Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Here's a few pics of the Tilapia that I got from Johnnie yesterday.

They have settled in pretty well after 24 hours and they're all out freely roaming around the tank, fighting, feeding and fornicating, I guess thats what they do best.

Really nice! And here i wa telling you to set it up for silvers!

I WISH we were allowed to have them over here................................

Kewl!

Beats the heck out of my wheelie bins!

I reckon Joel may get the cichlid bug!

nice look there Joel you just gave me the inspiration to set up a breeding tank

awesome Joel. Do you intend to breed and set up shop out in the AP system?

is that gravel aquarium gravel?

I am wondering if to get some so, my fish could "do it" more natural but i am wondering if aquarium gravel would be too big for the fish to dig into?

The chunks rocks seam rather large for the fish's mouth

CG....your red tilapia are a cross between mouth brooders. The beauty is that they reproduce in crowded tank setups without substrate (gravel). I found the absence of gravel makes it harder for the boys to establish ground on the tank floor and they kind of lose thier bearings visually and swap territory more often than when I left gravel down there. The counter argument is that the male fish burn energy moving rocks and are less likely to chase down the others, but really, the more crowded the tank the more suppressed the fights become. Johnnie what are your thoughts on the gravel thing?

another good link on Tilapia http://govdocs.aquake.org/cgi/reprint/2 ... 050040.pdf

I use pea gravel.

Mine are so crowded in wheelie bins, I guess

a) they are stunted a little. Growth rate is not what it could be.

b) they are so crowded that they don't really get "territory" so I don't really get many fights. (I havn't witnessed any fights with these.)

They still manage to reproduce though and can reproduce even when stunted.

I am hoping to start some selective breeding next year for a colour mutation if I get lucky enough to get one or two that shows some sort of difference.

On the other hand I have witnessed fights with some Astatotilapia latifasciata that my students have been rearing.

i just finished with the breeding tank its 552 am so i am going to have a little rest before i go to work today.

when the waters clear i will post pics

I'm so glad you guys are doing Tilapia, let's keep this thread alive. So far there is Johnnie, CG, Joel, myself, and I believe Mike down in South Africa? doing Tilapia. Anyone else?

IMHO , carp, goldfish and KOI, mollies and guppys are a threat in our climate.

I would NEVER give exotic species to another person without absolute trust , word of honour, that they would understand adhere to and respect the code and understand the consequences of letting loose exotics into our fragile, unique Aussie river systems.

I keep KOI and Goldies .. these are beautiful yet NASTY pests too in Austraia if let loose!

OK, a little pricey, but if two of us split the 2-for-1 sale....

http://aquanet.com/aquastore/product_in ... cts_id=239

The offspring would be all male and would grow superfast. Several harvests a year?!?! I suspect this is stock from Mike Sipes.

Comments?

Mine are definately for breading up some young to put out into a system. The gravel certainly seems to keep the males amused, half the base of the tank is now bare, and then theres a few HUGE piles of gravel.

They have settled in nicely and theres no real fighting going on between the males, they do a bit of dancing around each other showing off, trying to see who's biggest, but apart from that they spend most of their time moving gravel around and then chasing the girls.

are the ones you have for eating? or purely ornamental?

Joel that sounds so great man you'll have babies quick.

Janet this is Mike Sipes' stock yes. And I have never purchased so I cant say what success you would have. IMHO too much money for what the difference is in growout size to what you can get down the road at a local fish store (where I got mine). Besides, seperating the females from the males by hand is so much fun and this is the best opportunity for the kids to learn to handle fish and inspect glands and learn fish anatomy. On another note, I am swimming with about 500 fry at the moment. This definately aint rocket science haha