Tilapia for aquaponics

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Anchovie

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 19, 2012
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Jersey Shore
Anybody ever try an aquaponics setup using tilapia? The reason I ask is that as the fish grow and breed you could also use the fish as food too. I'm thinking a 1000 gallon garage setup. A 500 stock tank for fish. A 250 for plants, and a 250 for wet/dry.


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I don't think it's a good idea if you are strictly raising them to feed other fish. The cost involved would be way more then the $5 packs of tilapia you can get in the store as needed..


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I'm not using them to feed fish. I'm using them to grow vegetables in an aquaponic setup. And one side effect of using tilapia is that they breed relatively quick and easily. I would eat them.


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Most major aquaponics setups use Tilapia as the fish of choice. Hardy, grow big, popular in the grocery store.
 
There was an aquaponics business here until not too long ago, called Sweetwater Organics using Tilapia. They used giant ponds in the floor, and had 3 tiers of bare root plants (mostly leafy greens, and herbs) in a large warehouse. They'd sell Tilapia fillets and the greens at local farmers markets.
Water was pumped to the top of each tier and ran by gravity thru the gardens, and back to the tanks. Each tier had rows of fluorescent lights, above the plants.
There are photos of the set up in an E book by David
Naylor called Trash Backwards.
Highest cost was keeping the tanks heated, lighting and pumping water up to the plants.
below is a shot of 1 of their Tilapia I picked up at the farmers market
 
My mate wanted to use tilapia for his aquaponics as he had heard they are one of the best choices but they are illegal in our state so he settled for Silver Perch
 
Disney worlds "fish farm" has a setup where they have tilapia in a huge tank in the bottom and plants planted on a slanted thing with roots out and the water circulates from the fish tank through plants and back to the fish tank.


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I think breeding the fish would be fun, but I don't think that doing it at a hobbyist's level would be able to produce a profit. It would take a serious initial investment of capital in order to produce a profitable organization. If you're just doing it for fun however, I think it could be a blast!

Moved to breeding.
 
Over here, they only use tilapia. Works good but I'm about to start a big system up that uses catfish or sunfish because it can be kept outside unheated. Our winters are just severe enough to kill off tilapia that are kept above ground.

I'm also working with some people to start an aquaculture business out here so they are helping to pay for it.
 
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