Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

about a month ago i had my first batch of tilapia fry. Some are over 2 inches already. The water temp is a nice temp for another batch so i expect anyday i will be seeing some more. I know that juvenile tilapia have a great hunger for protein. Anyone know how big or small they usually are when they could potentially start eating the new fry? I have two 1000 ltr tanks but the little and big buggers are hard to catch for seperating purposes.

Hi,

Any fry smaller than 1" to 1.25" can be eaten by fry that are 1.25" and larger depending on how large they are..... a 1.25"er can defiantly eat a new hatched 3/8" fry, and a 3-4"er can eat a 1"er, After they reach the 1.25" size, they are pretty safe...... if a fish can get it into it's mouth, it will eat it.......

in the Cherry Snapper breeding info, it says to keep fry that are a week older, separate for 10 weeks, in 10 tanks

so i scoop out new hatched fry as soon as i find them at the surface, and keep them in a separate container until most of them are about 1.25" before moving them into a tank with older fish

so i have gotten away with using 6 1 gal containers that i rotate the weekly fry through while they grow big enough to not be eaten, and are careful to not put them in with larger 3 -5" fish when i do add them to another tank with older fish

the other option is to have a dense hide out for the new hatched to hide in while they grow..........

Thanks RS

I am somewhat confused. Most people say that the fry, when small, will be eaten if left together with larger fish. To me that means that if one never separated the fry that one would never have an increase in the pond. At the same time I read where every fish pond that does not have predator fish become over populated due to rapid breeding. What am I missing? John

The small ones move very fast, it takes more energy to catch them than is gained by eating them.
Simple survival equation, or none of us would be here

In most Pond situations there are plenty of hiding places so that a majority of baby fry can survive, thus causing over population.....

In a AP tank type setup, the hiding places are few, and so new hatched fry are easy pickings......

and a correction in the above post, i use 6, 2 gal buckets for new hatched fry and rotate out the 5 week old fry every week into a 55gal barrel.....

RS

I have an in ground pond 8 X 20 feet, 3 feet deep. I think I will try making a lot of hiding places for the fry to start with. If I still get over populated I can remove a few hiding places or add a couple of catfish. What are some suggestions for fish castles? I can only think of pieces of PVC pipe on the bottom.