I have been veiwing your videos for a while and I started breeding and selling fingerlings here in east tennessee. Have had over 6000 fry since April 2nd and have sold over 2000 fingerlings. Some of your advice is the best advice I have gotten, Thanks,
Most people sell tilapia as fry, or fingerlings, it is easier to transport and the survival rate is better. I agree with you on getting the breeder fish full grown, you get 1000 babies per pound of female. The down side of this is the fish have large fins and break the plastic bags that hold them and they use too much oxygen to keep in the bag, plus they get the water pooped up quick.:)
cleanliness does more then a good first impression on ppl. im sure it would be a lot easier to manage your farm!who cares what ppl think but do it for YOURSELF
This is great! Thank you for the educational video. My plan is to start my own little 'farm' up here in Alaska-more indoor than yours obviously lol- but I hope I can successfully do this so I can feed my family good food, and I hope to give seniors and students food help too. Thank you so much, videos like this help me towards achieving my dreams =)
Wow...beautiful fish. I also raise Blue Nile, but since I live in Ohio, I have two swimming pools in the basement. It is a constant struggle to keep them clean enough to have indoors, but worth it to me. And I just found out how to use my culls, by pressure canning or cooking them, bones and all, and putting them through the meat grinder to make patties. Extra calcium and phosphorus, and delish! Thanks for posting your video.
I will definitely do that after I resolve my energy consumption issues (keeping water warm.) Right now I am putting insulated floor tiles under pool #1. Problem is keeping water from getting under it and causing mold.
+Lockoutbaby Good idea, but the challenge I have with my system is that even aquaponics doesn't clean out the poop. It takes care of the amonia by products. In fact, if you don't filter your system, they will clog up the plants.
+Lockoutbaby I finally pulled the trigger on some Sicce Italian filters...big ones. They have made a huge difference in poop removal. I don't know if they leave enough of what the plants need in the water though. Update on my energy problem: I am working on installing a 400 Watt Grape solar off grid system in the back yard, but snow is slowing down progress right now. Hope to be able to run at least the pumps off of it.
I am trying to breed tilapia here in Michigan and I am having some trouble. Can you tell me, in your experience, if you have more than one male in the breeder tank, will they still breed? And also, would a male ever hide out in the pvc caves I have set up? Such as the less dominant one, or is that something a male would just not do? I am trying to figure out if I have any females without pulling them out and physically inspecting them. I have 3 in my breeder tank. One is bigger than the other 2, I assume that is the male, and the smaller 2 will go and hide in the pipes but I'm not sure if that is just because the big one is such a brute, or if it's because they are female and that is just their nature. Any input would help. Thank you.
I am glad you showed this. I have been thinking about doing hydroponics and was looking for a good harvest fish to use. I think I am going to research if I can have blue's in TN
helo... I am from Trinidad and Tobago. You have an amazing set up there. I am currently setting up my FIRST aquaponic system. I have a 400gallon tank and i ordered 15 male and 15 female tilapia fingerlings from a local agriculture shop. I have three questions... When the fish spawn, would the adult tilapia eat the babies? Is it mandatory to separate fingerlings from the adult fish? How did you harvest the fingerlings into the other tanks?
The ducks or human waste goes into the water and the fish live in it. The tilapias are gill feeders so when the bacteria break down it becomes food for the fish. They don't eat the poop but it is a process that works. If you look at it from a scientific point its ok, I feed aquamax 4000 and live plants like duckweed and watercreast
wow .. how old/how big is that female that produced about 2000 fingerlings?? and how long (months) does it take that blue tilapia to weigh around 5lbs??
The female breeder looks like she needs a break, do you have more then one female in there? Where do you get all those jacuzzis? Do you think I can get my Blues to about 3lbs in my aboveground swimming pool, its 10'x30", which is about 1000gals, and i have about 150 fish.Thanks for posting.
$5.99-6.99 Used to be less than orange roughy but now the demand has grown and it is about the same or at times even higher. I first had in Mexico and it was $3.99 a lb when I started to eat Tilapia hee, but the price went up when others found it was a great tasting white fish.
Interesting video, what do you do when prolonged cold days hit? We had a massive Tilapia die off in the Miami canals few yrs ago when Florida had the very cold week.
I bread the white tilapia and its a really easy fish to sell on the market where I'm from, don't know if it's legal to sell in the US but you should look into those as well
I will post on how I set up a tank today, just keep the water clean and 1 pound of fish per gal of water. With more experience you can do more. Go on craigs list and people give them away for free. I use 3 pound females and 5 pound males, no need for a lot of females because she produces 1000 fry per pound. I have several breeders.
The claim on the tilapia growing to harvest size in 8 to 9 months is on the hybrids. Apparently called "hybrid vigor". I'm looking more into it. It's good to know the pure-breeds grow much, slower. But that size in a couple of years is still really impressive. The easy part is feeding them enough. The tricky part is balancing stock with oxygen supply because they need enough aeration to grow also. Your tanks look like you have that covered. I'm trying to figure out what my needs for an indoor breeder colony are going to be. If they're going to get that big in a couple of years, I don't think I can do it. A tank big enough to hold two much less the recommended five tilapia with room to breed isn't going to feasible here in the frozen north if they're going to get to 5lbs. I've never been able to stunt a fishes growth either. Good luck to your endeavors. Thanks for posting the great information. I'm going to go do some more research.
I’m growing blue tilapia in my garage in Las Vegas. I was wondering when you said it’s false for 9months. My tilapia are at 4 months and they are no where near your size of a fish.
I have about 20 blues in a 55 gallon system I do with aquaponics...The most intresting thing you said is dont believe the 6 months to grow full grown. That's so right. lol Im interested in how you breed. I want to do selective breeding. I have heard when it is warmer they breed. How would you suggest?
I sooo wanted to incorporate Tilapia into my Aquaponics setup, but was disappointed to learn that where I live in Florida, you are not allowed to keep any kind of Tilapia, not even the blue, unless you have a license of some sort. What kind do you have? Someone recommended Channel Cats, but I wanted to do Tilapia because it's my favorite eating fish.
from my understanding you can keep them. but you just cannot sell them. You have to eat them. Also you need the license only if you buy from someone out of state. Thats what i got reading the laws anyways.
That's one prolific female. How often do the have 2000 babies and are they live-born or egg-layers? You really have to grab them tight to keep hold of them.
you could get them badboys to grow faster =) nice nice fish u have there =D just up there protein intake and if ur not already heat the water at night (Im UK so need to heat 24/7)
Fish from other countries do not have the regulations we have and sad to say it they are used to treat waste and they are sold for food here in the USA. You buy them frozen at the store.
Mainstream media local channel in Phoenix. Tilapia are used by cheap restaurants as food but they are also used at waste treatment facilities. No joke.
One road in and one road out, we have full security and believe in the 2nd amendment.Thanks for your concern.There are lots of freaks in the world, you meet then every time you go the the store.:)
u should try to add a few different genetics into your fish population to decrease disease and inbreeding, its always important to do such things, even if its 3 or 4 different talapia.
I like the fish larger, some people like 9 months, I like 1 and a half years. some people buy fry and start the time from that age. a ball park time from birth till plate for me 1 and a half years.or 18 months
