Breeding Tilapia and Eating it
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Start off with a 300g(HDPE) stock tank, research aquaponics(go with a grow-bed style set up) and there are pellet foods available made for aquaculture.....I personally feed my tilapia mainly water plants/vegetables from their grow-beds.
About raiseing them from young and breading like a fishkeeping hobbie? as this site is for fishkeeping ! not bushcraft or ray mears lol
Tilapia are raised in huge quantity in fish farm throughout the world. You can buy in every supermarket stores, frozen or fresh, and live ones from Chinatown for as low as $4 a pound. So it's not worth to raise in tanks for food. Besides, very few people can eat their pet fish. Dog are food in some cultures, but people rarely eat their pet dog, always someone else dog unless it is in famine.
More of a sustainable thing than anything else.
Kind of like how people keep chickens. I'll probably get a few and just keep them like normal and learn from there.
I've been raising Tilapia for 2 years now.
Couple things I have learned and that you should keep in mind.
Couple things I have learned and that you should keep in mind.
- This is an incredibly dirty fish. Do not underestimate it. I run sponge filters in my fry and 1" or less grow out tanks. Everything is is on a sump. Sump is much easier to maintain.
- This is an incredibly dirty fish. Water changes are a must.
- Not sure if I've mentioned it, but its a dirty fish. With a 4x daily feeding regime, water can get nasty quick. 2-3 water changes a week on the grow out tanks with excellent filtration are normal for me. I would look into adding a plant aspect of filtration to your system to help with nitrates. (its worth noting that my stocking levels are pretty high)
- This fish can survive pretty much everything. I went away for a long weekend(4 days) and power got unplugged to my whole system while I was gone. No hear, air or filtration. Water was 49 Degrees Fahrenheit when I got back. Didn't loose one fish. Not even the fry that were 1 day free swimming when I left. These fish where Blues, and I only have Blues right now. Blues have a much wider tolerance of water temperature that all other strains of Tilapia.I would recommend starting with Blues since you are in Ohio and it can get colder.
- I kept my breeders in a 55 gallon for about 6 months. Aggression became a huge issue when they got bigger and I lost a couple females because males are mean SOBs. I currently have 2 males and 5 females in a 125 and aggression is nothing out of the ordinary for an African cichlid. I have found that you will always want 2 males in your breeding group, and a minimum of 5 females. I've discovered that with only having one male in the breeding colony, he can get lazy and wont get down to business with the ladies. Having less than 5 females with the 2 males can lead to death or near death experiences for the females. Again, males can be mean SOBs.
- IBC totes are your friend.
Tilapia is about the most hardy fish. If you go to Asian grocery stores that sell fish, you will likely find live tilapia kept in tanks. I am amazed that despite being packed in over crowded, dirty water, and haven't been fed for a long time, I still find a few fish fighting one and other for dominance in miserable conditions before they are net out to the butcher table.
I've also seen the Dirty Job show in TV on raising tilapia and stripped bass in aquaculture. The first tank with clean water is used to raise stripped bass. The waste water from the first tank is then passed to the second tank to raise tilapia which live off the algae that bloom in the waste water.
I've also seen the Dirty Job show in TV on raising tilapia and stripped bass in aquaculture. The first tank with clean water is used to raise stripped bass. The waste water from the first tank is then passed to the second tank to raise tilapia which live off the algae that bloom in the waste water.
I need to do some more research, but I'm thinking of getting the blue tilapia. The temperature range looks ideal and I won't have to worry about a heater.
I am also thinking of building a plywood tank. It will give me an excuse to build one and get better at it when I make my stingray pond. I have a perfect place for it. I will measure the area and see how many gallons it could be.
Thanks all.
I am also thinking of building a plywood tank. It will give me an excuse to build one and get better at it when I make my stingray pond. I have a perfect place for it. I will measure the area and see how many gallons it could be.
Thanks all.
If you can't find locally, I do have some pure Blue tilapia fry for sale and White Nile, Golden Mozambique, Koilapia(Mozambique) and hybrids, most of my lines were developed thru UH. In my region it seems everyone has a aquaponic tilapia pond, a very common site....
