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Tilapia not eating.......much.

I have an aquarium with 7 Tilapia that are between 6 & 8" each, at one point they were all eating very well - almost jumping out of the tank well. I went through period where the ammonia jumped, I'm really not sure for how many days it was like that but it was up to somewhere around 6 PPM by the time I spotted it - mis management on my part no doubt.

I have since fixed the water quality issue more than a week has passed and although non have kicked the bucket, they are also barely eating.

Am I witnessing a recovery albeit slow and painful, or is this just the beginning of the end for these critterz?

They are eating, but very little and they are very unexcited when food is added. I'm careful to remove any that is not consumed within a few minutes.

I know it cannot be the feed since I have another tank, with Tilapia from the same family that almost get airborne when I toss in the feed.

Thanks in advance for the input.

Cheers

Bart.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bob Campbell on July 23, 2013 at 6:56pm

It takes several weeks to get over the poisoning. They feel bed right now so you are doing the right thing. They will come around, but it takes time.

Permalink Reply by Nic Cantin on July 23, 2013 at 9:26pm

How big is your aquarium ? I have a 80 gallons with 5 Tilapias and they used to rush on foods all the time, since they got to about the same size as yours, 6-8", they have been hidding when I give them food and will eat only after I leave from their sights and it can take up to 30 minutes to start eating what they used to eat in 5 sec... It has been like that for over 2 months. I have a feeling they might have reached their mature sizes for the size of my fish tank which could explained their lower feeding rates...JM2C

Permalink Reply by Bart on July 24, 2013 at 5:44am

Thanks Bob, it's good to hear that can be the case, it'd be very frustrating to loose them at this stage of the game.

Nic, my aquarium is 60 g, and I have a 30 g drum setup on the side filled with media that the water runs through as a filter, along with that I change out 8 g of water per day with my larger aquaponic system. I believe what happened is my PH crashed, then the bacteria crashed and hence the ammonia spike, fortunately the Nitrite did not seem to jump so I think that maybe why we will squeek through this ............ I hope.

I would have a hard time believing your Tilapia are maxed out for size because of the tank, I have another 55g drum with 18 about the same size and they are eating very aggressively still . On the other hand there are likely differences between the various types of Tilapia but I know little about that. Have you checked the water?