Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

So ive had some Blue Tilapia for a 2 months just in my 45 Gallon since they were fingerlings and i have a few questions.
1. Some have grown A LOT larger than others and there is a huge size difference in between them. is this normal?
This is info about feed, the growth is of a single tilapia in the tank.
pictures upload

2. When i feed them a pelleted floating feed a majority of them sink? and the fish only eat a few pellets the rest disappears im guessing into the water.

3. Are the supposed to be so aggressive i know their cichlids but they are constantly nipping at each other, i put a bluegill in to clean some of the feed they wouldn't eat and they nearly killed him in one day.

I have 20 Blue Tilapia, well aerated,clean water,salt content of about 10 ppt any help would be greatly appreciated.

Tilapia aren't normally agressive fishes.. but the Male are very territorial especially if they are guarding a potential nesting area.. they will atk anything on sight even you.. sadly that aggressive action doesn't go away.. the females however are very calm.

From I've experienced ... do not introduce anything to the tank after they have established pecking order. They appear to be calm to each other but when something else gets added they just run it to exhaustion.

(Also raising Blue Tilapia but only still very new ~8 months)

Can anyone tell me so I don't have to look it up myself....


What is the minimum temperature for Tilapia and what is the maximum temperature for tilapia in a BYAP system?

I have three hundred fry same thing guess some are three months old some are two and half inches othersjust over half inch..

1) In backyard systems some fish grow faster than others for a lot of reasons. if you were able to crowd more and feed 4 or 5 times a day you could get some more normalized growth but there's still two genders and genetics at play.

2) tilapia should eat all pellets in 5-10 mins , if they arent, you are probably feeding too much.

3) yah poor bluegill. the nipping is breeding/territory behavior. The best way to mitigate that in a small fish tank is with numbers so they can school for protection

stuart it depends but i try to kepe my tilapia between mid 60's and mid 90's. The books say they can go down to ~55 and up to ~100, but in my experience if you test the extremes you can expect some casualties