Michigan Tilapia

[Jeff S]

I'm in the Detroit area and have free Tilapia available to beginners. Also willing to share info if needed.

[Matt H.]

Interested in getting some of your fingerlings please. I am in Brighton and come out your way often. I have a 220g and 2x140g tanks I need to stock. What kind and how many do you have available?
Thanks,
Matt

[Jeff S]

I have Blue Tilapia. Are you looking to stock or breed?

[Matt H.]

Great blues are what I was after. At this point in time mainly just looking to stock. I've been building this system for quite awhile now. My plants are starting to show signs of nute deficiency due to my light fish load. The system is well cycled and hungry for some fish poop.

[Jeff S]

How many are you thinking? I learned the hard way that too many fish requires a solids filter of some type and if you're taking out solids you're wasting fish food. With the right balance of fish and plants you won't need a filter as long as you're using red wigglers to break down the solids in your grow beds. What size are your grow beds?

[Matt H.]

I am looking for 25 or so. I've got the fish maintenance end of things covered for sure. The planted end is my weak side. I've been running the system for awhile with a minor fish load. I think the plants are hungry. My main grow bed is just over 11sqft. I also have some DWC that will add another 10sqft. The grow bed is getting established. It will definitely have red worms in it.

[Matt H.]

Jeff S said:

How many are you thinking? I learned the hard way that too many fish requires a solids filter of some type and if you're taking out solids you're wasting fish food. With the right balance of fish and plants you won't need a filter as long as you're using red wigglers to break down the solids in your grow beds. What size are your grow beds?

[Matt H.]

I've got farm fresh eggs to trade. If you haven't had farm fresh; you haven't had eggs. Mine are organic too.

[Jeff S]

25 shouldn't be a problem. I'm planning on moving some fish around in the next week or 2. That would be a good time to pull out your fish. I'm actually harvesting my first fish and I've been doing this for 2 years. The problem was too many fish. Everybody says they have problems breeding them but I haven't experienced that. My first 2 litters were 300 and 500 fish within a month of each other. I haven't done any "breeding" since then but they keep multiplying. I couldn't feed them enough to grow them fast because I didn't have enough grow beds to handle the waste. But I have a plan to speed things up a bit. Will that 1-2 week time frame work for you?

[Matt H.]

Yeah, that works. The sooner the better, but no pressure. It surprises me to hear people have breeding difficulty. I would keep a trio in a 50g breeder tank or bigger. PH in high sevens to low eights. Temp at 75*-82*, higher end better. Take them off the main system if that's outside your parameters. In Westland you're on Detroit water, so dechlored tap should be about perfect. Maybe feed some higher protein food. They should put rabbits to shame.

[Lindsey Von Seggern]

Hi Jeff, I am located in Ann Arbor and am interested in some tilapia if you still have fingerlings available.  We are beginners and are currently going through a fishless cycle for our 30 gallon system.  I just checked the water tonight and nitrites showed up (yay!).  From what I've read, the system should be producing nitrates in the next few days, and then will be ready for fish and plants.  Let me know if you have some fingerlings available!

[Jeff S]

Hi Lindsey. I do have fingerlings and you are welcome to some starter fish. I know when I started I couldn't find any Tilapia in this area, free or otherwise. I would wait for your Nitrites  and ammonia to settle down before putting them in. Let me know when you're ready.

[Jeff S]

I'm planning on moving fish this weekend. Are you available to pick some up?

 
Matt H. said:

Interested in getting some of your fingerlings please. I am in Brighton and come out your way often. I have a 220g and 2x140g tanks I need to stock. What kind and how many do you have available?
Thanks,
Matt