Free or cheap Tilapia - Aquaponic Gardening2024-03-29T04:51:23Zhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/forum/topics/free-or-cheap-tilapia?groupUrl=floridaaquaponics&commentId=4778851%3AComment%3A545813&groupId=4778851%3AGroup%3A2312&feed=yes&xn_auth=noYes they can grow bigger. Pr…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2014-02-23:4778851:Comment:5495872014-02-23T01:36:23.445ZTCLynxhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/TCLynx
<p>Yes they can grow bigger. Prize winning bluegill might be as much as 4lb perhaps. A 1 lb bluegill is a big bluegill though and I don't want people expecting that they can grow out bluegill to 1 lb as a matter of course. When we have cleaned out a whole tank of bluegill we got fish that ranged from 4-8 oz mostly with a few as big as 12 oz. Most of them were in the 6-8 oz range.</p>
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<p>How many bluegill does it take to make a meal? Well that is hard to answer because that will…</p>
<p>Yes they can grow bigger. Prize winning bluegill might be as much as 4lb perhaps. A 1 lb bluegill is a big bluegill though and I don't want people expecting that they can grow out bluegill to 1 lb as a matter of course. When we have cleaned out a whole tank of bluegill we got fish that ranged from 4-8 oz mostly with a few as big as 12 oz. Most of them were in the 6-8 oz range.</p>
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<p>How many bluegill does it take to make a meal? Well that is hard to answer because that will depend on what else is in the meal, how many people are eating it and how much each of them tends to eat.</p>
<p>And are you trying to fillet the bluegill or will you just scale, gut and cut the heads/tails off cut them in half and pan fry them and let people pull the bones out as they eat? You get more meat if you are willing to deal with bones while eating than if you must fillet everything before cooking.</p>
<p>Most people figure you are going to clean a whole mess of bluegill for a meal though but when we do catfish, we are often happy with just eating one or two fish among the family. So a wild guess would be; Bluegill, 1-2 fish per person; Tilapia, 1 fish to 1-2 people; Catfish, 1 fish to 2-3 people (but depends greatly on harvest size since some people like to eat little ones in which case you might need 1 fish or more per person.)</p>
<p></p> How many Bluegill does it tak…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2014-02-22:4778851:Comment:5496072014-02-22T03:48:49.727ZJeff Shttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/JeffSullivan
<p>How many Bluegill does it take to make a meal? Do they grow any larger than 1/3 lb?</p>
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<p>How many Bluegill does it take to make a meal? Do they grow any larger than 1/3 lb?</p>
<p></p> Depends on the amount of filt…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2014-02-22:4778851:Comment:5495492014-02-22T02:32:17.660ZTCLynxhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/TCLynx
<p>Depends on the amount of filtration, circulation and aeration you have.</p>
<p>Since Bluegill are a respectable harvest size at 1/3rd of a pound you can actually stock quite a lot of them but I have seen that mine did quit eating if there wasn't enough aeration through the heat of summer (basically once the water temp stayed above 80 F supplemental aeration was needed if they were to eat well.)</p>
<p>I had a system with 600 gallons of gravel beds and 300 gallons of fish tank and I stocked…</p>
<p>Depends on the amount of filtration, circulation and aeration you have.</p>
<p>Since Bluegill are a respectable harvest size at 1/3rd of a pound you can actually stock quite a lot of them but I have seen that mine did quit eating if there wasn't enough aeration through the heat of summer (basically once the water temp stayed above 80 F supplemental aeration was needed if they were to eat well.)</p>
<p>I had a system with 600 gallons of gravel beds and 300 gallons of fish tank and I stocked that with 100 bluegill and did ok once I added more air.</p>
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<p>If you feel you are a very experienced fish keeper, then you could probably get away with as much as 3 bluegill per cubic foot of media bed as long as you have 3 gallons of fish tank per fish. (I know there are some who would stock 1 fish per gallon but I can never recommend that unless we are talking skeeter fish.)</p>
<p></p> I can get bluegill for .30 ce…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2014-02-21:4778851:Comment:5495182014-02-21T19:56:55.249ZDan Pontonhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/danielponton
<p>I can get bluegill for .30 cents each. How many would you suggest I put in my 200 gallon IBC?<br></br> <br></br> <cite>TCLynx said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://community.theaquaponicsource.com/forum/topics/free-or-cheap-tilapia?groupUrl=floridaaquaponics&xg_source=activity#4778851Comment548781"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>I'm noticing that the bluegill in my pond plant system seem to be willing to eat more at cooler temperatures than even my channel catfish.</p>
<p>Bluegill…</p>
