Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Seriously good stuff.
Very impressed, wish I could do that were I live,but would probably end up in jail( I rent)

Looks really good Mike. You have been a big help on Tilapia and i think i am ready to jump on in with getting some fish.

good to hear jtjf... I really am sold on these guys. If I were in AU I would try jade and gp, but really these are so easy to raise. More pics coming....

yeh they dont taste that bad either

CG how is your quest coming?

Nice pictures Mike, I like to see the breeding operation it's very interesting.

Damn nice pics MF.... Tilapia really seem like the answer for closing the loop in terms of self sufficiency... I might have to see if I can't keep the temperature up enough to keep some out in the new greenhouse, when I get my act together and get one....

Michael i found a guy that has pink tilapia for sale i am now trying to figer out how much to buy

I got 1800l sys to start with so i am saying i should get 100 fingerlings and 5 breeders, 3f/2m maby? this sounds good?

Or any one knows better?

I allso sourced the first line of nile tilapia that was brought into the island they are being keep in a large man made pond inter breeding for over 20 years most males are about 13 in long i could get about two of these.

I am thinking of crossing the two lines. To produce a hybrid, hibrids grow realy fast.

Thanks Joel and Dave. Ahh...the ever elusive greenhouse;) I completely understand.

CG, Pink Tilapia? Hmmm, wonder what line that is? I agree with your idea of going for a hybrid w/ the Nile. 13 inches is pretty damn good for a Tilapia no matter how you slice it...

Just buy the fingerlings and skip the breeders. The fingerlings will mature within 8 weeks if water is kept warm and they are fed real well. In fact when you go to split them up male/female you will undoubtedly find a few of the girls with a clutch of fry. Have a two spare tanks ready to go. One for the girls and one for the fry.

regarding the pink Tilapia... I noticed that out of all the fingerlings in my tank (60-70) there is one who stands out like a sore thumb because he is pale red or almost pink. Wonder if this is the pinks you have in Barbados?

If you can get the right tilapia, their F1 hybid children will be mostly male. That would save sexing and separating them. Quote: "The Pennyfish which is the f-1 Hybrid cross produced by mating t. mossambica with t. hornorum f-1, have been produced for over 20 years on hundreds of farms. When the brood stocks are pure they generally produce over 98% males. "

Read more here: http://www.cherrysnapper.com/Hybrids/Pe ... %99/0.html

Of course, you could pay out the $$$ to buy a breeding set from this guy, but I don't know how you get them to Barbados. Maybe you can develop your own lines in a similar way. He has pretty extensive information on Tilapia breeding.

Janet - You've been doing some homework;) Did you get his free hatchery manual? It is very useful. There is a link in the Tilapia section of this forum. Mike Sipes has been around for some time now and rumor has it that it the F1 program has had its share of ups and downs. Tom Speraneo bought from him back in the 90's and the fish crashed big time after some disease took hold. Tom told me he switched hatcheries after that. I didn't know enough about rearing Tilapia to ask more specific questins. Maybe inbreeding is the risk with these fish, which is something that concerns me already and I've only started. For now it's kind of fun to split the fish up and play with them, but if I were to go commercial there would have to be hybrid use or dosing the fish with methyl testosterone which is more common, however, hormone fed fish makes me cringe.

Good one JP, better than using meth-testosterone to "revert" the femals back to males

I spent a good deal of time reading through the cherrysnapper site, but I don't think I saw his hatchery manual. Maybe I will look for it as a break from washing rocks.

Here you go Janet for those times when you are resting your hands.

http://www.cherrysnapper.com/downloads/ ... %20HOME%22

More pics. How the babies doing?