ... 91&start=0

Will take some more pics when there is a bit more to look at.