Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi guys,
could any of the tilapia experts out there tell me if "Astatilapia" are the same as the eating kind of tilapia? They kinda look a bit pretty to eat (AND expensive too)
Saw them on the livefish.com.au website. Infact there's a whole bunch of ornamental "something tilapia" fish.
Would any of these be appropriate for AP?

Soryry I havent been around much lately - still sufferring greatly from nappy brain and the indignity of hand expressing milk ( if you dont know its best not ask).
Cheers from
exhausted Aeon.

Hi Daisy, How's the fish going?

Heather's been there too, and had the midwife going hard at em for the first few days with this one cause he was a lazy little bugger, so you are not alone!

As for the tilapia, it wouldn't matter if they were expensive if you could breed them then eat them would it? Good question, hopefully someone will be able to help!

Talk about expensive. Notice an 18 cm barramundi costs $40 odd! Holy crap, I could retire on what's in my tanks!

The tilapia we eat are all now reclassified as 'oreochromis'. Ie, oreochromis nilotica is a Nile Tilapia. Oreochromis mossambique is a Mozambique Tilapia, and so on. Astatilapia is an African cichlid, as are our tilapia, but I know nothing about it. The oreochromis are the ones that are mouthbrooders and will be easier to breed. Many cichlids are bred in captivity, but some are easy to get to do it, and some are much harder. No idea which the Astatilapia is. Since astatilapia is not an aquaculture fish to my knowledge, I have no idea of the eating quality. I'm sure that folks in their native range would eat them if they caught them, but no idea if it's worth the trouble to raise them.

Nice try, but no tilapia for you!!

thanks guys

And Monya - price wise that had occurred to me as well.

There's gold in dem dere fish tanks

(PS give heather my regards)

Go the electric pump, then you wont have forearms like popeye.

and then she'll REALLY feel like a dairy cow

sympathies Aeon, been there, still there, know some of what you feel like

If only the pumps would work - ive tried several manual and electric models but my bosoms say "thats no baby!" and refuse to produce - on the other hand Ive got plenty of milk and can hand expess pretty fast. I'm waiting to go the breastfeeding clinic to see if they can help me out. tried to go out the other day with grandparents baby sitting and bottles of milk. It was fine at first but then after an hour or so my boobs felt like they were going to explode so i had to go home quick smart. The kid on the other hand was just fine without her mum!