Comment

Comment by Michael Welber on January 17, 2012 at 11:00am

I now understand that I will be getting males and females and will indeed let them breed. Should I segregate the fry when they appear? How often to Tilapia breed?

Comment by Kellen Weissenbach on January 17, 2012 at 10:50am

TC,

I was speaking specifically about the Blue tilapia that were introduced to Florida years ago and have since become established.  These are the ones you find in ponds, lakes and so forth all over Florida.... and unfortunately caught and marketed as high quality fish by several Florida locals to unsuspecting backyard aquaponics and small scale aquaculture enthusiasts.  There are Blue strains managed by reputable hatcheries that are very high quality fish.

Michael,

If you use a fish that can't reproduce in your system and so must be purchased every year because you can't breed them, the $100 annual permit quickly becomes less of an issue for many people.  As mentioned above though, there are high quality Blue Tilapia strains available from reputable hatcheries that makes the permit requirement a relative non-issue, since you can get high quality Blues that will perform quite well for you, with no permit requirements.

Comment by Michael Welber on January 17, 2012 at 7:54am

You're right. It is definitely not worth it. 

Comment by TCLynx on January 17, 2012 at 7:46am

It is possible to get the aquaculture permits and such but is it really worth the inspections and the $100 or so fee each year?  for a backyard system?  And I believe there are requirements like no discharge of fish water except into approved septic or sewer and there needs to be fences or security to make sure no one could come steel fish and release them into the wild and it has to be above flood plain etc.

Comment by Sheri Schmeckpeper on January 17, 2012 at 7:05am

I'm in AZ where we're not restricted, but I did come across this page the other day. Check it out and scroll down to Florida. It sounds like a lot of hoops, but may not be as bad as getting a building permit. Of course, this might only apply to blues: http://tilapiafarmingathome.com/legal.aspx

Comment by TCLynx on January 17, 2012 at 6:15am

to grow anything other than blues in FL you have to go through a bunch of regulatory hoops and that isn't going to happen for a backyard outdoor system.

Comment by Michael Welber on January 17, 2012 at 6:02am

As I understand it, however, blues are the only ones that are legal in Florida. So those are the ones we must purchase. 

Comment by Kellen Weissenbach on January 16, 2012 at 10:28pm

The better Nile strains actually do a lot better than common blues with regard to growth rates between males and females.  Improved Mozambiques do better as well, but they lag in overall growth when compared to Niles.  However, a few Mozy strains are not far behind.

The blue tilapia that is so popular in Florida is a pretty mediocre fish compared to the better managed strains available.

Comment by TCLynx on January 16, 2012 at 3:02pm

Mixed gender Tilapia will give you mixed growth rates since the females don't grow nearly as fast as the males.  And for home production, if you have a fairly large tank, I would say make a cage using 1/4" netting and a PVC frame so that you can keep the cage a few inches from the bottom of the tank and that way they can't pick the eggs back up so breeding won't be successful and you won't have the overpopulation of small fish that can stunt the whole population.  Then you can do controlled breeding in a separate tank.

Comment by Kellen Weissenbach on January 16, 2012 at 10:28am

Hi Michael,

That's correct.  The fish are difficult to sex until they get quite a bit larger.

You will get all males through hormone application, hybridization or the use of super males.  If you are concerned about reproduction, you can always cage raise the fish.  Also, raising them in closer quarters will discourage spawning.  You can also make use of a few predator fish who will feast on the offspring.  That's a pretty common thing to do.

Mixed sex fish are typically the best option for home growers because you can continue to produce your own via reproduction rather than have to buy fish every year.  It saves money and provides the grower with a bit more flexibility.

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