Nile Tilapia

[davidstcldfl]

The duct is from my furnace on the other side of the wall.

....besides checking out the nice fish, I could'nt help but notice the duct. I do HVAC work and I'm a pipe fitter. I guess I was over thinking the duct....thought maybe you were trying to keep the humidty down.

The Oxy tank is for shipping fish. I use pure O2 rather than air.

I was asking about the regulator...I have my own small brazing/cutting rig. I was wondering if I could use the O2 from it, to use while transporting fry/fingerlings instead of buying a 12v dc air pump(?)

Picked up an idea or two from looking at your system. 'THANKS' Badflash....... I need to add airstones in my bio box, for one thing....

[badflash]

My first O2 supply was from ahome depot setup. Map gas and O2 with those small berz-o-matic type screw on bottles. It worked fine. I see no reason that using gas from a welder wouldn't work as long as the line is purged of welding gas.

[Cris Gaston]

Yup, any clean source of O2 will do. We prepare fish for shipment by first moving them to a clean tank and fasting them for 24-48 hours to purge their guts. Fish pooh in the bags will spoil the water and deplete the O2 real fast. 1/3 water + 2/3 O2 in the bag is s.o.p. Depending on how much fish are in what size bag, they can stay alive up to 48 hours.

Nice pics, badflash. Btw, the tilapia cultured here are mostly composites of various O. nilotica strains. Basic foundation is from the 8th generation of the GIFT ( Genetically Improved Farmed Tilapia) line developed in the 1980's by a multi-national project to improve tilapia.

[badflash]

Correct, I always purge them for at least 48 hours too and 4 days prior to fillet.

[urbanfarmer]

TAXONOMY:
http://www.uniprot.org/taxonomy/8128

[Bioritize]

Where can I buy these fish? I live in Iowa

[urbanfarmer]

You can always order them via the Internet, but this will be the most expensive option. Check around for a local source. Heck, if they true genetics of the fish don't matter much you can always try free classifieds (craig's list even) for a local supplier.

[larryreinhardt]

I enjoyed reading the post on this site. I'm a retired former owner of a Koi farm. I raised tilapia in a couple pools with some channel catfish I got from a place in Leesburg Florida. I don't know what variety the tilapia were as one of my customers brought me a dozen from a pond on his farm. They could and did survive the winters in central Florida in above ground pools without any heat. I sold the farm 10 years ago and now I am living in peaceful little town in small house and property. I have/am building and aquaponics system the FT is 2600 gallons with two 16' grow beds holding 450 gallons. I purchased a hundred tilapia on June the 6th, they were just an inch in length. They are now 5 to 8 inches and the males are setting up the territories. I thought they were Nile Tilapia but they don't exactly look like those pictured above. Their growth has been a real surprise until a week ago I kept them in a 3,000 gallon swimming pool and fed them 6 times a day, most the males turn an almost white with a lot of red spots in the fins when a female approaches them. Their color returns to a gray when the female leaves. I've looked at some of the Blue Tilapia on Youtube and they don't look like those either. I would like to know what I have if possible perhaps their a hybrid. Thanks

[urbanfarmer]

Unfortunately, we have had 2 record low freezes in Florida recently. The few I had (14-16 inch bad boys) died in a 1000 gallon in ground pond last winter. The blue gill survived, strangely, but he was very small. The goldfish didn't seem to care whatsoever.

[davidstcldfl]

Hi larryreinhardt, welcome to the forum...
By chance, were you the fellow with the koi farm near Holopaw FL ?

I too, am supposed to have 'blues'. I have some blues in a 55 gal aquarium in the house. They seem to always be changing colors. Even the ones with vert. stripes, seem to lighten and darken at times.

I'm guessing that 'most' tilapia in FL , have been 'crossed' at some time or another. Nile were introduced to one of the lakes...back in the early 60's. They were surprised they managed to spread... ...
Here's an article that I just found on 'spotted' tilapia in South FL ( which I didn't know about)...
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/gallery/d ... lapia.html