Introduction to Tilapia Farming

Introduction to Tilapia Farming

by Mike Sipe edited with permission
By John Musser

Outside of the United States and in many areas of this country malnutrition is a way of life. In most cases this malnutrition is due to the unavailability of low cost proteins such as lysine and others. Home fish farming offers a solution to the availability of an affordable source of fish. Part of this solution requires knowledge of how to grow, harvest, purge, process, prepare and cook fish, and preserve fish. The farmed fish will be healthy and acceptable in many forms to those who would like to include more fish in their diets. Fish are very high in lysine and very small amounts of fish in the diet can go a long way toward creating longer, healthier and more enjoyable lives by supplying the body’s protein needs.

Tilapia – An Ideal Fish for Aquaculture:
The name tilapia is a taxonomic name (genus) given to a group of fish that belong to the cichlid family of fishes. The cichlids populate many of the tropical and semi-tropical areas of the world and have many things in common with each other, but there are major differences between most of them and the tilapias. The Tilapias are one of the major groups of food fishes around the
world, especially in the tropical and semi-tropical areas, and have been cultivated for thousands of years. Pictures or carvings appear on artifacts and monoliths in Egyptian tombs as far back as 2,000 BC, but only in the last 50 years have we began to focus on developing them as an alternative to harvesting wild fish. The tilapias have a number of special capabilities. Some of these capabilities occur in one fish or another, but seldom occur within the same fish. The fact that all of these characteristics occur within the same fish is what makes tilapia a very good fish for home aquaculture.

These capabilities include:

FILTER FEEDING: The tilapia have tiny combs located on their gills, called gill rakers, that allow them to remove organisms from water passing through their gills. Tilapia can filter organisms as tiny as 3 microns, which is about the size of human blood cells. This filtering is
so efficient that it can be compared with the best swimming pool filters in removing microbes from the water.

EFFICIENT DIGESTION: The acid content in the tilapia stomach is one of the strongest known and allows them to efficiently digest a wide range of microbes, including diatoms, bacteria, fungi and other organisms, by simply dissolving their cell walls. Tilapia feed on dead
leaves and organic debris that fall to the bottom of a pond. Tilapia have been shown to be able to digest up to 70% of the “mud” as it passes through their gut.

STRONG IMMUNE SYSTEM: When well fed and kept in warm water, tilapia are resistant to diseases. This means that for the beginner and the experienced fish farmer, we a least do not have to worry about losses of fish due to strange diseases, such as those found in catfish, trout, and most other fish.

FREQUENT BREEDING AND MOUTH BROODING: At temperatures of 85 degrees F, they can produce baby tilapia (fry) almost every week year round. The mouth brooding and maternal protection of the fry helps to create a high survival rate. This combination of continuous production and high survival rate, allows the tilapia farmer to have a constant supply of fingerlings to replace those that get big enough to eat.

REASONS FOR GROWING FISH AT HOME
The reasons for growing tilapia at home are many and include some
of the following:

(1) Family Diet Improvement-Nutrition Since the tilapia provide a high quality meat source that is high in protein and very low in fat, they provide an ideal meal in terms of a balanced amino acids and protein intake.

(2) Extra Income Since it is so easy to learn to produce tilapia at home it is possible to produce more than the needs of the family in a small space. These extra tilapia can be sold as fry,
fingerlings or eating fish when there are more than needed.

(3) Lower Food Cost for Family Waste from the tilapia growing tank can be used to grow organic vegetables and the kitchen waste can be ground and fed back to the tilapia. This recycling of energy and nutrients allows you to create a sustainable production system.

A. Recycling food & vegetable waste lower the cost of the feed needed to raise the fish. The recycled waste provides much more food per pound when fed to the fish than when
used to make compost.

B. Feeding the fish cost less than buying fish. Even when supplemental fish foods are purchased from feed suppliers, the cost of the feed required to produce one pound of tilapia is far less than to buy the same amount of fish in the grocery store.

(4) Lower Cost for Animal Food The tilapia by product, such as the scales, bones, and stomach contents make excellent feed supplements for other farm animals such as chickens or hogs, at
a much lower cost than buying the feeds for them.

(5) Education Working and playing with the tilapia breeding system,
water systems, air systems, feeding programs and many other
activities provide many opportunities for learning the basics in
science and social fields.

For instance the breeding and maternal care, and the aggression and territorial behavior provide opportunities to understand the basics of the establishment of animal social systems. The measurement of water quality parameters provides opportunities to understand basic water chemistry. The physical dissolving of the oxygen in the water provides an opportunity to understand the mechanics of air compression, expansion, water air interfaces and what it means to dissolve a gas into water. The processing of the waste water provides an opportunity to learn about suspended solids, dissolved solids and the role of bacteria and other aquatic organisms in
keeping the water clean and suitable for growing fish.

(6) Entertainment Watching the fish in the breeding and growing tanks allows for countless hours of enjoyment as they perform their mating and territorial rituals. This is one reason I
recommend that each new breeder setup be put indoors in a suitable place where it will be viewed often during the day and evening so that the fish can be enjoyed while learning from them.

Edited by John Musser with written permission from Mike Sipes manuel: FISH FARMING AT HOME FOR FUN AND PROFIT. See intro. To John Musser for Mike’s information or go to http://www.cherrysnapper.com