Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I may be in trouble soon. Most will be food for the Barra/Bream but I will have heaps to give a way in a few months. So between EB, Johnnie and myself, there will be plenty to share round...

Isn't it great Tim.... I can see the beauty in tilapia, yet within that beauty I can also see the problems that they cause in any warm areas...

dam i am yet to get a single fish going from egg in my system

The species a few of us here have CG are mouth brooders. The female lays the egg, the male fertilizes them and the female then picks them up in her mouth. The baby fish don't hatch from the egg, they develop from it. The eggs will grow eyes and a tail. The mother will spit them when they are big enough, or if they feel stressed or threatened. Which was in my case when I netted it.

Johnnie or EB? I had another female spit some eggs. Will she go back and pick them up again or are they just abandoned. I am going to have to look very carefully at the tilapia so I can spot the ones with fry not eggs.

What kind of Tilapia CG? My Nile are prolific breeders.

I got some pink ones there do breed but i belive the fry are been eat from the other fish in the system.

CG, When you think you have a female with a full mouth, try isolating her.

You either have to remove the fry from the system or you need to provide a place for them to hide. I have some plants floating in the system and the fry like to hide in the roots.

I've only ever had them spit the eggs or fry when I stress them by trying to catch them... Perhaps the eggs weren't fertile... I've had females with either eggs of fry in the mouth, and then when I get up one morning they will be gone, no idea what happened to them, just gone...

Apparently the parents and other tilapia will eat the fry. That is one reason I want to get them out of the tank before that happens.

Breeding fish is so stressful. I had an extra female convict ciclid which was getting harrased by the other pair she was in with. I have stuck her in a glass fish tank with the baby tilapia and convicts and she is acting like a surrogate mother. Even defending them. I thought that was really cool.

Sounds like you will need more tank space soon

I have a very nice big tank inside for the excess tilapia fry. The bream and barra need some new playmates..... for a few seconds or so....

Today I finally got my first tilapia, six Oreochromis niloticus about 3" long that I was able to buy locally for $3 apiece.





I didn't buy any food yet so I fed them a meal of earthworms that I picked up off the driveway after last night's rain, and they ate them eagerly. So far they seem quite perky in their new home, not showing any signs of stress from the move.

I asked the fish catcher to give me 4 males and 2 females, figuring that I'd start a small breeder tank and leave the remaining males to grow out in the main tank. He said that the dorsal fin of the males is more pointed and that of the females is rounded, but since they change shape as the fish flexes them it's hard for me to tell any difference. I guess I'll watch and learn.

Beautiful!