Blue Nile Tilapia pricing

[Eleven11]

A local grower is selling some Blue Nile Tilapia which are currently between 7 to 9 inches long.

I'm a bit new and wondering what would be a fair price for them.

I was looking to get about 5 to 10 of them for a 240 gallon tank and get more after seeing how well they do. The water temp stays mostly around 73F.

[stucco]

There is a guy here selling them for $3.99 a pound.

[Eleven11]

Thanks for the feedback.

Heh heh, reading your sig... I had that exact same fortune cookie saying and kept it in my tool box for the longest time.

[JCO]

If they are that big, you probably wouldn't want more than 10 at the most for a 240 gal. They are really dirty fish and can crap up a tank in no time unless you have awesome water movement and filtration. They eat like pigs and just like pigs, they make a mud hole of where they live. If you lived in FL. I'd be glad to give you 10...I could use the space.

[urbanfarmer]

I would say $3 to $4 for the whole fish live, but that's just my area. Once you have a few fish, you can breed them yourself.

[Eleven11]

Thanks guys. I went ahead and picked them up today. The car ride went pretty smooth and no casualties. I had to use a 20 gallon tote lined with a garbage bag then I put the lid on and pulled the garbage bag around the lid so no leaks. Finally buckled the tote in the back seat. I bought a battery operated air pump that seemed to work pretty well.

I put them in the tank and so far they seem ok. I also built a little Fish Hotel out of 4" drain line pieces cut to 12" lengths and zip tied together to form pyramid shape. The guy I bought them from had one and the fish seemed to really like it.

JCO - I didn't realize they were such a dirty fish. The water movement is excellent. I put in an AP 20 Danner air pump and the output is a 1/2 inch air line running 5 small air stones and one 12 inch air stone. The tank looks a bit like a jacuzzi. My filtering is a bit light but I'll look into something more substantial... Maybe a swirl filter with a bottom tap. For now, I'm relying on my SLO and filter at the end of the drain line. Too bad I don't live if Fla, I'd be glad to help ya out with your space problem.

UF - We settled on $6 each. The largest is about 10 inches and the smallest around 7. The guy I bought them from says they'll breed ok once I raise the water temp up to 85F.

[Eleven11]

Here's a video clip I took just after adding them to the tank:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt1QGk7F ... e=youtu.be

[foodchain]

That's a good price. And yes they breed like crazy. Fatten them up on higher protein foods before breeding, and you will get larger spawnings. At this size, they probably have already been breeding last season. So just feed em well, keep the water clean and ease up the temp. Mine spawn at about 77-78 on the low side.
I think hours of light have something to do with it too, but haven't found a way to test this out yet.

[Eleven11]

What do you feed yours? I am ordering some aquamax 4000 today but in the mean time, I have some omega one cichlid pellets from Petsmart that have high protien and there is a good amount of algae growing on the bottom. I haven't added any food yet since putting them in Sunday. I was going to give them some romaine leaves first today.

[keith_r]

i think with tilapia you should use lower protein food.. isn't aquamax in the 40's?
i'm pretty sure for tilapia you want protein in the 30's