I ordered 30 tilapia from Rainman Rex. He shipped 40 from St. Louis on Tuesday evening. They arrived FEDEX ground early this afternoon (Thursday). No morts when I opened the box, although I did end up losing two. Not sure why, but still that is pretty darn good. They are all about 2 inches, although the morts were probably the two smallest, at maybe 1-1/2 inches.
I've now got 19 each in two 10 gallon aquariums that I filled with pond water last night. I also added "pure" non-iodized table salt. Both have filters and large airstones suitable for 40 gallon aquariums.
I plan to let them grow a little in the aquariums, then I'll probably put them either in a cage or in the aquaponics tank till they are big enough to safely release in the ponds.
I ground up some pellets, which they didn't care for. But, then I put some whole pellets in, and they went nuts -- sucking them in like little vacuum cleaners. The pellets barely fit in through their lips. I figure they'll grow pretty fast if they continue to eat like that.
