Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Johnie

I am another westie and we used to live down your way once


so is it possible to get any tilapia in WA eventually ? or is that what you are discussing with the fisheries dept ?

frosty

I have some baby tilapia, but have to phone fisheries dept tomorrow, just to check that I am doing everything the correct way.

Hi Johnie,

I'd be very surprised if you get anything but screams of horror from the fisheries authorities when you reveal your plan to keep tilapia. I was under the impresssion that they were banned in every state of Australia.

They produce firm white flesh which American producers say tastes great. They are apparently the most widely kept aquaculture species in the world.

I've been interested in tilapia for a long time - they are extremely hardy, will live in appalling conditions, breed prolifically and grow quickly which is why they are perceived as a threat to local fisheries.

If you're planning to keep tilapia, I suggest that you take a look at the following:

http://www.fisheries.nsw.gov.au/threate ... ilapia.htm
http://www.mffc.gov.au/releases/2005/05141m.html
http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/docs/pub/IMPF ... 5.php?0506 ......this one is from WA Fisheries Dept.

Gary, i was surprised to hear of this too, but this is quoted from the WA fisheries link you posted;
"If you keep tilapia in aquaria or ponds do not allow them to escape into waterways."

It doesn't sound like they have banned it by that wording.

Johnnie, let us all know what the fisheries guy has to say!

Damn, was just searching the vic fisheries website and it seems that the convict cichlids i mentioned in an earlier post are decleared as noxious along with tilapia..........ooops,

they sound ideal for us .......... and I understand they would breed ? dont want to have to buy new fingerlings every year ........

johnny if you are able to keep them and you do decide to sell some down the track

and I see they are in the Chapman river maybe we should go for a trip to Geraldton

frosty

Thanks for the info.

I understand the WA regulations will be changing fairly soon with repect to various types of fish. I think even Koi will be reclessified.

I will let you know how I go, BTW .. tilapia do taste good. I did some work on fish smoking and drying ovens for Africa when I worked for an overseas aid department in the UK. many years ago.

Tilapia ( Oreochromis mossambicus) are available in Western Australia, I bought some from an aquarium shop a couple of years ago. You are specifically told at the time of buying that they are only for stocking in indoor aquariums, and you must sign a receipt for them....

Not as easy to get as many fish, but still fairly easy...

I think your dam would porobably be a little cold for them Frosty, though they may survive. However, you'd be doing a serious no no by putting them into a pond or dam..

I reakon there are enough other varieties to grow without picking the seriously noxious pests, they have been voted by the World Conservation Unit, to be somewhere in the top 100 pests in the world.. I wonder if humans are number 1....

Yep ..

I am just playing and learning about growing fish with these wonderful fish .. (far more interesting than goldfish!)

I was lucky enough to get hold of these from a friend .. but .. to be honest .. the WA environment is so very fragile .. isolated ... I wouldn't like to see these displacing our natives! .. as they have started doing up in the North of the State!

So .. to keep my concience clear ... the only of these suckers I would ever pass on live .. is via Fisheries department say so!

Now .. having a barbie ... Mmmmmm .. thats a different story!

This is one reason why I am so eager to find and grow up some real nice colourful and easy to breed Western Australian natives ... fish that sell at a good pice for baby ones ... maybe 2 cm length rather than 800 g ...!

I think WA freshwater "rainbow fish" might be an option .. several species .. I think?

They are very beautiful ... Where do I get some nice breeding stock?

what I like about tilapia is that they will breed .........

silver perch sound excellent but having to keep buying fingerlings means you dont really have a self sutaining sytem

although I have wondered if Silver perch might breed in the big pond because it does sort of have tidal variations cause we pump out about 25% each day to water the garden

there is certainly no chance of anything "escaping" from our pond ....... this is dry country no swamps of anything locally ........ nearest water course is the Moore river about 30 km away

frosty

Just saw this post...

Noticed the use of wheelie bins was mentioned as a fish 'pond'. They are higher than wide and so have a smaller surface area to volume ratio and so will sustain fewer fish than more shallow wider tubs/ponds.

Yep. They have a very narrow "footprint" so I think they will inhibit growth a little. However the bins I got were from the local tip and free to schools. (I think the council would be only too happy to sell old bins to the public at minimal cost!)

Anyway one bin I have in operation at the moment are working well as a place to keep a slihtly overcrowded stock of tilapia and green chromides which will find their way into school aquaria. I have perhaps 50 fish about 3 cm long at the moment and also in a mesh container about 20 that are 0.5 cm long. I will need to reduce the numbers a little as space becomes a problem. I also have one unheated bin that has 10 small Koi in ( 1 cm) and another with some goldfish. (3 cm)

My filter system seems to be running well.

The dept of fisheries have confirmed that I can use tilapia in WA as it is not listed as noxious in WA.

However at school we will be using Silver perch in two of the wheelies as it means that a heater won't be required. I think 15 Perch per bin. Hopefully tis will happen this week!

If this works out well, I am hoping to install a couple of ponds at school and see if we can move from learning about the theory of aquaculture on such a small scale into aquaponics on a more realistic scale.

I would like to keep a large pond stocked with tropicals such as tilapia and try and use some sort of cheap solar heating system to maintain fish at 23 - 27 degrees. But I think this idea is a bit bold for a beginner and will take some careful planning and a lot of time. Oh, well. I can dream on.