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#14208 07/16/07 01:52 PM
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I have a year round 70-72 degree spring/artesian well that runs naturally at 5 gpm...7200 gallons a day..
It is what keeps my pond full all year even in drought but I don't need the extra water in the winter at all.. The water quality is excellent according to A&M for any use..

I wonder if that could help me cut down on cost of over-wintering some tilapia here in SE Texas?
I sure want them in my ponds..

I might try it this sept/oct if I can find the fish..

Seems like a great fish on many different levels.. I also enjoy the mild taste of the fish as well.. They really seems to suck up any type of spices you add before cooking and are not a very fishy smelling fish at all.

I was already going to build a 4x8x4 (aprox 1000 gallons) fiber glass tank for another project... If I insulated the tank and built a small greehouse Maybe I could try some Tilapia instead?

I now have more questions for Meadowlark on my visit..

I wonder how many Tilapia I could raise with 7200 gallons of 70-72 degree water a day...

I would think it would help heat, flush and aerate the tank or maybe tanks?

Sounds like a fun project anyway..
I always had aquariums as a youngster and the fish did very well and multiplied..

#14209 07/17/07 04:27 AM
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Check some of the aquaculture sites as to how many you can stock, it will be alot, they mature for sale/eating at about 5 months, so factor that in. When you talk with ML ask about pacu, with your water temps it is another choice.


1/4 & 3/4 acre ponds. A thousand miles from no where and there is no place I want to be...
Dwight Yoakam
#14210 07/17/07 12:25 PM
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You may also look for Midas, similar to tilapia but their color is bright gold. They are in the Cichlid family and will live with tilapia. They are slightly less cold tollerant than the Nile tilapia I have. They are readily available in aquarium shops.




"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." Stephen W. Hawking
#14211 07/18/07 12:09 AM
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 Quote:
Originally posted by Rad:
Check some of the aquaculture sites as to how many you can stock, it will be alot, they mature for sale/eating at about 5 months, so factor that in. When you talk with ML ask about pacu, with your water temps it is another choice.
Thanks for the responses..
I have a couple of ponds and several relatives ponds I want to keep stocked with mozambique tilapia for FA control, water quality, forage and maybe a few to eat or what ever..

I checked out several aquaculture sites and you can pack a lot of Tilapia into a small area if you know what your doing.. Many more than I expected..
Recirculating systems have the best capacity but Free flow are very high as well and 7200 gallons a day will raise a lot of healthy Tilapia.. I would have to warm the water some 10-12 degrees to really grow them during the cooler months but it is perfect for over-wintering...

I found several sites for a free flow or recirculating into a hydroponic garden system that sounds really good for me (Aquaponics System). Pretty easy to automate through gravity, small pumps, pvc and timers..
Plants live off the fish waste and thrive while cleaning the water.. Very small eco-footprint.

I was going to build a tank and a greenhouse in the future anyway and this sounds like a good combination considering I already raise a vegetable garden every year anyway.
Might as well kill three birds with one stone. Raise fish for many uses, grow plants and clean-up the water to a pretty high level..

A small Fish Farm/Greenhouse sounds like a fun, challenging and interesting project that I'm sure I could handle.. Live fresh fish at times and vegetables available year round for my family sounds pretty cool.

The hardest part might be getting mozambique tilapia this fall after/if I build the system..

#14212 07/18/07 06:00 AM
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Tecohorn,
Don't wait buy a few from a pet shop and let them reproduce, they mature early, several inches long is all. They are prolific to say the least, keep them in a 20 gal tank in the house till you need them.


1/4 & 3/4 acre ponds. A thousand miles from no where and there is no place I want to be...
Dwight Yoakam
#14213 07/18/07 07:58 AM
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Tecohorn,

I have a source for fall Tilapia...we can talk about it when you come by. You won't find them in pet stores or anyplace that sells aquarium fish in Texas. I've got one year of experience in overwintering Tilapia...just enough to be dangerous, and I'll show you my system, such as it is. Sounds like we have a lot to talk about...let's get it on!!

#14214 07/18/07 04:50 PM
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 Quote:
Originally posted by Meadowlark:
Tecohorn,

I have a source for fall Tilapia...we can talk about it when you come by. You won't find them in pet stores or anyplace that sells aquarium fish in Texas. I've got one year of experience in overwintering Tilapia...just enough to be dangerous, and I'll show you my system, such as it is. Sounds like we have a lot to talk about...let's get it on!!
Sounds great and yes I have many questions for you, I need to start writing them down.. I've read a bunch of your post and spent many hours researching the topic online and I'm sold on Mozambique Tilapia for my situation.

I couldn't fill up my pond yet because the creek I'm going to use is way to high right now becuse of all the rain... Hopefully it will drop and clear by friday.. The trinity river being so high has really slowed down the clearing though... It's usually crystal clear in only two day's after a heavy rain storm..

I have my spring running into it at 5gpm but I need around 600,000-700,000 gallons to fill it up close to normal again... The rain has helped but since I have very little runoff, a 2 inch rain only makes it rise 2.5 - 3 inches.

What the rain has really did well is keep the water temp from getting to lethal levels..
It was getting over 90 last week with the 3 or 4 96-97 degree days we had.. It's in the mid 80's this afternoon.

