Due to cost and availability I have started a tilapia forage project. Start only a short while ago here is the first spawn results. These are only 10 days old. They are currently in their own aquarium to be fed out to a larger size before they are moved.

Interesting Texas. I'm surprised at how large they look for 10 days old.

How did you get them to spawn?

A little candle light and Barry White.

Didn't have to do anything special. Got the water temp into the 80's and the rest they did themselves.

What are you feeding them?

Hermit crab meal- is real fine texture and 47% protien. and when they get larger AquaMax pellets. Some of the babies are now 1.5 inches. Also had another spawn from some other ladies so have a new batch brewing.

Here is the first group. There are some in there that are already 1.5inches.



Here is this next spawn.

Pretty neat. What size is the aquarium?

The top one is 30gal and the lower one is 10gal.

Here is the breeder trough. It is 90gal with a veggie filter setup and venturi pump to oxygenate the water. Had to put a lid on it to keep them from jumping out.

Cool Setup. Will the adult tilapia eat their young? If so how do you seperate the adults from the eggs and fry?

Once in a while tilapia will eat fish fry/yoy (including other tilapia) but not their own offspring. They are mouth brooders as described in the SARC fact sheet below.

SRAC 283 Tilapia: Life History and Biology

http://srac.tamu.edu/tmppdfs/381285-283f...8e62d2210123f87

Reproduction

In all Oreochromis species the male

excavates a nest in the pond bottom

(generally in water shallower than 3

feet) and mates with several females.

After a short mating ritual the

female spawns in the nest (about

two to four eggs per gram of brood

female), the male fertilizes the eggs,

and she then holds and incubates the

eggs in her mouth (buccal cavity)

until they hatch. Fry remain in the

female's mouth through yolk sac

absorption and often seek refuge in

her mouth for several days after they

begin to feed.

I have heard they do but I haven't seen that. They are seperated before hatching. About every ten days the adults are checked and if they have eggs in their mouth the eggs are flushed out of their mouths into the smaller aquarium whey they will hatch with out any other fish in there. The adult goes back outside to rebreed.

Fry are moved to the larger aquarium when the next group comes. And that starts the game of musical chairs until I get my growout pond built.

How long does it take you to get them large eneough to stock?

Depends on your stocking size. I haven't stocked any in my large pond yet since I jsut started this project. Currently they are about 1.5 - 2 inches. I won't be stocking them until they are about 4 inches. At this rate should be about 2-3 more months.

I am trying to get my hands on some Rocky Mountain White fingerlings. Have you worked out the details on shipping them, etc, yet?

Here is our new breeder and oldest juvenile setup. We have another group of fry in the small tank and had to move everyone up the ladder.

We have taken the existing breeder tank and veggie filter added another tank for the oldest young. Water is pumped out of the breeder tank through the veggie filter and into the fingerling tank. A siphon tub is used between the two to maintain equal water level and circulate the water flow.

Here are some more pics of the latest spawn. Grow out ponds ahve been built and filled. Will post pics of them soon.

But enjoy.

Great photos!

awesome, i've really enjoyed yer posts there texas715.

Great stuff Texas715

So what are your plans when the temps get cold?

Several things.

1. Late fall, drain and net what I can and put in my larger lake for the fall feeding frenzy.

2. See if some survive in my outdoor growth ponds.

3. Move the setup you see so far indoors.

Who knows? At this point it's only labor.

Neat project TX715. How many fry do you think you will overwinter indoors? The ones born just as you go indoors will be producing babies by the time spring gets here. They can really fill up space in a hurry.

Don't really know. The current plan is to keep the 18 breeders kepp spawning through the winter and keep with what we're doing now. Raise them from eggs\fry to fingerlings in the troughs. When they get a minimum of a inch go to outdoor small pond. The question is will the well that feeds that pond keep it warm enough so I don't have to move them to the large pond near the warm water well flow.

We'll see.

