Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

It needs to be stated for the newbies or anyone not familiar with Tilapia how sex reversal is achieved and how it differs from selective hybridization. Janet and CG have already adressed hybridization above but chemical sex reversal has not. Chemical sex reversal is the feeding of diethylstilboestrol (DES) or Methyl-Testosterone.... to the fish during the early life cycle.

Neither of these steroids are approved by the Food and Drug Administration which makes anyone question what they are really eating across the counter at the supermarket...

Personally I would not eat steroid fed fish. So if this is aconcern and you plan to eat your AP fish, buyer beware of how the hatchery raises their fish....look for hybridization if you are going for males.

CG....
Once they are around 1-2 inches you can tell them apart by spotting the female oviduct. It is very close to the Anal fin and usually reddish...
The tilapia are seperated because the males do not grow (as well) in the presence of females due to constant mating and competition with rival males. This is in research and I believe the links are on the other Tilapia thread under the Category FISH.

My males did settle down after the females were removed from the tank and stopped fighting

Hi Janet:

I am in need of some fingerlings/fry in order to start my next phase. I have been too busy to look for sources - it sounds like you're on top of it. I think I would be up for splitting a shipment with you, since you are within driving distance...

There you are Dave! I thought you might be up for this. What is your timing for fingerlings? Last I knew, you were still drywalling. How many would you want? Of what I've found, what interests you the most?

Janet, why-oh-why must you leave yourself open so often (would you like a list )

'Cause I'm stoooopid and having too much fun!

I emailed Miami Aquaculture with questions on selling Supermales, broodstock to get all males, broodstock for mixed-gender fry, recommendations for which lines were best for re-circulating tank culture, and shipping charges. We'll see how they respond.

and its addictive - go for it

Janet, my vote is for those Rocky Mountain Whites that have a better cold tolerance. Might make the difference during the winters.

LOL

Mike, Good explaination of chemical sex reversal, btw. If I'm going to raise fish, I'm going to raise un-meddled-with fish. I don't want some weird steroid in my fish! I would say I'm going to raise organic fish, but I'm not sure if I can pull that off with commercial chow. The fish can eat the trimmings from my organic garden in the summer, though!

Mmmmm....how 'bout these fishies! I've been questing all over the web for places that would supply 'small' quantities of tilapia. I had found this one earlier and posted the link, but went ahead and emailed them. This is the Valmeyer School in Illinois, so it's a student operation. The cool things is that these guys responded immediately to my email. None of the commercial places have. All of Valmeyer's tilapia are nilotica/aureas crosses, so presumeably would have some cold resistance. They have whites, red-n-whites, blues, and blacks. I think the picture is of the whites, and they are looking for more pictures for me. Their price is $35/100 fish, plus about $100 to ship to my door. The more I look, the better prices I find! I guess they don't do a lot of winter shipping, but I gave them a link to UniHeat shipment warmers. They will look in to those and decide whether they think they can ship to me.

the commercial chow is not laced with hormones if that's what you are asking. It's pretty clean considering it's byproduct and waste from agri crops. But I would guess there is residual chemicals from the farming process. I have search hi and lo for certified organic fish feed and you can bet it's near impossible to find. If you come across any, please post.

I'm not worried about the commercial chow having hormones. If it had hormones, it would say it because they would think that was a wonderful selling point. Just because there are not hormones doesn't make it organic, though. That's ok.

Hmmm...I did some quick googling for organic fish food. I see what you mean. I guess we'll have to make our own.

Janet-

here is a site that has information on 3 tilapia fingerling suppliers in North Carolina.

http://www.agr.state.nc.us/aquacult/recreational.html

Wish I could send you some...there is a supplier about 45 minutes from my house. They sell you one or 10,000. Whatever you want, $0.05 each, US.

I can even choose them as big as 250 grams, though they are a $1.00 per pound. They are even sexed.