Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey all,

If we were to just focus on the plant side for harvest and production and using the fish only for plant growth. What should I plan for the max size of tilapia? How long will it take to reach this max size?

Thanks

I can't answer your question but someone might want to know if you are still planning on eating the Tilapia since you could have lots of small fish vs a few larger fish when they are done growing out. I guess the other question to ask is are you planning on letting them breed?

They get pretty large. Our state has a record of around 10 lb. Not sure what the largest one raised here is. Mine have grown from fry/fingerlings to close to 1.5lbs in just over a year. Here's a whopper.

Not mine...just a random internet search.

my blue tilapia got to over 3lbs

Keith, how long and from what size? My Blue seem to outgrow any other species.

about 18 to 24 months from 1" to 3lbs
my tanks get down into the 50's for a few months out of the year, if you have warmer water year round, you'll get better growth.. blue's did better than niles (for me)

That's about right. mine are about 14-15 months and are around 1.5-2 lbs as a guesstimate. Do you purge them before eating? I am going to compare taste on the next harvest. I'm starting a larger RAS system, and am thinking about saving some of my bigger fish for breeders.

no on purging... might be useful for some pond fish (depending on the pond!), but not needed at all for an AP system, unless your water quality is terrible

My previous tasted good, but I've read that purging them will improve their flavor. Similar to what I've done with pigs before butchering. Feed them corn for a few weeks and keep their pen smaller so they get a little more tender. You can certainly taste the difference in the pork. Not sure about the fish, but will find out.

I think we'll want to try our hand at breeding since we'll be starting eight systems over the year instead of buying fish for all of them. So with that method, I'm sure there will be an excess of fish that will need to be harvested, but we can only eat so much.

Hi Keith
I hope you are well. You were one of the first friendly voices I met on this website and I thank you.
However; two things re purging
I am sure I read on Ryan’s thread about moving Tilapia to a separate water system before harvesting.
Secondly, a lot of recipes call for soaking freshwater fish in a brine solution before cooking.
Suppose you moved the live fish to, lets say a 10ppt, solution before harvesting.
Would that improve the flavour?
Titus

I wouldn't go that high, but you could probably safely do 6ppt with tilapia.

well thanks, I appreciate your kind words!
sometimes I "soak" my fillets in a mild brine solution, mainly if I'm smoking the fish, but sometimes for a recipe..
I don't really think that moving the fish would improve the flavor.. one thing with tilapia that helps is to thoroughly rinse the fillets to remove the blood when cleaning, and if you don't like the "oily" meat, avoid the belly meat..
the fillets of bigger fish have a much more pronounced "v" bone, making it pretty easy to remove
I did think about switching to feeding things like basil, thyme and oregano to the tilapia for a few weeks, but never made the time for that "test"

Absalom,
it will depend on the breed of Tilapia as to the max size you "could" expect, how long it may take to get to that max size will depend on a few factors, amount of feed, feed type, water quality, temperature the list can go on.
do a Google search on Tilapia breeds.

cheers.

good luck.