Tilapia start of year 3…

So my breeders are still outside in a big tank, fortunately next week, record high temperatures… I’m emptying and cleaning, and improving my inside tanks… 1st, I had black sand in the tanks… my thinking, was it would be easier to see the eggs, for both the fish and I… but I never did see any eggs, they fertilized them, and gathered them up fast enough that I never saw them… the big fish stirred up the black sand too easily, and the 8 from my last spawn, ( I didn’t see them until I moved the parents)… I ended up raising those in the 65 gallon until harvest time, and they had reached the perfect canning size, but trying to net them out of the tank, turned the water black, making it nearly impossible…
So, the breeding tank now has the black polished river rock, that I’ve used in a couple other tanks, and the 65 gallon, being on the bottom, will be the raising tank, being darker, being on the bottom, I have put white river rock in that tank… just that change alone is going to make a huge difference…

Getting the cold refill water back to Tilapia temperature, before I move the breeders ( I will be screening the outside water being drained, from the big tank, through a net, to catch all the fry and fingerings, so I can get the water low enough to catch the parents…

3 Super Red Bushy Nose Plecos were in the 65, and got transferred to the breeding tank ( now the 45 gallon on top, that I did last night, so it was already the temperature I could move the Plecos )… I switched them around, so that I can drain water, at the time I transfer babies, and just syphon the babies into the lower tank, reducing the work of removing the structures..

A couple pictures from today, before I transfer fish, probably next weekend…

Have you thought about making a solar water heater for the outdoor ponds?
Get a black box and put 50-100 meters of black poly pipe (irrigation tubing) in it. Put a sheet of glass or black metal on top of the box. Attach a small water pump to one end of the poly pipe. The pump sits in the pond and slowly pumps pond water through the poly pipe. The water heats up in the box, which is located in the sun. The water then goes back into the pond. You have the pump on a timer so it comes on an hour after sunrise and off at sunset. It could help reduce power consumption and keep the water warmer for longer, increasing the outdoor growing season.

It gets as low as minus 40 degrees F. During the winter, so best I could do is extend my season

Tanks are ready to move the breeders and fry into the house for the winter… 45 gallon tall, on the top, for breeders, 65 gallon, on the bottom, for fry/ fingering raising… I have a pump in the lower tank, and intend to syphon fry/fingerlings out of the top tank, directly into the raising tank below, as they are noticed…

Disappearing fish… each year I’ve had a noticeable fish disappear, from my outside tanks… not sure if a predatory bird, or a raccoon, goes fishing, while I have my guards open, during the day, or they jump out, and my outside doggie eats them… anyway this year, one of the females in my outside breeding tank has disappeared… maybe the male pursues it, until it jumped out, and the dog ate it… but I had one male, and 3 females I hand sexed, in that tank, and after draining the tank, I didn’t sex them, but I think I have one male, and 2 females, or it may be an alpha female, acting male ( I should have double checked the sexes, before putting them in the winter tank, but I didn’t have gloves on, and they have sharp dorsal spikes ) not even 5 minutes into the new tank, a pair formed… so I’m hoping my male is still in there…
I still have 2 salvaged from the inside tank, that had the black sand, and missed harvest, in a 5 gallon pail, with a sponge filter in it, I planned to pickle them, but holding until everything is good in the tanks 1st

3 Super Red Plecos in the breeding tank, keep things cleaned up

“Pair” already in the flower pot