Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Comon DD.... show us the pics... show us the pics ....

I'll borrow the good camera again and get some good pictures of them. They seem pretty happy ATM.

I read the first quarter of the thread a few weeks back and just now the last fifth. I'll have to fill in the gap soon, I'm thinking about setting up a similar sort of system in the not too distant future...

Tilapia Available

PM me if you want my 10 10" fish in the main tank. I am keeping the dozen babies in an aquarium this Winter but want to shut the main tank down to save on the heating costs and to lower humidity in the basement too.

I will go ahead and fillet them soon otherwise. Could be a good start for anyone wanting tilapia within driving distance of S Central PA!

I'll be swinging through for Thanksgiving I think if you're looking to hold on to them for that long, a breeding pair would be excellent... Rocky Mountain White yeah?

If I still have them then you're quite welcome to them Jon. Not all of them are white (there is a mix to them), but the white ones could be matched if you wanted to.

The babies might actually be breeding by Thanksgiving.

Thinking about AP today, was staring at the outside setup but can't get the gumption up to take it down today although this is the best weather we'll have for awhile.

Measured the outside water temps 49F/9C. Sunny but windy and chilly. I'd like to get some plants outside due to the light but the temps will be falling so that will probably cancel out.

Science teacher is supposed to stop by early this week to take some females, then I'll eat the rest of the adults. Getting the larger aquarium warmed up to move the babies into it. They will way outgrow it before the cold weather is over.

Prospects are looking better for having a home for any fishies by January, but nothing near certain yet, buying a house is a pain. I'm hoping to have an outdoor system year round... can the cold weather tilapia take close to freezing temps? I'm fairly certain that the trout can.

Hi Jon,

No, the "cold weather" tilapia would die below 50 I think. I don't think the ones I have would be happy below 70, but then again I haven't tried seeing what their tolerances are. That could be an interesting experiment with the remainders, gradually bring the temps down to no heat (in the basement) to see if I need to heat them at all. My bet is that they'd die when the heaters were turned off.

A bucket of ice water good and truly kills them.

It's the end of an era today. I gave six of the adults to the high school and had the remaining four for lunch (deep fried with french fries!) Pumped the water out using a hose on the sump pump. It has been raining a lot the past three days and its supposed to keep raining, but I'd like to dig a couple holes in the back yard and move the two tubs outside. The plan is to get a few trout and see how they work.

BTW, the science teacher and I sexed the fish, they wanted some females for breeding at the high school. All my fish were males. My theory is that the ones that had died one by one were probably harassed females, and/or we had eaten the last female just after the last batch of babies were found in the sump!

I lost all my females from my first batch too. By this spring my new fish should be breeding size. However, now Im hoping I will have any males.. All the big fish have jumped out of my tank. I have a lid on now, but none of them look near as large as the few the jumped out..

Best of luck with the trout!

Thanks!

p.s. Winter is boring for AP!

Update - turns out the fish were all girls, not boys. They've been squeezing eggs out of them at the high school!

I have often wondered if I could just squeeze the eggs out of the girls and "milk" the boys and mix to get new fish. Sure would eliminate the hassle for trying to notice when eggs are being held and would guarantee the numbers of new fish I need...