Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

!!! Janet you rock. All these fun threads with great pictures to keep me excited enough to bust my butt digging holes thanks!

Update on the Brooding tank. Things have been going well, and today was day 2 of fry swimming in the tank. Momma #1 has been guarding them vigorously, attacking the only other fish in the tank -- the Momma with a mouthful of eggs. I expected Momma #1 to realize that #2 wasn't going to eat any babies because her mouth was otherwise occupied. Nope. Not that smart. So now I have a divider in the tank and things have calmed down considerably.

I've been feeding small quantities of pellets for the Momma #1, and powdered flake for the fry. I am estimating that #1 has over 100 fry, and I bet #2 will have nearly as many. Egads, I need a Nunnery aquarium!

My favorite male was busy testing the 'gals' in the other aquarium. Yup, I really stink at sexing fish in a net. I came to the conclusion that 2 of the 3 'gals' were guys. That may explain why the one remaining female was so tattered. I removed the two lesser males (back on the menu), leaving the tattered female with my favorite male. We'll see how that goes. That tank is also much calmer tonight.

practice makes perfect Janet

Oh yes, very nice!

Janet, I beg your pardon, you may well have already posted this info. If so, just say so, and I will find it. Your saga intrigues me. You keep the breeder males seperate in what size aquarium? The females are having their litters in what size aquarium? I hope to breed blue gill, but that is planned for my sump tank (100 gallons). Then move the fry to a 20 gallon aquarium for grow out to fingerling size. One male with tewo females was my plan. I guess a lot depends on the species, so it is my job to research blue gill. That was a bit long winded, but I enjoy your saga and just want to picture the setup better. Thanks.

Hi Doug,
Right now I have the main AP sytem for grow out, plus 2 50gal aquariums. The AP system was originally intended to be all-male, but is still mixed-gender and will probably stay that way. When I tried to sex the fish, I realized I wasn't accurate, and besides, any fry in the AP system have nowhere to hide and will just be snacks.

The aquariums were originally intended to be 1 Love Shack (1 male, 3 females) and 1 fry grow out. Right now, I have 1 aquarium with a divider and 2 brooding females. The brooding females have proved to be so defensive that I needed to get innocent bystanders out of the way to avoid fatalities! The other aquarium has the lucky male and one probable-female. I'm seeing if I can 'prove' an extra female or two for folks who might want them. Any fry from them will probably become snack food for the AP system.

Longer term, given the fecund nature of these fish, I need to control the breeding a bit. One thought is to separate the males and females completely. One thought is to keep them in the same tank with a divider and cooler temperatures. Although in summer, the sunroom warms up quite a bit, and 'cooler' may still be in their breeding range. I'm still trying to figure out what configuration is going to work best for me. At this particular moment, an extra 30gal for the Bachelor Pad seems like a good idea. Tomorrow morning, I'm sure something else will seem good. Today I bought two large pond-plant baskets that could be floated in the main AP system. They won't contain fry because the holes are too big, but I think they would keep 3-week old fish in.

Quite honestly, I'm playing this nearly day-by-day right now. I base my next step on the desire to protect my chosen breeders, and the dynamics I see in the tanks.

When I was reading up on yellow perch, there was a particular set of conditions that had to be met for them to breed. Temperature or light, or something. If bluegills are the same way, controlling breeding would be easier, and you might not need so much separation. With tilapia, the only thing that is required for breeding is warm water.

Thanks Janet, now I can picture your setup.

I have a lot more research to do, but so far I have found perch and blue gill have a predictable mating time in spring as temperature rises to a certain point. That is the time I want to get my start on raising fry. I need to learn what other times they might mate. Fall would be nice for my timing. Raise fry all winter in a heated aquarium to introduce in the spring at a good size. I need to research for the feasability of fall breeding. Thanks for the help.

Glad to see your success Janet. I am rooting for you.

Good going Janet. You have a "free" source of fertilizer now, and a free source of food if you like.

Any more holding eggs?

Not yet, DT. I dumped some more potential-females in with the favored male. He has selected one to woo, and I think 2 of the remaining 3 are also female. As he proves each female, I think I will just put her in a floating cage in the grow-out tank. I don't need additional fry right now , but I do want some proven females.

Mama #1 is still in with her fry, although she no longer lets them in her mouth. Mama #2 will probably release her fry early next week. She's still light-colored, so I can tell that her eggs are not wiggling yet.

You know you can make her spit the fry out and then remove her from the fry tank if you want when the eggs hatch. But it's more fun to watch her be a mother.

Okaaay. Now I have the third fish with eggs. And it looks like a huge mouthful. These things are worse than rabbits!

I got to see some of the breeding behavior this time. Very nice.

voyeur

you might want to throw in an older fish to chaperone..... Keep them from getting so frisky.