Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

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I know that Tilapia are Cichlids and these are tropical fish... and whilst my aquarium cichlids would not survive a winter outside, I wonder if Tilapia have developed a cool tolerance and if they could survive in Sydney ..

I am aware that they are an environmental issue, especially in Qld.. but I suspect that is because the local waters are warmer all year round..

Just thinking of a fish that could look attractive and as a substitute to KOI, but which could be eaten.. IF... IF.. they grew big enough..

So.... Has anyone been naughty and got them to survive a Sydney winter..
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So far so bad Bui Doi . We'll see if there is a response this time around.

Cheers

Sorry... still no good news for you Bui Doi. I'm in northern NSW and would love to have tilapia... could probably drive just north of the QLD border and get a bucketful in one of their dams. They look bullet proof... last year I was in Papua New Guinea on Kokoda Trail and a few villages had masses of them breeding in small, muddy wells without much evidence of oxygenation or anything else we'd consider critical in our systems.

But I reckon you'd have to be brave rather than naughty to post in a public forum about having them in Sydney or anywhere in NSW... given the fine involved http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/pes ... es/tilapia

double post

Dave beat me to it...

If anybody technically did keep them in Sydney (and I'd say it'd be silly to keep a tropical fish in non tropical climates), it'd be a very stupid thing to go around and comment about it in an open forum. All it'd take is a fisheries person to google, sydney, tilapia, aquaponics, and they'd come right to this thread. Then Joel gets a legal demand for user information (but I doubt they need to do that), and you're screwed.

Back in the days when it was still legal to have them in W.A., I gave them a go and no, they would not survive a winter outside in a system, I kept some breeders inside over winter but outside was way too cold... I imagine you're a similar climate to Perth.

But of course, now it's a serious no no....

What do they taste like Joel? I've read they are similar to wet cardboard?

Obviously, normal cichlids would never survive outside .. I was curious if some had evolved to survive east coast winters.. obviously not..
So that really answered my question, and the question about legality becomes irrelevant...

Thanks for confirming..
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