Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi my American brothers and Sisters.
I'm still on my Learner plates as far as Aquaponics go's but I can definately help with Tilapia.I've been growing huge tonnages of Tilapia niloticus in Thailand for over 5 years , as well as catfish.

I'm not sure of your knowledge base but PLEASE be very aware that Tilapia have one HUGE problem ,, they breed breed BRED uncontrolably. Sounds good but in reality this is the greatest problem with this species, they breed so prolific and at such a young age they compete for food with their own children , you feed more they breed more and a viscious cycle falls into play.

There are two popular ways around this problem ,,
1) Purchase male only fingerlings , yep some may be gay but still no babies ( joke).
2) House them in nets within your grow tank / pond.

Male only fingerlings are usually created by feeding the very new hatchlings with hormone treated food . This is considered and approved as safe but up to you what you think.

Keeping the Tilapia in nets breaks the breeding cycle , the females try to lay eggs on the bottom for the male to fertilise ,, egss fall through net and very unlikely to be fertilised.

Also remember Male tilapia grow much faster than females.
With a good temperature and planned feeding you can get fingerling over a pound in 4 months.

PM me if you don't want to write in the thread and you want any more info.

AHHH , my kangaroo is waiting to take me to work.

Smiles

hi there florida folks, johnny in obrien 32071 (near lake city) on us highway 129 between branford and live oak

no actual system running yet but i have the AP addiction already , so it wont be too long

i might have a connection for medium but it still requires more testing before i know for sure.

have not decided on my fish yet either. might even try crawfish from my cajun buddy

its nice to meet all of you and if i can in any way help just let me know. im still pretty good on a shovel even if i am almost totally blind now. ill even bring my own shovel

best regards, johnny

The soft sand here in some parts of Florida do make digging easier. I know, I dug my large tank which is about 9 foot long by 3 foot wide by over 3 feet deep. It is lined with pond liner. It does have a raised lip around the edge to keep water from a heavy rain from washing into the tank or the fish swimming out.

I have been fairly successful keeping my tilapia from breeding by keeping them in a cage within my big tank. Only breeding that has happened was when I still had some large pipe fittings in the bottom of that cage as hides, apparently they can breed in a 3" pipe Y. I have not had any luck getting them to breed when or where I wanted them to.

a really good sorce for plastic ponds and other stuff we might be able to use is called

http://www.freecycle.org/

you have to make an acct.. they will not spam you and they are in many many citys. im not sure if worldwide yet or not but the idea is you post wanted or offer ads and its keeps stuff out of the landfills

there are always kiddie pools and plastic ponds on there.

go search their main site and see if a branch exists in you area.
its a fine group and has nice mods. it might help you make you AP project better

bright blessings, johnny

Does anyone know if tilapiafarmingathome.com / Tilapia Vita Farms / Edgar Sanchez of Orlando, Florida is still around? His site and services, as described on the website, only concern the fish side of AP, but pretty interesting. I've tried emailing him, no reply yet. Thanks.

His site seems to be active.... although it seems to be purely an "aquaculture" operation rather than an AP system....

Not sure that $400 for a six fish "breeding colony" is a "fair" price....

Given that Tilapia will breed anywhere, any way....

Sorry I can't say as I've never tried to check him out. I've shared blue tilapia with friends around central Florida as I think it would be horrible for them to pay huge money for a fish that is considered a pest if it escapes.

Tallahassee, Fl

Checking in.

Found a great supplier in St. Augustine.

http://www.aquaculturestore.com/index.html

Where can I find information on if I need some certification for south florida to own tilapia?

Hollywood South florida looking to say hello and learn from other in SFL

From - Miami, FL

Good to know my fellow Floridians are aquaponic ppl also

I know that for the white tilapia (Rocky Mountain white tilapia) you might need a permit here in FL. But I do know that no permit is required for the blue (Nile tilapia) (SOUTH FLORIDA)

I have a fellow farmer friend who donated 8, 2 year old, Rocky Mountain whites. Since the blues are ok, I bread the whites and blues and have many fish now. Both white and of the blue variety.

Buying live tilapia is a Really exspensive proccess and requires some permits in some place's. Here in Florida, the canals and ponds are FILLED with tilapia (blues) and there legal to transport and posses. Just get your own. But be careful of the source and NO CAST NETS!! they are illegal to use in freshwater canals!! at least in Miami-Dade County.

As for supplies, everyone has their own skill when it comes to DIY and is only limited to his/her know how and skills. I luckily work fabricating tanks everyday, so i couldnt be of much assistance in the "parts" department. Just keep on keeping on and youll find almost anything can be a "system"

Happy Farming

Hey everyone. I've been planning a system, and I was wondering if you guys have a problem with water temperature at all in the summer. Does it get too hot? If so, what have you done to compensate?

Hey AShrewdLawn,

The heat is not too much of a problem here in Florida as long as you have good shading/cover. The larger your system the more stability you have. The only real problem I can recall is water evaporation, those really dry hot days can really suck up your water if not covered properly. And the summer storms of course. Again, just have good covering. If you feel your water is too warm, yo can always do a partial water change. But warm water is nice, the fish eat more (grow more) and are more active. (Also if you have tilapia they mate in warm climate.)

During the winter it does get a bit chilly. There are those days when it is 30 or a bit lower here as well. The fish slow down and eat very little, but will deff. survive. If things come to worse you can always add a heater or some other heat source (hot water)

hope all goes well, Happy Farming!

- JCF -

oh my, I've missed out on what's going on with this topic.
If you have at least 300 gallons of fish tank, so far my experience is the temperature will likely be stable enough and not get too hot for climate appropriate fish. (Channel Catfish and bluegill are my main fish)
Tilapia will probably still need heating in all but the extreme south and coastal Florida areas.
goldfish and Koi are hardy to most temperatures for people who don't want to eat their pets.