Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have had my breeding tank setup indoors for about a month. Initally had 2 females and 1 male. With no success, I added one female and changed out the male. One day after the change up, today, what I think is a female, has took over the "pot". The male which is bigger and clearly a male (its manhood protrudes a bit and has only one hole to it) stays behind the pot with the two other females behind him near the "hideouts".

Is it normal for a female to take over the "pot"?

Sounds to me like your "male" may be a female and your "female" may be a male. Both male and female will produce an ovipositor or "breeding tube". It is much more enlarged in the female.

Another difference in male/females is that typically a males dorsal fin will be more pointed where as the female has a more rounded one (Not always the case).

Check out my link if you like:
http://www.greenmountainaquaponics.com/ ... lture.html

So I checked the fish that was always hanging out in the pot and verified it was a female. Also rechecked the fish I thought was a male, and it was a female. So they were all females. I'm guessing the dominent female took the pot as a hide out. Netted more tilapia and found a male (hopefully) and threw him in. So there is 1 male and 4 girls now. Keeping fingers crossed.

So 4 days ago I noticed mouth full of eggs. Last night they were still there. This morning, the eggs are gone. What happened?

Two months later....

Still no breeding...

I had not checked pH since the tank cycled. Well two weeks ago the pH was below 6 (below the scale). I added lime on a daily basis to raise the pH to where it is today , 7.5ish. I have not done any water changes since I began adjusting the pH. Still today no brooding, no eggs, no fry!!!

Water temp is at 80.

I have presumably 1 male and 3 female all about 6-7 inches long in a 75 gallon aquarium with a 75 gallon sump.

What I'm I doing wrong? The tilapia in my aquaponic system seem to breed causes see fry every once in awhile but they just don't survive. Ether they are eaten by the Godzilla tilapia that are in there or are scucked up the overflows into the mineralization tank and some make it to the degassing tank then the rest end up in the grow beds.

Ides would be greatly appreciated. Thanks