Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

hey guys, I am in the planning/purchase stage of a new system. in this system I would like to do tilapia. They are available somewhat locally, but I would like to have my own breeder colony. This way I could control sex through hybridization. I have been able to find supposedly pure line of blue nile tilapia as well as mozambique, however, not a single company is wanting to sex or even help me sex the fish if I purchase.
So with that, how can I tell the difference between males and felmales of those respected species, so I can put together a simple breeding colony?

http://www.farmingtilapia.com/tilapia-guide/

Use food coloring and it's still not easy. At 4-5", I am maybe 80% accurate. Still cut the upper lip off a few of my females.lol The males will make nests if you don't overcrowd them. Typically, males grow much faster then females. They are more aggressive and eat more feed, hence the faster growth.

thanks for the link. I was hoping maybe someone has some pictures showing the difference. I have found a fw other sources.. but none of the pictures are really that good

Are you planning on doing this inside? Even down here in Texas I can't get my tilapia to make it over the winter even in a green house.

I did not specify, yes, this basement will be in a climate controlled basement grow room. The tanks will also have a heater, which should keep the temps right where I want them. The breeder colony itself will be in a 80 gallon aquarium in my living room, where I can better control the environment. The fry will first go into a 40 gallon breeder tank, until fingerling size, then into a 100 gallon grow out tank. once the fish reach the 4-6" size I will move them once again, into the 275 IBC tank. this is where they will remain until I want some fish for my dinner.
I could go into system details if desired, however, I do not see its relevance to my question. I understand the sexing can be tricky, females have 2 holes, males have 1 and sometime the sex organ is showing.. but I have not really been able to find any clear pictures.

I can not tell anything by the two hole thing. But once they get to breeding age it is easy to tell them apart. The males will get color to them, and the females will stay more bland coloring. The males will also get bigger, and more aggressive.

that I can understand, I have other chiclid breeds here in my various aquariums, I can usually tell the difference between them.

I use clay pots in an aquarium. When they are about 3-4 inches you'll see the males turn color and guard their selected pot. Just scoop out the guarding males every couple days until you have only females left. As the male population dwindles, you may see a female or two turning color and being aggressive but they won't "guard" a pot. As a side note you'll notice that an all male tank is very chill with little aggression. An all female tank is much more aggressive.

For the breeder tanks I keep 2 males and 3 to 5 females.

Good morning all. Thanks for the website and this thread in particular.

I live in So. Cal. and am just getting my two IBC totes back up and running after an unsuccessful first attempt at cycling them (too much sun caused excessive algae). I want to run Tilapia have a couple of questions I hope you can answer.

First, can I keep a Plecostomus in each tank to keep the algae down without compatibility problems?

Second, does anyone know where I can get a quality tank heater in order to control the temp through winter and spring?

Third, I intend to keep about 20-25 fish for eating in each tank and I am wondering whether they will breed on their own or if it is something for which I will have to set up another, smaller, tank.

I am new to this hobby and very excited to make it work, but it has taken me over a year to get the two systems to a point where I am ready to add the fish. It has been a learning experience to say the least!

Thanks in advance for any input you might have.

Mike

Really?

I just sexed my breeder tank today and my big male is bland looking or a pale look. The 3 females have some color and are aggressive to one another? I added the third female today and replaced the male with the current large pale one. I have not had any brooding females yet. Breeding tank has been up for at least a month now.

Why are the females aggressive to each other? I would have thought the male would be the aggressive one. He is calm.

Here is a video of my tilapia breeding. You can see the male has red colors on him, and the female has no colors.

You can see a second male come in, then lots of females.

deja vu, there is another thread just like this one with a sketch of how to sex tilapia.


.... and that is just what i see in the first page of "view new posts". cant say for certain that the search function would help...

do you think anyone has ever asked this question before?

Is your system heated and indoors? If i lived in colorado, tilapia would not be my fish of choice.