A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

stock tanks too shallow for tilapia?

I read somewhere that tilapia prefer deeper water 30 inches or more. If i plan on using stock tanks that are 24 inches deep, (only 20 inches or so deep when filled with water) would that hinder raising tilapia somehow? i do plan on getting a tank cover to prevent the fish from jumping out.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

0 members like this

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Sheri Schmeckpeper on September 19, 2011 at 11:39pm

Hmmm, we'll have to try our golds with the tilapia & see what happens.

They like higher temperatures and lower PH for breeding. Our breeder tanks are about 80 degrees, 6.5 PH, with 12 hours or more of light.

They're fascinating to watch during breeding. One of our female released eggs this morning but the male wasn't in the tank, so they didn't get fertilized and she never bothered to pick them up. A few days ago we had the male & a female in the same tank, but with a divider between them. She released eggs and apparently he fertilized from afar because she's still holding them. We've found that some mothers are better at breeding than others, too. We had one we were testing and she kept eating her eggs. Another gathered the eggs and shortly after spat them out. The male carried them-which was totally crazy!

Permalink Reply by TCLynx on September 20, 2011 at 6:55am

I've heard of females laying eggs and then picking them up again (even if there wasn't a male in the tank) and then eventually they eat or spit them out because they were not fertilized.

Permalink Reply by Sheri Schmeckpeper on September 20, 2011 at 10:59am

It should be interesting to see what happens with our distance romance. She's still holding. They carry them for about 10 days in our system, and she's on day 4.