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Comment by Earl Phillips on June 26, 2013 at 11:37am

I am fortunate to be able to get my Tilapia from one of the local high school shop and Hydroponic green house projects that they have going on year around at the school. Really handy and I have encouraged him to try it at school on an experimental basis and compare the two systems. 

 

Comment by Doug Franklin on May 30, 2013 at 7:23am

I have about 150 tilapia, ranging from just a little over 1" to 4". I'd heard tilapia like eating lettuce and I have several kinds, so I've started dropping 4 leaves twice a day in the tank. They're eating every bit of it, and I just gather the floating stalks when they're done. I have noticed they're not eating quite as much fish food since I started doing this. I've been feeding them fish food twice a day, making sure I feed no more than they can clean up within about 2 or 3 minutes. Does feeding them lettuce like this help them grow or am I just wasting my time doing it?

Comment by John Malone on May 23, 2013 at 2:25pm

Aggressive Tilapia and Breeding

I have several, maybe 4 or 5, very large, say 12"+, tilapia that are quite aggressive and territorial. They regularly take up residence in corners of the tank and obsessively chase away anyone that comes within 'their' zone. Most of the time the unwary intruder merely swims away to a different location and no harm is done. It's a big 500 gallon tank, after all, with about 35 fish. Every now and again two of the aggressive individuals find themselves having a tussle over the same territory. They put on quite a show until one finally gives up and moves on. As far as I can tell there's no damage done to either of the combatants.

These same fish are also very different in appearance to the rest of the fish.  Most of my fish are a dull slate gray in colour.  These big brutes are all creamy white, with very pronounced spots on their dorsal fins and a red flush to their tail fins.  They are quite spectacular, as far as tilapia go.

Now, why aren't I just culling these monsters for supper?   I am hoping for some breeding action in the tank, and look to these big mature individuals to be my most likely participants.  As soon as I have viable fry there's going to be a serious cookout at John's.  The thing is, I don't know if these fish are going to breed or not, or if the conditions are suitable, or if keeping the big aggressive fish is a good or bad idea or...

So, to all you tilapia breeders out there, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Comment by Matt Miskinnis on May 20, 2013 at 7:22pm

Ditto, big fan of fishless cycling, I cycled for over 3 months before putting fish in the system (my fish were two small to put in).  My system was cycled in a month and a half, and waiting for the fish to grow to a decent size to put in the tank, though aggravating, probably helped more that I know, as when I did add the fish, the system was a chugging machine, and would work like clockwork - add ammonia in the morning and by the next day boom all readings back to zero.  I have had 3 fish losses, which I consider not to bad, not to mention I have more tomatoes now than I can eat .

Comment by Jon Parr on May 20, 2013 at 2:12pm

I'm a big fan of the fishless cycling as well, though in truth I've never tried it. I started with fish, not knowing any better, and now simply seed new systems from my old, with no cycling time whatsoever. My advice is to make local AP friends, bring some empty buckets of fresh media, some cold beer, and a free afternoon, and help your fellow aquapon clean his system while trading some of your new media for his seasoned media. Bigger, better, faster, more...

Comment by John Malone on May 20, 2013 at 2:01pm

AP System Cycling

I'm a big fan of fishless cycling, mostly because it takes all the pressure off.   You don't have the continual worry of whether the fish are going to make it or not.

I did a fishless cycle of a 500 gallon fish tank system and it took 25 days, which seemed like an eternity at the time, but is actually pretty quick.  

I had no idea what I was doing at the time and badly over-dosed with ammonia, but with no fish in the system all I had to do was sit back and wait, and do water tests, and wait, and do more tests, and wait, and...   you get the idea.    It was day 22 before I added any more ammonia!

I had planted a few vegetables and they showed signs of severe nutrient deficiency.  The problem was that the pH was way too high so I dosed the water heavily with HCl acid (muriatic / pool acid) to bring it down to where it should be.   This is something that you can't do if there are fish in the system.  Since I had no idea, again, about pH modification, not having fish in the system made my experiments a lot easier.

It's much better to have all the water parameters where you want them before you add the fish, since messing around with the water is fraught with danger to the fish.

Comment by Bob Campbell on May 20, 2013 at 1:25pm

Cheap feeder fish feel bad too when they suffocate slowly in a system that can't process the nitrogen.  I'm clearly an advocate of cycling with ammonia or urine.  In fact I'm an advocate of fishless biopoincs, but this group is about tilapia. 

It's painful to hear the redundant moaning about fish dieing and pictures of water tests with high nitrites and newbies begging to know how long it takes for nitrification to become established.  When you are warned and go ahead anyway; well I'm just saying... 

Eight weeks is my average.  So think about the work required to do water changes for eight weeks, and how easy it would be instead to control the nitrogen with a splash of ammonia every few days while going ahead with plants that will thrive in the nitrogen rich water.

If your system is large enough and not crowded and the water is cool, you can probably get away with establishing nitrification slowly as the fish grow, but why?

Comment by john graham on May 20, 2013 at 6:06am

I have 15 years in recirc systems, I have been following the discussions.  I gather cycle means to run your system for a period of time.  I also gather that you intend for the root systems to perform the bio-filtration for the fish waste and execute the Nitrogen cycle.  If not, then you have a stand alone bio-filter in your system.  Either way, depending if you use plant medium or not there is conservatively a 3 month time lag to grow the bacteria to execute the full nitrogen cycle - from ammonia to nitrate production.  Therefore, fish should be the last element added to a new system.  You will need to feed the plants manually and feed the bacteria to grow and produce the numbers necessary to process the fish waste once fish are added.  All too often fish are added too soon and they die quickly for the Nitrogen cycle has not been established.  Cheap feeder gold fish are a good fish to use to start your bio filter process.  Hope this helps.

Comment by Larry Glaser on May 19, 2013 at 9:41pm

I ordered 25 1" tilapia before my system has cycled but added them into my house aquarium till the outside system has cycled plus here in middle Tennessee it is unusually cool both days and nights...... This is the darndest global warming, cool  and wet. I am hoping that I have at least 6 weeks before I have a tank crowding issue. This is the time I have planned for cycling  

Comment by Bob Campbell on May 19, 2013 at 3:23pm

@sherrie cockram  - How long has your system been cycled?  Please don't order fish before cycling. 

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