Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait I got my Tilapia today!

I picked up 50 5 inch tilapia today with some mixed in extra fingerlings from a source on PB. I will let him give out his name if he want's to sell more. I have them in about 100-150 gallons of water in my garage for now. It is heated to about 80 degrees. So far today I have put two minnow buckets of Fillamentaus Algae (or however you spell it) into the tank and they have devoured it all leaving behind only the twigs and leaves mixed in that were picked clean of all algae! I am going to try and shoot a video soon of them eating the algae. I think I will call it (When Tilapia Attack!!!) Seriously, It was like watching algae eating Pirrahna's! They are also doing the mating dance already! I will keep you all informed if and when I get any baby algae destroyers. Does anyone know how much protein is in that algae? Thanks, John

You spell it "FA".

Probably not a whole lot, but Tilapia seem to do OK on it. They also eat a whole lot of other stuff, so you could probably supplement with just about any fish food.

The stomach acid ph of tilapia is about 1. Extremely acidic and it allows the T to toatally break down the algae. Other fish can not dissolve the protein barriers in algea to absorb nutrition. The tilapia digestive system is nearly 100% efficiant. Lots goes into the mouth but extremely little comes out the other end.

Very nice to know. I was wondering if it was the males that held the fry in there mouths or the females? Also, do they lay eggs in a nest and then pick them up once they hatch or do they lay the eggs and pick them up immediately? Thanks, John

They make nests similar to sunfish, once the eggs are laid in the nest the male takes them into his mouth where he broods them until the fry have absorbed their yolk sacs and are free swimming.

Cool Thanks

One correction. The FEMALE broods the eggs and fry for about 2 weeks untill they no longer fit in her moth- even after the yolk sack is gone. The male spawns with any and all females he can. If you carefully net the female about 10 days after the spawn, you can transfer the fry to a seperate tank, otherwise most fry will get eaten by other tilapia.

Ooops, got the sex wrong. Only the black-chinned tilapia is a paternal mouth brooder the rest are maternal.

Ok, I will try to watch for females with there mouths full of eggs. I am guessing it is pretty obvious? I have them in a large poly tank so I can only see them from the top. I hope I can tell when this happens. Thanks guys

John, remember the picture. the more the better!!!

John,

What species of tilapia did you buy?

I supplied John's tilapia. He probably has about 70% females, so I bet he'll have great success with spawning.

It will likely be difficult for John to spot incubating females in his poly tank, but with all the hides he has, I believe he'll get some recruitment regardless. The lower number of males should help too.

John, are you still planning to relocate them to your bigger stock tank outside once temps are high enough?

He's got an improved body conformation strain of Nile Tilapia. They grow FAST. They tend to be slightly lighter in color than the standard Niles also(though some turn nearly black during spawn), but they still contrast a great deal from the white varieties like Rocky Mountain Whites/Pearls. He has a few Whites that I threw in as freebies, so he'll have a chance to compare them.

I've actually got a video of some of my tilapia that I sold a while ago here (not the best quality, but if you have the bandwidth, the HD version is a little better):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV4TF7Xfhl4

Yes, I do plan to move them to the swimming pool sized stock tank near the pond when the temps are higher. I still need to run an electric line out there first though for the pump. I think with the constant flow of pond water into and out of the tank there shouldn't be much issue with dirty water. I need to measure the tank to guess how many gallons it is so my fellow PBr's can help me figure out what size line I need going into and out of the tank to keep the flow the same. I will then hopefully get some ideas on what size pump I will need. I have an old hot tub water pump I have been dying to use for something although I am sure it's flow will be more than adequate. I think its like a 1 1/2 horse or so. It may also be a 220 so I might not even use it who knows. Thanks again, John

John, You can make an overflow sytem easily for a pool. Just take a lenght of 3" PVC that will extend ABOVE the pool's waterline. Notch the bottom with 1/4" wide by 1/2" high cyts and trim a slot for a 2" piece of PVC. Use the 2" PVC to set at just below the water level you desire and run it from inside the 3" PVC and use elbow to runit up and over the side of the tank back into the pond. If the tank has a drain in the bottom you can use this and not have to create the siphon. To create the siphon, fill the tank and run small flexible tubing to the highest point in the plumbing and hust suck out the air till the flow starts. Leave the tubing in place in case you ever need to restart the siphon.

Why not something simple like this?

Weiss, are those the "Super Males" that produce about 98% male offspring? I know the males grow rapidy for commercial food markets.

From my experience the males of this strain grow twice or three times as fast as females, and they have a much better body conformation compared to the females. So, you have to be extremely careful when grading fish, because picking all the biggest and best looking from the same spawn will result in about 90% males.

This leads me to wonder if they might be one of the Nile strains used to cross with pure O. Aureus to get "all male" offspring (95-98%), but that would be a big surprise if it turns out to be the case as there are only a couple of known lines, and they are all guarded like fort knox gold (females from those lines are destroyed if not used in house for breeding). At any rate, they spawn within the strain very well and produce about 50/50 male to female.