Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I think Swanberg is right about the inbreeding. The originals were from Miami Aquaculture, probably from several or many parents as they are large breeders, then offspring from a single breeding (brothers and sisters from unrelated male/female) went to another APer, then brother/sister from brother/sister breeding. And was there one more step? Anyway, you have brother/sister pairs for two or three generations.... might be good to get some fresh stock from somewhere else to add some different genes. At least, get two batches of fry from the same source under the idea that they will probably have at least one different parent!

(cue the banjo music)

Magneto would be horrified...

Thanks for letting me know that yours are becoming mutant too, DD. That's good to know. I won't feel so bad now.

Any with two heads? Maybe we could prove if they really will grow twice as fast.

Yes , selective breeding is important ,, I know it sounds somewhat NAZI , but we are talking fish.
Selection for fast growth in YOUR environment can see significant gains over just a few generations.
Down side is you don't get to eat the fastest growers UNTIL they get old:)

The cool thing about fish is that you get alot of genetic diversity in each spawn. Hundreds or thousands of individuals each generation. Unlike humans, horses or cows that generally get just one offspring per breeding. Think cat, dog or rabbitt with multiple individuals and each one is different. Breeders pick the best traits of those animals for for future parents if possible. Usually don't cross siblings of the above species but it does happen. Fish, fortunately get around the inbreeding problem with all the diversity in each generation.

No two-headed fish, anyway...

Thanks, Chappo. I'm not far enough along to to serious breeding. I did pick the biggest male and the healthiest looking females for this new generation, but like I said, I think I'll buy a new breeding pair when I really start breeding.


Really? That's good to know. And I guess all of the really bad genetic mixes died off early...

Quick update:
I added some duckweed to this system, and therefore added snails, but I've been squashing those regularly and I seem to be keeping up. The baby T really like hiding in the duckweed roots, I rarely see them anymore. I'm also glad I added the duckweed because the little T weren't seeming to eat the pellet powder I was adding. But they are certainly munching on the roots.

I also changed the pump timing from 45min on, 15 min off to the opposite: 15 min on, 45min off. I figured this would reduce the chance of any fry getting sucked up into the SLO, and the fry were so small they were getting a bit overwhelmed by the current. They're getting big enough now, though, that I may up the pumping time again. ("Big" in this case equals about 1/2 cm long!)

I've also been adding some fish emulsion, since the fry don't generate much in the way of nutrients...

Swanberg, NOT really, I stand corrected. Variability is the proper term not diversity. Thank you.

Fish inbreeding.. I would like to avoid that if I can. Perhaps I need to attempt to separate a male and 5 or 6 females from my current batch instead of eating them all.