Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi All
I want to know what is better to take telapia fish from someone who breed them or to get some natural occurring from near lake ? i think that naturally occurring fish is better but i dont know about parrasites and diseases that may be in them. so if some one can shed some light on this issue i will be more than glad.

You've nailed one point right on the head: the risk of parasites and diseases.
Depending on the breeder and strain, you could end up with a hardier and/or faster growing fish from a breeder as well.

So you say that it is best to take fish from breeder but they will use antibiotics and similar stuff to get healthy fish ? right?

maybe to get its the best to get fish from the naturally occurring place like lake but put them for a while in quarantine? just a thought...

Depends what you mean by "better" ? More natural is what I think you're chasing.

Not necessarily.

However, how do you intend to get your wild catch fish? With a net ? That can damage the fish significantly. With a hook ? Same deal. Electro-fishing ? Better for the fish but is a fairly complex procedure with specialised equipment.

Once you've got them, wild caught fish are very hard to train across to eat pellet food, and constantly supplying them live food can consume a great deal of time and/or money.

And, as you mention, there is the parasite/disease issue to deal with.

Also, even if the grower uses antibiotics, you're not going to eat the fish straigh away and antiobitotics are not like lead or mercury - they do not stay in the body very long. So, if you grow your fish out, they will be free of antibiotics.

+ 1 to above.

If you get the wild ones, be sure to place a netting above the tank. The wild ones can jump out of your fish tank.
Get fingerlings from a hatchery. By the time they be big enough for human consumption, they will be good and kosher.

I caught my tilapia in the wild. It took them a little while to take feed, but now they like it. They don't jump. I rarely see them at the surface. They used to scatter when I approached, but now less so. I know that they are well adapted to my local conditions. I intend to breed them in a future nursery system that I am planing with the Mrs. I believe that they will grow out much faster as they will be on pellet feed right away. The best part is that they were free!

I think I'm with Ronmaggi on this, as long as it's legal where you are, with Tilapia I would just catch some wild. Yes, they will have parasites and I would quarantine/treat them before putting them in your main system. Hatchery raised fish also have problems with diseases and parasites so there is a risk either way.

Tell me how do you catch the wild ones without damaging?
also how do you treat them ? quarantine for how long? do you treat fish from hatchery also ?

As long as you hook them in the lips you could just fish for them. Have a bucket with a battery operated aerator to transport them in. If it's permitted, netting them would be a good option also.

What I do is a salt dip to disinfect them before throwing fish into a quarantine tank (which is salted but has a lower salt concentration). For the dip I usually use 1.5 lbs uniodized/Pure no additive salt, in 5 gallons of water - a bucket works well for this - the salt must be completely dissolved before treating fish. One to two minutes is all this takes and if the fish looks distressed remove it immediately (catfish and some others are very sensitive to salting - the catfish I've done have been ok but had to be removed after 30 seconds). This kills parasites and removes the mucous coating along with the parasites. The quarantine tank with it's lower salt levels helps restore the mucous coat. I'd quarantine for a couple of weeks. Even with this treatment some parasites will not be affected.

I've never treated Tilapia so your results may vary.

Here are some websites that might help.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_treatment_(fishkeeping)

http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/treatments/salt.htm

http://cichlid-forum.com/articles/treatment_tips.php

Go for it then.

I still don't understand what you mean by "better" though. How is it better ?

I just used a little trout landing net, like what you use to pull in a fish after you have reeled it in. It took some speed, but one scoop got me over 100 fry. Some died off, mostly from getting into the plumbing. I took no special precautions as they were the only fish I had. Also, they came out of the Salton Sea, so hey lived their early life salted up. So I figured any parasites they had would be adapted to salt, and perhaps the fresh water would destroy any that they had. If they made silicone coated nets in the size I wanted, I would have rather used that as it is better for the fish. Again, grow out time is long enough that parasites would ie off before you eat them. Or the fish will die, no different than in nature. I, however, have had no deaths since the early plumbing issues, so they seem quite healthy to me. People eat the tilapia they catch in the Salton Sea all the time. So I see no issue with growing them out in an environment that is not sustained by farm runoff.

Nothing wrong with doing it either way, the choice is yours. Even when you treat you aren't killing everything that could cause problems.




If you're running enough salt the kill their progeny this should be true but otherwise not.

Ronmaggi, You have balls getting your fish from the SS but I have to admit thinking the same thing. How long ago did you do it?

Memorial day.

Just remember that if there is a large population in a small body of water, the fish may be stunted and won't grow like a hatchery raised fingerling.