Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Damn - I miss all that good fun and sense of achievement with SP.

Now that we know the fish came through the ordeal okay - how did the net handler and the food colouring operator fair

John, by "best-looking", I mean smooth, clear coloration--anticipated to present best on the plate. In fact, plain is what I want. The question is, after I've selected my only male breeder, do you want to be a plain male around me?!?

'Ell, I'm plum wore out tonight. Up at the crack of dawn, drop kids at daycare, drive husband to Baltimore for doctor's appointment (1.5 hour drive, except for the extra 0.5 hour traffic jam on the interstate), drive back, have lunch, sort fish, re-align fish-sorting goals, get kids back from daycare, decline to prepare dinner, read 300 messages...I'm sooo ready for bed. (Doc's appointment was routine check-up with transplant specialists. Went very well.) Husband got a nap after fish-sorting. I should have.

Axl always manages to get naps on his days off , the kids don't let me

My running joke is that I have to go back to work on Mondays to get some rest. My days "off" are always so much busier than my days at "work".

I hear you with the sexing side of things Janet. I can see some differences on some of mine that are only about an inch and a half long, some of them are definately males, they are colouring up and getting getting bigger fins and the bigger mouth.. But then once you start scooping them out and looking, it can be very difficult to tell the difference as the colours change because of their stress levels.... Then you get dodgey ones that are neither sex... I have one with the mouth of a female, and body shape of a female, yet colouring more like a male and fin length like a male... Yet doen't fight with the males, and doesn't produce young... It might be the first one to get eaten...

When in doubt...

Hi EB,
My tilapia obviously don't have nearly the coloring of the natural ones, so I don't get that clue. However, I was noticing the very wide mouths on the males. Longer fin length is a typical pattern for male cichlids, but I didn't know tilapia did that. Now I'm going to have to look more carefully.

I think with the smaller sampling in the aquariums I'll be able to sex them based on behavior/mouth size/rounded bellies/actual spawning. They are 3-4 inches (8-10cm) at this point, so I guess a professional could sex them fairly accurately in the net, but I wasn't confident. I just don't want to mess up and cook all the females into soup stock. Then I'd have nothing to work with, and have to beg some Sheilas back off Dave.

I think I will visit the local fish store very soon. Even if I could sex these things with 95% accuracy, I'm still going to end up with fry in my grow-out tank.

Do you have any pics of the tommies you started? Curious how they are faring, my first one sprouted yesterday!

The tommie is only 3 inches tall, but not showing signs of light-deficiency. I planted another one this weekend since the first one seems to be doing well. It's a patio tomato called 'Totem'. I am expecting good things as the days start to lengthen.

That is great Janet. Wish I was having that much luck with tommies.

I went to the local fish store yesterday with every intent of buying a predator to put in my main grow-out tank. I have visions of being over-run by fry in the wrong places. So I described my dilemma to the salesperson (leaving out the details--I'd still be there.) I just said I had 125 gal of cichlids, and needed to be able to clean up the fry. He suggested a few of the catfish, but then made the profound observation that the cichlids would probably eat the fry anyway. Especially if I didn't feed them for a day. What a concept! Don't feed the fish for a day. How silly am I? So that's the Fry Control Plan now. I think I'll just pick a day of the week. "Fasting Friday" or something.

That was sound advice. I find that in my grow out tank if there is no place for the fry to hide, they quickly get gobbled up.

I had just assumed they would get eaten if they didn't escape through the drain pipe. It's kind of sad. Not sad enough to really get on separating them any time soon though... (=

I agree, usually the problem is when you are trying to save the fry rather than the other way around. There will always be the quickest of the quick, survival of the fittest oddball that will make it but with no cover you will likely be able to count them on one hand.

Six of the first batch got sucked through the drain into the sump, so for now some will be lucky and some will be "left behind".