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<p>I can get bluegill for .30 cents each. How many would you suggest I put in my 200 gallon IBC?<br/> <br/> <cite>TCLynx said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://community.theaquaponicsource.com/forum/topics/free-or-cheap-tilapia?groupUrl=floridaaquaponics&xg_source=activity#4778851Comment548781"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>I'm noticing that the bluegill in my pond plant system seem to be willing to eat more at cooler temperatures than even my channel catfish.</p>
<p>Bluegill seem to grow slow but I have a feeling if you like a good Bream and are happy cooking/eating pan fish instead of having tilapia fillets, you may find you are far happier growing the bluegill than Tilapia. Especially as you say, you don't want to mess with heating the water (if your systems have been in the 40's tilapia would likely be dead or dieing without heating.)</p>
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</blockquote> I'm noticing that the bluegil…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2014-02-19:4778851:Comment:5487812014-02-19T01:28:37.046ZTCLynxhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/TCLynx
<p>I'm noticing that the bluegill in my pond plant system seem to be willing to eat more at cooler temperatures than even my channel catfish.</p>
<p>Bluegill seem to grow slow but I have a feeling if you like a good Bream and are happy cooking/eating pan fish instead of having tilapia fillets, you may find you are far happier growing the bluegill than Tilapia. Especially as you say, you don't want to mess with heating the water (if your systems have been in the 40's tilapia would likely be…</p>
<p>I'm noticing that the bluegill in my pond plant system seem to be willing to eat more at cooler temperatures than even my channel catfish.</p>
<p>Bluegill seem to grow slow but I have a feeling if you like a good Bream and are happy cooking/eating pan fish instead of having tilapia fillets, you may find you are far happier growing the bluegill than Tilapia. Especially as you say, you don't want to mess with heating the water (if your systems have been in the 40's tilapia would likely be dead or dieing without heating.)</p> Thanks TC, Always appreciate…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2014-02-17:4778851:Comment:5487042014-02-17T00:48:07.988ZDan Pontonhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/danielponton
<p>Thanks TC, Always appreciate your input and experience. Just looking at my options for the second system. 1 IBC and a 12'x4' DWC is a lot of water to heat. Both systems have been in the 40's this year and It has to be in the 60's for several days before the water begins to heat up.</p>
<p>Bluegill are an option, but they seem to grow very slow. I really do not want to heat the water, so bluegill may be the better option for the IBC system.</p>
<p>Thanks TC, Always appreciate your input and experience. Just looking at my options for the second system. 1 IBC and a 12'x4' DWC is a lot of water to heat. Both systems have been in the 40's this year and It has to be in the 60's for several days before the water begins to heat up.</p>
<p>Bluegill are an option, but they seem to grow very slow. I really do not want to heat the water, so bluegill may be the better option for the IBC system.</p> My first couple years doing a…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2014-02-08:4778851:Comment:5463652014-02-08T17:49:28.779ZTCLynxhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/TCLynx
<p>My first couple years doing aquaponics, I had Blue Tilapia that I had gotten from Morningstar Fishermen.</p>
<p>I'm in Central FL so temperatures are a bit warmer here but I've decided the Catfish and bluegill are far better fish since I don't have to heat the water for them.</p>
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<p>There is no guarantee that with mixed gender non hybred tilapia going into a home system and not necessarily getting the top notch water quality and high protein feed that you are going to be able to grow…</p>
<p>My first couple years doing aquaponics, I had Blue Tilapia that I had gotten from Morningstar Fishermen.</p>
<p>I'm in Central FL so temperatures are a bit warmer here but I've decided the Catfish and bluegill are far better fish since I don't have to heat the water for them.</p>
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<p>There is no guarantee that with mixed gender non hybred tilapia going into a home system and not necessarily getting the top notch water quality and high protein feed that you are going to be able to grow them out to eating size in 8-9 months.</p>
<p>Of course that depends somewhat on what you are willing to consider eating size. Don't expect to be growing mixed gender tilapia out to 1 lb each in a home system feeding just 36% protein feed in only 8 months. You may get a few of the males to reach that size but if the fish start breeding behavior in the tank, you may find that most of them are not getting beyond 4-6 ounces. If you are ok with cleaning and eating tilapia that are mostly between 4-8 oz then go for it (of course you can probably do as well with bluegill reaching that size and you don't need to worry about them dieing when the water gets below 55 F.</p> I have 4 females and one male…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2014-02-06:4778851:Comment:5461202014-02-06T18:59:41.674ZJeff Shttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/JeffSullivan
