Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

My tilapia are getting close to harvest size, 10-12" 1lb or so. The weather is getting warmer...mid 80's, and they are eating a LOT of food. Don't know exact amount, but handfulls each feeding. I was feeding 1 handfull 2-3 times per day, max. the last few days, they will eat 3-4 times that in under 3 minutes. Act like they are starving and sucking the food off the surface as soon as it hits. Can I over feed them or cause any problems? The system is cycled for 9 months, ammonia at 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates barely register. PH is still a little high around 7.4. The largest ones are going to be dinner soon, but the rest are still eating like zombies. Terrible analogy, but best I could come up with.

technically, yes you can overfeed them,, it's recommended that adult fish get about 2% of their body weight daily..

Yes you can over feed, have you just come out of a change of temperature. I hear florida can have cool winters. If your water temperature is rising then the fish will start their natural cycle and eat more.

Check how much you should be feeding your species, X grams of feed to X grams of fish weight.

Yes, it was cool. water at 73 with help of heater. now over 75-76 and warming daily. So, how do I tell which fish are getting what amount of food? I have various sized fish, from 5-6" to harvest sized. I can tell the largest get the "lion's share", but have no idea how much each would be getting. I've heard that what they can consume in 5 minutes is usually good....but mine seem to be part pigs and are seemingly bottomless pits lately??

Average it out and add a bit, there are always the bully in the tank who will get the most but they are the ones you will be pulling out. Then the next biggest will rule the roost until they to will be pulled out.

While technically true it can also be incorrect. Feeding rates depend on many things and different rules are followed for different species under different growing conditions.

Some salmonid operations feed their fish as much as they will eat so the only way to over feed them is to feed them more than they will eat (which is a LOT and way more than 2% bodyweight) so that the uneaten food is wasted. Depending on how you look at it is is either impossible to over feed them because they will only eat so much or over feeding results in wasted food.

They're eating all, or at least 99.9% of the food. It doesn't reach the water and they're on it. With the couple bullies getting anywhere from 20-30 pellets each, and the others getting whats left.

Just remember that even if you are not over feeding your fish you might be over feeding your system if you don't have enough solids processing capacity (GBs or solids removal).

Good point Stu. I'll keep a close eye on water parameters.