The 3 inch trash pump I will use has 320 gallons per minute output or close to 20,000 gallons an hour/480,000 gallons a day... I'm going to attempt to run it for 24 solid hours.. Wait a couple of day's and run it until it starts coming out of my rebulit spillway.. I won't know exactly at what level to set my new drain until it's refilled completely..

#14215 08/07/07 10:36 AM
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Update and observations:
End of April Cutrine treatment lasted about 6 weeks before FA returned. Treated again mid June, added aeration and added tilapia a week later. I returned from a week long fishing trip on July 30. No feeding took place while I was away. The water was muddy and slightly green. Green is normal, muddy isn't. I began feeding again once daily last week and the water is returning to normal color an visibility depth of about 18". No chemical treatments since June 16 and so far there is very little algae visible except in water less than 3" deep. I only see a couple of tilapia at feeding time. I believe these are the 2 larger males. It has been a very dry summer and the pond is the lowest it has ever been, 3' below full. I am unsure what the muddy water was caused by but I suspect it was due to foraging fish due to the lack of being fed. I have not seen evidence of a successful tilapia spawn but cannot rule out the possibility as they are an elusive fish.




"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." Stephen W. Hawking
#14216 08/07/07 10:43 AM
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 Quote:
I am unsure what the muddy water was caused by but I suspect it was due to foraging fish due to the lack of being fed.
I'd guess the same thing.


"Live like you'll die tomorrow, but manage your grass like you'll live forever."
-S. M. Stirling
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#14217 08/07/07 11:11 AM
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I would think with the higher concentrations of nutrients due to this drought and higher temps that the FA would be growing like crazy. This is week 7 since the last cutrine treatment. Week six after the previous treatment yielded large floating masses of FA. I'm interested in what others are experiencing locally relative to the amount of FA growth and treatments it is requiring. Do the current weather conditions promote FA growth or slow it down typically?




"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." Stephen W. Hawking
#14218 08/07/07 12:51 PM
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Once the full heat of Summer hits, FA typically does less well. It's more of a cool-to-warm water phenomenom.

In my pond, it peaks in June.


"Live like you'll die tomorrow, but manage your grass like you'll live forever."
-S. M. Stirling
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#14219 08/08/07 07:34 AM
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My pond is VERY low due to the drought. The FA growth rate has declined significantly with the heat, only to be outdone by the proliferation of curly leaf pond weed. I have spot treated with Cutrine Plus and raked, and raked, and raked... but its hard to fish anywhere due to the weeds. Next spring I plan to resort to an aggressive chemical regimen.


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Pictures of pond at week 10. I still haven't applied any chemicals. Compared to others ponds in the area, are the tilapia keeping it clean or is the FA just not growing well?






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Nice lookin' Ahia water, Ryan.


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I had to do a search on what Ahia was. I didn't get it until I found your post on Ahia's "frozen mud, dusty mud..." seasons then it all made sense! Some Ahian I am..LOL!!!




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Tecohorn,

I've got about 60 beautiful Tilapia ready for your system...come and get them cause I need the room to get some more for us before its too late.

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I threw out my cast net several times on Sunday night and caught 1 3" tilapia along with several small bluegill and a 6" gizzard shad. This confirms that tilapia will reproduce in Ohio ponds, even if the water is aerated. One interesting thing is the 2 male tilapia I stocked were actually sex reversed females so this also proves they were fertile. The lower stocking rate was adequate as I still do not have any significant algae or weeds. No chemicals have been applied to the pond since prior to stocking the tilapia. I'm hoping to seine the pond with the donors soon as they would like their males back.




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I've been checking my water temps periodically. 11/1/07 water temp was 57.2 F. 11/3/07 it was down to 56.1. Saturday I noticed the HSB blowing up on the suface all over the pond around mid morning and swirls from the LMB in the shallows. Yesterday 11/4/07 I found 1 large dead tilapia. I think this is the end of the this year. They lasted almost 3 weeks longer than last year.




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I forgot who was growing the tilapia in a dairy lagoon? Can you contact me via pm I have some questions on how well it is working. Thanks!

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Is tilapia tank ready? I have a 300 gallon tank with three air pumps, a homemade bucket filter. The bucket has holes drilled in the bottom. Big plastic hair rollers on the bottom with filter material over them. It catches most of the sediment on the bottom. I have a heat lamp that keeps thr water between 75 and 80 degrees. Am I ready for 75 tilapia? Any information would be helpful.

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 Originally Posted By: Ricky W.
Is tilapia tank ready? I have a 300 gallon tank with three air pumps, a homemade bucket filter. The bucket has holes drilled in the bottom. Big plastic hair rollers on the bottom with filter material over them. It catches most of the sediment on the bottom. I have a heat lamp that keeps thr water between 75 and 80 degrees. Am I ready for 75 tilapia? Any information would be helpful.


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Tank Culture of Tilapia - SRAC Publication No. 282

http://srac.tamu.edu/tmppdfs/329734-282f...da952d9276f3646
















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Do you have a photo, Ricky?


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Bruce, here is the picture you wanted to see of the tank.



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Hey ricky,
Instead of a heat lamp, i have a 1500w.,110v. heater element that was intended for a hot water heater. I run it off a timer, for about 2 hrs. a day at night and early morning. I wonder which one is cheaper to run?

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