Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi

Was reading a fairly long pdf on Tilapia production and it mentioned that if kept in cages they would not breed. Reason given was that if there were no flat surfaces the males could not establish territory and the mating behaviour could not take place anyway.

If mesh was placed at the bottom of the fish grow tank, small spacing to the floor wouldn't this have the same effect? Is there a thread on this? It seems to be an easier route to production and stopping breeding and aggressive behaviour than having to pre sex.

(BTW I have never kept cichlids so need some advice)

There's a big Cichlid society in WA Sleepe... and Tim C, Johnnie7, Joel and recently Tony are all doing Talapia.

Janet and a lot of the US members are as well... most seem to suggest that they breed like rabbits..... check out their threads or use the "search" function and "posts"

Hi Rupert

Thats one big search . Gone through about 50 pages so far,will try again later.

From my limited cichlid experience they will always breed, and beat up anything they can find (excepting a pleco )
But there's a commercial venture in King Lake here in VIC that claims progress with lots of cod by keeping them in the dark, and increasing the density of fish in a tank. This means they can't see enemies so easily, and that because there's no room, they find it hard to be territorial.
Not sure what the animal libs think of it but hey... :-) You could try this with Tilapia, perhaps some1 already has?

In my growout tank, the tilapia may be breeding, but violence is shared among all fish, so no body gets beat up too much. I have not found any fry/fingerlings since I'm sure they get eaten right away.

My biggest problem right now is to get my female breeders in the mood. The male breeder is very much in the mood, and beats up the females quite a bit. I've bred them before, so not sure yet what the issue is.

Maybe he just hasn't been pulling his weight around the house lately

I will drop in a little feather duster, mop, dish cloths and soap and see what he can do, then.

Cichlids are said to 'pair' (I've never kept them personally)
Perhaps he's Ugly and they think they could do better?
Have you got another male to try?

Think there's lots of commercial ventures in OZ that like to keep the whole population in the dark .

OK I am definitely missing something here

Going off track, I am very cynical about how much we are told by corporations and governments for that matter (spend most of my time fighting the bastards) .

Checked on the tilapia thing got a few good links, one:- http://www.thefishsite.com/articles/135 ... of-tilapia