I noticed that one of the larger tilapia of mine is guarding a clay flower pot for dear life and is not eating. Could this be a female with eggs in her mouth? They are definitely doing the mating dance quite constantly. Although I haven't seen this particular fish doing it. He or she seems more interested in running everyone off than trying to entice someone over. It seems that all the flower pot's are spoken for. How funny, Anyways I just don't want to miss a female holding eggs. Thanks Guys, John

If I do miss some, are the fry big enough to see pretty easily?

The eggs are about 3/32" in diameter and when they hatch, the fry are just under a quarter inch long. If the female is holding eggs, she will not open her mouth much and when she does a little, you will see the eggs spinning in there. She will also have a pooch under her chin like a pelican. If you have an egg tumbler, you can tranfer the eggs anytime.

I suggest trying to trap the female with a clear lidded container so she doesn't get frightened otherwise she can spit all the eggs out and they will get eaten almost instantly---same with the fry. You can net them but that is difficult under the best of circumstances and you will not likely get a second chance.

Oh ya. The one guarding the pot is most likely the dominant male. He will chase off the female aftr she spawns. If it is a male you can usually see his genetalia protruding. Males are pointed females ready to lay eggs have a more rounded protrusion otherwise, no protrusion ( an egg chute )

Is the water warm enough for Tilapia to be producing eggs?

They will rarely spawn below 60 degrees. 70 degrees will be slow spawning. Optimum growth and spawning is 82-85 degree water.

Yes, the water is between 80-85 degrees. The container only allows me to see them from above. So, I am having a hard time telling the females and if they have eggs. There is around 10 pots in there and some other hiding areas and they all have one larger fish guarding each one. The fish just swimming around seem to be a little smaller,but again it is hard to see there behavior when I feed as there are 50 plus fish in this tank. I will set up a hatching tank ASAP as I did not know this was the best way until you guys mentioned it. Thanks, John

I use a clear "Betta" tank with a lid to trap the females. Netting them usually costs you mre than half the eggs/fry when they spit them out and start thrashing around.

I will try that . Thanks

I've been doing a special little breeding project with my biggest fish from each spawn. One of my largest females had probably 150 eggs in her mouth up until about 5pm this evening when she decided to suddenly spit them out and then eat them one by one literally within a minute or two. She was in a nursery tank away from distraction and attack from the other males doing great, and then bam.

This seems to happen about once out of every 3 spawns with her. I just don't get it with this one. It rarely ever happens with any of the others, and she's one of the best spawners... just a terrible incubator. Go figure.

I have had this happen as well and recovered many eggs to put into an egg tumbler only to fing they were dead---probably not fertilized. Usually other fish distracted the male when he was trying to fetilize them and I guess the milt was never released.