Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Oops....

little?

I know, the proto board is a little oversized. It's just what I had laying around...well the micro itself is little. In the end, I'll build a little board for it.

It is a bit like the tree falling in the forest, If a AP meet happens and there are no photos.........Did it really happen?

JazzPlayer, why do you have gravel in your stand pipes?
I like to keep an eye on my water levels by peering into mine?

They aren't standpipes. They are RSG filters but I haven't piped any water for them yet. I sort of didn't understand that part of the equation until so instructed last week when TCLyns came for an AP meet....

love the bank of SSR's!

you know the quirky thing with them? if you try and switch a DC load with them they latch.

Well yesterday and today are both big days. I went to Morningstar Fisherman yesterday for a seminar and picked up some more fish.

http://www.morningstarfishermen.org/education.html

I got 3 adults(1 male, 3 females) and about 80 or so fingerlings(50-100mm).

NOW here's question for you Tilapia experts:

I was draining my 350L Fish Tank down so I could more easily remove my 3 adults to put in their new tank along with my new adults. These fish have never reproduced and I assumed either they were all the same sex or my conditions were just not good enough yet.

When the water level got down about half way the fish started getting a little nervous and one of them spit out a whole mouthful of eggs!!!! She swan around for a few minutes, then went back and collected about 1/2 of them leaving the rest.

Doesn't this mean that there is a Male in the group or is it likely she would lay and then carry unfertilized eggs?

Since putting all the fish together I'm seeing signs of aggression in at least two of them. Does it make sense that my new male has found another male from my old group to fight with?


Pics to follow.

Wow! I didn't know that Steve but it makes sense. They don't have zero volts to turn them off.

correcto!

another thing that took be 3 SSR's before i realised they were'nt faulty was that you can still meter mains voltage across them even when not switched on! cant remember how many mA it took for the voltage to drop to zero

I think I recall that female tilapia might sometimes carry unfirtilized eggs but it might also be that you had some mating going on and had just missed it. I've heard that breeding is also more likely with water temps in the Mid 80s.

Do you have any hides in the Adult tank? Definitely need some if seeing aggression. Aggression does not have to be between two males. The males can be pretty rough with the females too and sometimes a dominant female will be aggressive to the other females too.

There are a couple long threads about tilapia which might be good reading again after your visit to Morning Star. How was the session there? What did you learn?

I'm about to head into work now but I just might have tomorrow and Tuesday off.

Yes I have two flower pots, one at each end of the tank. The most aggressive one has claimed one of the hides... Perhaps that's a male making his nest...

Well 5 of my new fingerlings committed suicide last night. They were on the floor this morning. I've got a net over them now... The only time I've seen them at the surface is at feeding time. I guess something spooked them.....

Keep an eye on your Ammonia and nitrite for a while here now that you have increased your fish load! Even though you were pre-cycled, your fish load has been really low for a while. Now you may have a bit of a cycle again with the added fish and need to be prepared for some small water changes if needed. On the other hand, with your warm water, the new spikes might be hardly noticeable but you want to do some testing for a while anyway.

Yes I tested yesterday morning before I put the fish in and again first thing this morning. My ammonia is up just a little. I'd say it's between .5-1.0. As long as it stays under 1.0 I'm not going to take any action, but if it goes over I'm going to exchange some water. I also isolated the female that I think spit the eggs but she seems so stressed in the new tank I may put her back in with the rest if she hasn't settled by this afternoon.

BTW,....., The spinach is really growing now and it's obvious it's brocolli......