Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Janet & Michael- Once I get a system, I'm definately interested in Tilapia. I may want to start a few in my community tank, but they might like it in there too much, to the chagrin of the older residents....

I do not take fry from any female except the broodstock girls. Interstingly, it is the same female over and over, the other girls have not produced.... I have one all pink fingerling in the growout tank and I considered taking him/her to introduce into the brood, but honestly, there are other traits I would rather prefer, like size. Among the 300 population there are clearly some lunkers! It's interesting how the same batch will result in different traits, but the growth rates among the same batch are astonishingly different. I should take the biggest and hold for breeding.

It is the only way.... get it down to 75 or less though.

82-85 is the sweet spot

or dispense with the co-eds

Don't worry Greenedo, you're on my list. Let's see what my favorite store can get. They're on the trail. Maybe we can arrange a multi-directional swap once I have something to chip in.

Also, I noticed that eBay folk who ship fish charge more like $35/box, overnight. So there must be a little cheaper way than my initial research.

Greenedo, Janet is closer and probably better to swap with. However I could send anyone some fry right now if interested..... or fingerlings...just pay shipping and packaging and I'll send

I just stumbled across another supplier of a nile cross in Illinois:

http://www.valmeyerk12.org/clubs/valmey ... ILAPIA.htm

One thing a cant understand is that if you cant tell the difference in male / female why bother with sexing them?

Mike if i were you i would use the pink one in my breeding stock just breed with him and cross the offspring(s) that are pink untill you get this trait "locked in" wich should be about f3 gen (right Janet). then you could cross that one(s) back to the "big guys" and and get some pink big ones.

i just checked back in the forum it has been 5 days since she has been holding eggs in her mouth and i have yet to see her release them she just hides in a flower pot i have in the tank.

Mikes Hatchery manual says 5 to 9 days so i still got a little to wait

What do you feed the fry mike?

I'm game, but I still have to build a system. And I have several projects ahead of that in the wife's priority list (both budget and time). If I got a few small fry to pop into my community tank then I might be able to start, but as I said, I have some time before I can do anything on any significant scale.

CG .. if you want her to "spit" ..

at an appropriarte time ... if you catch her .. put her in a bucket ... she may release them immediately ...

remove her, she should spit .. catch the fry .. isolate the fry in a fry savig net and feed the fry flake food that you have wetted and made into a very fine paste ... also some microworms if you can get hold of them ... they will thrive!

Microworms ... (nematodes) and goldfish flake food made up into a very fine damp paste between your fingers will do it!

OK, so things at work are slow. I found another source for tilapia, and they have some good-looking ones.

http://www.miami-aquaculture.com/tilapia.htm

They offer broodstock in several colors, including a Jamican Red (looks medium pink and picture is here http://www.miami-aquaculture.com/tilapia.htm ), and a fast-growing (and attractive!) Rocky Mountain White. They offer adult broodstock at $30-$40 a copy, or mixed sex fingerlings at $1 a copy, but minimum 150 fish. So... options are:

$150 plus shipping gets 4-5 breeders
$150 plus shipping gets 150 fingerlings to get breeders, plus to share and to eat. That's the better deal, of course, but I don't have space to get 150 up to full size.

I'm actually very tempted by the Rocky Mountain Whites, although the Jamaicans look good, too. Getting whites would probably eliminate any concerns people have expressed about Sipes' lineage, too.

Opinions? How many (and when) would people want if I got 150 to split up? (Egads, I can't believe I'm contemplating getting 150 fish shipped in a box to my house!!!! )

Oh, and the other option would be to get broodstock and see if the pure lines they say they have are pure enough to do all-male hybrids with mos x aureas. Hmmm.

I use Purina Aquamax 5D04 (that is the size of the pellet) which suits omnivorous nutritional needs, and the pellet size is perfect for large fingerlings and up. All I do for the fry and small fingerlings is powder the pellets in the food processor or chop them into smaller sizes for the fingerlings... $25 for a 40lb. bag.