<p>I have 4 females and one male. Got hem at about 4-5 inches. Had them for 8 months and they are plenty big to harvest. I maybe could have fed them more for faster reults but I was just interested in breeding for now. Now that I have a few hundred I'll focus more on growing them. I dis lower the fish tank about 2 ft. in the ground just to make the GB more accessible.<br></br> <br></br> <cite>Dan Ponton said:…</cite></p>
<p>I have 4 females and one male. Got hem at about 4-5 inches. Had them for 8 months and they are plenty big to harvest. I maybe could have fed them more for faster reults but I was just interested in breeding for now. Now that I have a few hundred I'll focus more on growing them. I dis lower the fish tank about 2 ft. in the ground just to make the GB more accessible.<br/> <br/> <cite>Dan Ponton said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://community.theaquaponicsource.com/forum/topics/free-or-cheap-tilapia?groupUrl=floridaaquaponics&#4778851Comment545943"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>I had aquariums all my life, except the last 8 years. I was considering getting a 55 gallon tank, heating it (i have a 300 watt heater) and putting it outside in my open frame house. I put shade cloth over it in the summer and remove it in the winter.</p>
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<p>I think sinking the IBC in the ground would help some also. I was only going to put 25 in the IBC, since I would harvest them in 9 months before it got cold. I keep Cats in my big system (900 gals) but I would like some verity in fish to eat.</p>
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<p>How many do you keep in your IBC?</p>
<p>Do they get to eating size in 9 months?</p>
<p><br/> <br/> <cite>Jeff Sullivan said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://community.theaquaponicsource.com/forum/topics/free-or-cheap-tilapia?groupUrl=floridaaquaponics&commentId=4778851%3AComment%3A545846&xg_source=msg_com_gr_forum#4778851Comment545846"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>Don't know if you thought about it but I grow my fry to fingerlings inside my house in a 55 gallon aquarium. I have about 300 in there now and I figure it will take 2-3 months before I put them outside in the IBCs. Good way to get through the winter and have stock for the spring. Kinda comforting to watch them grow too.</p>
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</blockquote> I had aquariums all my life,…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2014-02-06:4778851:Comment:5459432014-02-06T16:03:22.916ZDan Pontonhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/danielponton
<p>I had aquariums all my life, except the last 8 years. I was considering getting a 55 gallon tank, heating it (i have a 300 watt heater) and putting it outside in my open frame house. I put shade cloth over it in the summer and remove it in the winter.</p>
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<p>I think sinking the IBC in the ground would help some also. I was only going to put 25 in the IBC, since I would harvest them in 9 months before it got cold. I keep Cats in my big system (900 gals) but I would like some verity in…</p>
<p>I had aquariums all my life, except the last 8 years. I was considering getting a 55 gallon tank, heating it (i have a 300 watt heater) and putting it outside in my open frame house. I put shade cloth over it in the summer and remove it in the winter.</p>
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<p>I think sinking the IBC in the ground would help some also. I was only going to put 25 in the IBC, since I would harvest them in 9 months before it got cold. I keep Cats in my big system (900 gals) but I would like some verity in fish to eat.</p>
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<p>How many do you keep in your IBC?</p>
<p>Do they get to eating size in 9 months?</p>
<p><br/> <br/> <cite>Jeff Sullivan said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://community.theaquaponicsource.com/forum/topics/free-or-cheap-tilapia?groupUrl=floridaaquaponics&commentId=4778851%3AComment%3A545846&xg_source=msg_com_gr_forum#4778851Comment545846"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>Don't know if you thought about it but I grow my fry to fingerlings inside my house in a 55 gallon aquarium. I have about 300 in there now and I figure it will take 2-3 months before I put them outside in the IBCs. Good way to get through the winter and have stock for the spring. Kinda comforting to watch them grow too.</p>
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</blockquote> Don't know if you thought abo…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2014-02-06:4778851:Comment:5458462014-02-06T03:37:22.392ZJeff Shttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/JeffSullivan
<p>Don't know if you thought about it but I grow my fry to fingerlings inside my house in a 55 gallon aquarium. I have about 300 in there now and I figure it will take 2-3 months before I put them outside in the IBCs. Good way to get through the winter and have stock for the spring. Kinda comforting to watch them grow too.</p>
<p>Don't know if you thought about it but I grow my fry to fingerlings inside my house in a 55 gallon aquarium. I have about 300 in there now and I figure it will take 2-3 months before I put them outside in the IBCs. Good way to get through the winter and have stock for the spring. Kinda comforting to watch them grow too.</p>