Breeding tank pointers

[Doug Johnson]

We have a thriving Aquaponic system (Chopp II) that is about 9 months old. We have about 50 fish and about 12 or so are nearly 2 pounds and ready to eat. Our problem is that we have not had any reproduction going on in the tank and looking ahead see the need to setup a separate breeding tank to generate some fry.

Can anyone help me with some pointers and general guidelines? I would like to know what is a good size tank and what would be a good bio filter. Any other pointers would be greatly appreciated.

I have a 20 gal tank and a 20 to 40 gal aquarium pump/filter but I don't know what I need in the form of a  bio filter that will keep up with 2 mature tilapia. I tried this setup along with adding some cycled hydroton to help the bio filter pad that came with the pump but it would not keep up with the load from two 5" tilapia.

[wes]

I would bet you do have production going on in the tank but they are being eaten when they get large enough to swim on their own. That is if you don’t just have one sex or the other in the tank.

A 20 gal tank is really too small to use for a breeder tank. I have a thirty gallon tank and I only used it for putting the mother with the eggs in it by herself to hatch out the fry. I have a 55 gal tank that I have main breeders in. They start breeding when they very young say 5 to 6 months old or when they get to at least 4 to 5 inches long.

They say put one male to at least 3 females or more females and you will have fry in no time, esp if you keep the water temp at 75 to 80 degrees.

 

 

[Doug Johnson]

Thanks for the reply and the information. What do you use for your bio filter in both your 30 gal tank and also the 55 gal?

wes said:

I would bet you do have production going on in the tank but they are being eaten when they get large enough to swim on their own. That is if you don’t just have one sex or the other in the tank.

A 20 gal tank is really too small to use for a breeder tank. I have a thirty gallon tank and I only used it for putting the mother with the eggs in it by herself to hatch out the fry. I have a 55 gal tank that I have main breeders in. They start breeding when they very young say 5 to 6 months old or when they get to at least 4 to 5 inches long.

They say put one male to at least 3 females or more females and you will have fry in no time, esp if you keep the water temp at 75 to 80 degrees.

 

 

[Keith Rowan]

i use sponge filters.. they do require some maintenance, but they're air powered (low energy), great for fry tanks (nothing to get sucked up into)

i use them in all my glass tanks - minnow and marmokreb breeding tanks as well as my one tilapia fry tank (i only have 8 or so fry)

when the fry are big enough they'll go into the single tote system, and after they breed they'll go into the pool

[wes]

I use this in the 30 gal tank. I put a piece of pvc pipe around the intake with a filter mesh bag around the whole area pvc pipe and all, it keeps the filter running and keeps the fry out of the intake. As for the 55 gal that is where the fun happens and when I see a female with fry in her mouth or eggs I just scoop her out and put her in the 30 gal until the babies are released. The 55 gal system is interconnected to my aquaponic system so it has the entire filter it needs from the system and the media beds.

[jim mckee]

How about set the breed/fry tank so you can pump your aq system water into the breed/fry tank and it over flows back to the aq system.

Plastic drum for the breed/fry tank , use the Uniseal for the plumbing penetration of the over flow pipe.

I've used a bunch of the Uniseal and they are great.  The trick is to use sand paper to fine tune the diameter of the hole.

jim