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Comment by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. on September 24, 2013 at 7:19pm

Just a note for those of you in Phoenix. One of the greatest national challenges for backyard and commercial aquaponincs is zoning.  If you want the City of Phoenix to acknowledge that Aquaponics is valuable to the city in its next general plan, the time is now to let it know.

The General Plan is the written and will be voted on in 2015 plan/dream for the city. Zoning follows the dream and development follows zoning. If you want urban agriculture and specifically aquaponics to be part of the dream, you must say so. So far regarding aquaponics, NO ONE HAS (at least by this morning. I hope by now someone has). Here is the link. Please make your voices known. http://www.myplanphx.com/

Comment by sunset on September 24, 2013 at 6:41pm

lol.  

John...your experience seems very similar to mine and we were typing them up at about the same time.

Comment by sunset on September 24, 2013 at 6:40pm

Some of the fish were super aggressive in the past month or so and were chasing the others around the tank.   But since I have the fish in some large IBC totes with shade over them so it is pretty dark in there, I have no idea what is happening.  I can't really see in the water very well.  There may have been fries and they may have been eaten up or they may be in there and I have no idea.   To give them a little hiding place, I put some small IBC tubes in there.   But they are way at the bottom and I can't even really see them.   So who knows......

Comment by John Malone on September 24, 2013 at 6:39pm

Thanks for the info Sheri.

I had what I thought was pretty good environmental conditions.  Water temp sits right at 85F+/- during the summer, I try to keep my pH just below 7 for general AP reasons, I put in some 4" PVC pipes and plastic flower pots for breeding zones / nests,  there were about 4 of the fish that got super aggressive and turned a nice pale cream / white colour, there even seemed to be some of the gray ones being herded around, but nothing, nada, zip, zero.

So, I'm coming to the conclusion that it's time for them to meet Mr Knife and get myself some more young'uns.

My personal theory is that they got a hint that as soon as they bred I was going to cull the majority of the large fish, so once word got around self-preservation kicked in...

Comment by Sheri Schmeckpeper on September 24, 2013 at 6:23pm

Most people who have purchased our fish have been breeding successfully. Jim T is one example. :)  We've been finding more like 60% males in our fish whether breeders or eaters. In fact, we just had three breedings this last month in our main tank, as well as those in our breeding tanks. I would be pretty sure you have females, John.  Besides, your big boys wouldn't get aggressive if there weren't females to argue over.

Can you see your big boys? If they're whitish in color and the others dark, they're breeding, or trying to.

PH, temperature, and environment are some factors. PH should be around 6.8, temperature should be around 85 (though we bred a little lower than that). Water currents (fry can get sucked away and never seen), oxygen, nesting areas, and nurseries (baby hide-aways) can make a difference.

And I'll put in a shameless plug, too--we sell fry, food, test kits, and duckweed. :)

Comment by Pat James on September 24, 2013 at 6:08pm

I think your lack of females is the problem. I only wish mine would slow down trying to reproduce and  convert that energy to grow some so I have some meat in  a few months.

@ Sunset...the big trick to breeding is to have a male and female ( basic bird and bees... and then stand back and let them do their thing.  the trick is getting them to grow up...

Comment by John Malone on September 24, 2013 at 5:43pm

Maybe I should have taken more notes in Biology 101...

Comment by sunset on September 24, 2013 at 3:51pm

Doh! Turns out a good female may be hard to find in a tank too

Comment by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. on September 24, 2013 at 3:39pm

Sheri has excellent fish and one reason is that they are from my experience, genetically nearly 95% male. That means there is a strong possibility that you indeed did not have any females. 

Comment by John Malone on September 24, 2013 at 3:12pm

Well - that might be the problem.

My tilapia were from Sheri and to my knowledge her fish aren't single-sexed, but I could be wrong.

It would certainly explain the situation... 

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