Texas715 I have a 300 gallon tank in my basement with about 85 three to four inch tilapia that I took a net to my pond and took off the nest in June. They are growing and in good shape, have not had one to die. This is my first year to raise tilapia in my pond so I am kind of new to this. The guy I got my tilapia from said his fish just spawn in his tank on their own without any special attention. He had a small swimming pool in a heated building and the fish would spawn all year. Will mine spawn also in my tank just left alone? I have read where some people take pairs of fish to a seperate tank to spawn. He says you do not need to seperate them they will do just fine. I keep my water clean and the temp. at 85 to 90 degrees Any information would be helpful Ricky

We don't seperate them to spawn but we do check the every two weeks to put eggs in one aquarium and fry in another. We have seen the fry eat the eggs if put together. In one aquarium there have been as many as 400 fry in there. Ours a game of tank size to prevent over crowding. The water temp is around 83 degrees.

We don't seperate them to spawn but we do check the every two weeks to put eggs in one aquarium and fry in another. We have seen the fry eat the eggs if put together. In one aquarium there have been as many as 400 fry in there. Ours a game of tank size to prevent over crowding. The water temp is around 83 degrees.

Had a little spare time to post photos. A while back I had three small tanks built to grow out forage.

It's nice to have a well to fill them when there is no rain.

Looks perfect for a seine!...........Sweet!!!

Ricky, if you netted them off the nest, you may have an all male population. The male builds, guards, fertilizes, then chases everything away. The other fish are terrorized by the male except for about an hour spawning period where he "entices" the female by b wiggling and biting her on the side, then he quickly kicks her butt to the curb.

Rainman, I watch the males on the nest for a few days, then I saw the female about five or six feet from the nest letting the fry in and out of her mouth in a patch of moss with a hole in it about the size of a basketball. I got a fine meshed dip net and when she let them out I dipped up 84 fry. The next day I found another female and dipped up 30. That was on June 22. I have them in a tank in my basement. I have not lost one fish yet and they are growing like crazy. I was just wondering if they would spawn in the tank on their own without doing anything special, I was told they would by the guy I bought some from last year. He puts his in tank and leaves them alone and dips out the fry as soon as he notices them before they are gobbled up by the other fish. My fish are about 4 inches long and I did not know if they were too young to spawn yet. They are starting pick out areas of the tank and chase the other fish away. I am thinking something going on. Any information would be helpful. Ricky

Ricky, yes, they will start spawning at about 3-4 months old. Tilapia ARE cannabilistic! If your aquarium water if filtered and clear, you will lose all ofspring. If it is VERY green w/algae about 1% will survive.In the pictures, the dominant male is about 10" and the females are about 8". There are 3 smaller (2 mos old) fish that are the only survivors of over 25 spawns. In the upper right of the 55 gal tank is a small(5x5x8") breeding cage I started using 10 days ago. In the net you can see 100's of fry that are 8 days old and some eggs I collected yesterday. In my tanks, as soon as the female spits out the fry, they are eaten! It's rather obvious that the breeder net will save most of the fish, but I will have to set up at least 2 more smaller tanks to raise the various sizes in.

Dom. Male is lower left

2 month old in center (1 of 3)

Blurry, but shows a mix of red/blue hybrids and the darker blue tilapia. Fry are 8 days old and eggs in upper right are 1 day old.

Rainman, How do you collect the fry before they are eaten? I watch my fish alot when I am home, but what do you do when your at work or gone and the fry hatch ? Will the mother hold them in her mouth for a few days?

Yes Ricky, she will keep them in her mouth for up to two weeks. Try using a CLEAR container to slowly trap the female. Again, I use a breeder style with a lid that has slots in it. When you trap the female she will spit out the fry and/or eggs she has in her mouth. let her get water iback into her mouth a couple times more to make sure she flushes out all of them. Sometimes you can catch them with a dip net, but this usually frightens her enough to spit out everything before you can catch her.