| ARTICLE INFORMATION: Author: Dr. Adrian Lawler Title: Tilapia Culture Handout Summary: This article is useful for anyone who wants to raise Tilapia sp. in aquaculture. Information on many aspects of Tilapia care and propogation, as well as business considerations are provided. Contact for editing purposes: email: Adrian Lawler <alawler@hotmail.com> Date first published: July 2007 Publication: Original to Aquarticles. Not previously published Reprinted from Aquarticles: |
ARTICLE USE: Internet publication (club or non-profit web site): 1. Credit author, original publication, and Aquarticles. 2. Link to http://www.aquarticles.com and original website if applicable. 3. Advise Aquarticles Printed publication: Mail one printed copy to each of: Dr. Adrian Lawler, P.O. Box 48, Ocean Springs. MS 39566 U.S.A. Aquarticles.com |
Tilapia Culture Handout The following information was written initially to give to people interested in Tilapia farming, and has not been previously published. ---There are many strains and hybrids of Tilapia raised around the world, usually in tropics and sub-tropics. ---Survive from 45-50° F to 95+° F, depending on strain/hybrid. Since some strains/hybrids die at 45-50°F, this limits raising them outside all year in most temperate areas. They need a greenhouse, heat, and/or geothermal water to survive winter in some temperate areas. ---Most people in my area rear aurea-nilotica crosses (white to blue in color) because they are more cold-hardy and less visible to birds. ---White or red strains/hybrids are more visible to birds and will be caught out of ponds; raise blue Tilapia or use bird netting. ---Birds will be the main predator. ---Since some strains/hybrids die at 45-50°F, have to overwinter fingerlings to stock out in spring in order to harvest by the next winter, or buy fingerlings to stock out each spring. ---Greenhouse (or another method) overwintering will add to cost of production. ---Geothermal water allows one to raise (and harvest) fish year-round and get off the fall harvest cycle in temperate areas when supply is high and prices go lower. ---Tilapia are more disease-free than channel catfish; primary worries are freshwater ICH, fungus (after chills), and bacterial fin and tail rot (after excessive handling, grading, shipping). ---Should get sex-reversed (to males) fingerlings if buy (or treat them yourself with methyl testosterone) because females expend energy in reproduction and not growth. If fish not treated (or sexed and sorted), then at harvest females (may number half or more) may be less than 1 lb and not salable. ---In northern temperate areas babies are released starting in May and June (when water is 72° F) and ending in September or October (when water drops below 72° F). Females are mouth-brooders; new broods every 30-45 days. ---Optimum growing temperature is 88-90° F. ---Stocking rate will depend on the system used; 2000-4000 per acre for a static pond, with no supplemental aeration. ---There are special feeds for Tilapia, but they will eat channel catfish pellets which are usually cheaper. Feed conversion can be 1:1 if natural foods in pond are also eaten (algae, duckweed, other plants, various invertebrates). ---Males are very aggressive in breeding season. ---Tilapia are difficult to get out of a pond. They dive under seine, jump seine, or bury in sediments. Need to have ponds with catch basins and drain whole pond to get maximum harvest; or seine on cool mornings when fish are slower; or raise in cages; or raise in tanks next to ponds. ---Bird netting is needed on tanks to help control bird predation. ---It is labor-intensive to cull out small Tilapia not marketable for live fish market, whether culling is done periodically as the fish grow or once just prior to shipping. ---For liner tanks/ponds: liner must be installed so there are no folds that Tilapia can bite to scrape algae off liner. Biting/scraping can lead to liner failure and loss of water and fish. ---Cost to raise Tilapia depends on how efficient farmer is, type of system used, cost of feed, etc. ---Estimate/calculate cost to raise per pound (including fingerling costs, percent survival, feed, medications, labor, electricity, water, land costs, taxes, permits, maintenance, etc.) and subtract from market price per pound to ascertain if there is enough profit to make Tilapia farming profitable in your case before you commit funds to Tilapia farming. ---Tilapia with off-flavor (as in channel catfish) are hard or impossible to sell (except maybe as brood stock). ---Market price (for whole weight) varies depending on market supply/demand, whether live or dead, quality, weight, and other factors. ---Prices are usually higher in the live fish market (in larger cities with more people of Asian descent). ---Minimum market size is l-l ¼ lbs; fish reach that size in 5-7 months (depending on strain/hybrid, feed, temperature, density, water quality, disease, etc.) after stocking out 100 gram fingerlings. ---Live-fish haulers usually want 5000 lbs or more per load. ---If shipping live fish, fish must not be fed for some time (usually 2-3 days) prior to shipping, so they do not foul out their shipping water leading to ammonia build-up in the hauling tank and fish deaths while being shipped. ---Try to line up buyer(s) in advance. If one signs a contract to provide a set number
of pounds of fish by a certain date, then that date should be met to avoid losing contract
and buyer(s). Copyright 2007 by Dr. Adrian Lawler, Author Copyright 2007 by Aquarticles, Internet Sponsor Author Information must remain with article. |
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