A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

Breeding Tilapia

Just thought this group should have a discussion specifically about breeding these fish, since they are the easy ones to breed your own.

What works?

What doesn't?

How to deal with fish domestic violence.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Sylvia Bernstein on March 6, 2010 at 8:35am

Thanks for starting this, TCLynx! Great idea. I can't contribute anything since I've only purchased males, but hopefully you will get some participants.

Permalink Reply by Jeff Givan on March 6, 2010 at 9:43am

Well, I can only speak from what I read somewhere and not from practical experience. They said to either in a cage or aquarium place one male with rather large clay pot facing the side of the tank or cage to give him privacy and have six females in with him. He will bring a female into the clay pot. She will deposit her eggs on the bottom of the clay pot and he will fertilize them and then she will pick them up in her mouth and exit after they are done. The source also said to have 6 4" tubes of pvc all tied together and laying on their sides for the females to go into to have privacy and safety to raise their brood. She will keep the eggs in her mouth until they hatch and for a small period after and then the process will start all over again. That is why they suggest in a cage so the fry can leave and not be eaten. You can also take the cage or cages from tank to tank to populate them.

Permalink Reply by Lonnie Kirkman on July 31, 2011 at 8:23pm

any Ideas cant get my Tilapia to breed changed water put extra light at one end nothing there about 4 to 5 inches long

Permalink Reply by TCLynx on August 1, 2011 at 5:45am

Lonnie,

What sort of tank are they in?

How many males/females?

What is the water temperature?

Permalink Reply by Lonnie Kirkman on August 2, 2011 at 8:30am

Tank is 120 gal 1 male 5 female temp runs 79 to 85 depending on the day there in my barn are alot of foot traffic to begin with installed shower curtain to isolate them every time we went by they acted like they were starving so the pict. on my page is the tank I took some stuff out to see if that would help I know they should be breeding by now any ideas

Permalink Reply by Johann on August 5, 2011 at 5:41pm

*Check the chemistry of your water to make sure it is within range.

Check with your supplier of the fish and see what the chemistry the water has from your supplier.

*If the temperuture fluctuates to much that could be a reason that they may not breed. You could add 1 more tank or sump to the main system this way the temperature swings are not as much and would be more stable. Or use heaters to compensate.

* Lighting may play a major role. You may want to move the tank in front of the window, but keep the backing foil/paper on it this helps with algae and don't even use your electric lights. this would be more natural from dark to light and to dark again.

You may want to use a electric light with a timer, try set it to about ''12-14 hours on light time'' first and see what happen. Also a night light( the ones used for little kids you plug into the wall) a little bit farther away when your main lights go off may be helpful.

* Cleanness of your tank. Your tank may be to clean...yes to clean. If algae grows on the glass let it grow and if some waste is piling up on the bottom don't bother to much. Let the water age a little bit before you make water changes unless your readings get way off.

You may need to get 1 more male into the tank, this way there may be some compatition within the males and that may lead to breeding. But before you add the extra male, rearange all the things in the fish tank and then add the extra male, this way all the fish have to establish new terratories and this way the fish may not be to aggressive to each other.

Just as a note.....

I used to raise cichlids and fist when I started I had problems with them breeding. First off the books recommended that they be kept at a ph of about 8.5 and temps at 80 F.

I checked sites about commercial cichlids farms and I decided to trop the ph to 7 and temps to 70 F. Because I had a feeling that the breeder outfit did not raise them like the books said.

Lights I turned on when I got home from work and they got turned off when I went to bed.

I had a vacuum bulb to clean the bottom of the tank and I would do it 1 time a week. I stoped worring about the tank and I vacuumed the bottom 1 time or 2 times every 3 month os so.

I stoped rearranging things in the tank and I keept my hands out.

Within 1 month the color of the fish got realy briliant and 3 month after that I had 2 females carry eggs in their mouth.

Permalink Reply by Lonnie Kirkman on August 5, 2011 at 6:04pm

Thanks I will take a look at these and make some changes

Permalink Reply by TCLynx on August 5, 2011 at 6:34pm

I never had much luck breeding my blue tilapia indoors in an aquarium. Seems I was never able to keep the temperature up enough and it was probably kinda restricted space for them. pH was 7.6 but temperature rarely got over 75 since I didn't run heaters.

When I threw a dozen tilapia out into a 300 gallon tank with a covering of duckweed then hot spring weather came, I suddenly had far more tilapia fry than I knew what to do with. My system pH in that was 7.6 and the temperatures were probably getting up to about 85 F before I noticed fry. The duckweed tank was about 16 feet long and 30 inches wide and about 16 inches deep and had a 70% shade cloth cover over it.

Permalink Reply by Dave Lindstedt on February 29, 2012 at 8:10pm

About a week ago, for 3 days in a row, I observed 8 to 12 1/8 to 3/16th in long fry. The distintive thing was their two pin point yellow/green eyes. After the 3rd day I have never seen them again. My tank is self constructed 4ft x 4ft x 3ft deep. I have 6 lengths of PVC 4 to 6 inches in dia. about 1 foot long. I have a total of 25 to 30 fish in the tank they are about 8 months old. Several (4 to 6) have become very light, almost white in color. My concern is these little guys may have died or been eaten. Is their disapearence common? Also about what number of fry can be expected from one successful breeding? What advantages can be gain by movin the new fry into a 40 gallon aquarium?

Permalink Reply by Lonnie Kirkman on March 1, 2012 at 6:46am

do you have a filter on the pump I had some get in my filter and die or if no filter it will suck them trough it

Permalink Reply by Ken Elrich on May 14, 2012 at 8:39pm

from what I understand, depending on the age/size they will eat the fry.

I have 25 in a 55 gallon tank, and the white color in some also. But, I have been

seeing the romance dance where the circle each other. I have had my tilapia for about

month and a half and they were 1 inch when I got them. I have several over 5 inches now.

I am watching for the redish/pinkish color in the fins (suppose to be signs of being in the mood).

The breeder I got mine from said to just do the weekly water changes, keep water at least 80F

and feed them up to as much as 8 times a day. I have a few that will change to a dark color for a

short time. the male is suppose to get a brilliant blue green color on its head. My PH is 8 plus

naturally from well water. they seem to like it a lot. I found a source for duckweed and I will drop that in at bedtime.

its all gone come morning.

Permalink Reply by Larry Reinhardt on May 18, 2012 at 4:58am

Speaking about domestic violence, I've lost 5 large males in as many weeks. All of them were missing their lower lip and throat, I'm assuming its due to courting fights. These fish are a year old now and weigh 2.5 lbs, I guess I'll have to cull the tank. I've also got 200 bullhead cat fish in the tank but I don't think they have anything to do with the dead fish. I've not seen this before maybe some of you have.