Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Much easier to breed the tilapia in an aquarium where you can see things going on. A female with a mouthful of eggs is easy to spot then. If she is alone with her eggs/fry, she will let the babies out for recess in safety. My gals don't seem to eat their own babies, but after they have been letting the babies out for recess for a while, I remove the mothers.

As far as number of growbeds that you can support, I would base that on the fish tank volume and your nitrate level. GB:FT is ideally 2:1 by volume. But if your nitrate is already 5 or less, I'd say you need more fish, and then more GBs.

Here are some updated pics. Some things I did since the last post

1. Harvested about 10 heads of various veggies. Planted a ton.

2. Added another GB. Its pretty good, about 30 gallons. Can't wait till it gets growing.

I'm always scared to change things within the system. I feel like I'm throwing off the balance or something. I'll need more fish for sure. I think one of the reason the tilapia are not multiplying is because the crayfish is eating the eggs. Don't tilapia lay eggs on substrate? I can just imagine the crayfish feasting on some eggs.

See the pics....

more...

Talapia are mouth brooders HN.... the female will hold the eggs in her mouth.

Indeed Janet says that she has noticed the females will hold the young fry in their mouths for a while after hatching....

Other Talapia will eat the eggs/young fry given the opportunity....

Read Janet's thread for all the info on Talapia HN.... she''s probably got the most experience of anyone on the forum when it comes to successfully breading Talapia.

will do. I thought tilapia lay eggs first on substrate, then the male goobers on them, then the female picks them up and holds them in her mouth? So I figured that when the female lays them the crayfish was gobbling them up.

Possible HN.... ask Janet (or others).... I'm no Talapia expert

Janet, Mike and Johnnie are the people who can help on tilapia...one/all should be able to assist

The eggs are briefly placed, one by one, on the substrate, then fertilized, then each in turn is picked up again by the female for incubation in her mouth. So each individual egg spends only a few moments on the substrate. It would have to be one mighty desperate, big, brave, and lightening fast crayfish to get in the middle of a tilapia spawning. I'd wager a crayfish attempting that would get his feelers torn off. Breeding tilapia can be mighty aggressive. My last tilapia breeding attempt ended abruptly because the male was too eager, pursuing the female long after she was done. She ended up spitting the eggs. So if the female cannot distance herself enough from her companion(s), you will lose the eggs. If she cannot find a safe place to release the fry, the other fish will likely eat them.

Rock on HN! Looks great! You might be surprised how much vegetables you can get with just a few fish and warm weather.

Thanks Janet, I think I might put a pair in an aquarium and breed them there. Will any male breed with any female? Its not working in the main pond.

Dave, yeah I'm really surprised at how fast this stuff grows. I'm real excited about the new GB.

The only crappy thing is we are in the middle of a major storm. Some of my veggies, especially the seedlings. They got beat up. Plus I don't have any overflow system on my pond so I am having to siphon water out every so often. Ack.

Thanks all!

HN

Tilapia are very eager breeders, HN. Rather like bunnies. Put them together and look for them to start posturing to each other. Watch and learn.

Janet,
I have a number of Tilapia Johnnie7au gave me. There are 2 large males who are so laid back. there are a couple of smaller males (40 - 50 mm long) who have begun territorial activities, including chasing off other Tilapia, both male and female.
What other activities would I be likely to see, to indicate that breeding is imminent?

Regards,
Tony

Let's talk about tilapia on a tilapia thread. I'll go find one and you can follow.

Tilapia thread here: http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum ... 7099#87099

HN why not put a tap in the line before the GB then you can use the pump to get rid of the water