Live tilapia do not need much to survive. All you need to be successful in tilapia farming are five simple things; clean water, food, room to swim, lighting, and oxygen. When you provide these things, tilapia fingerlings will grow fast and stay healthy. It’s really that simple.
Live tilapia need to have clean water to thrive. Proper filtration will go a long way on maintaining your water quality. Make sure that your water is free of all Chlorine and Chloramine. You should also have a pH of 8.0 or as close to it as possible. Lastly, tilapia need a temperature of 75F-85F, but 85 will be optimal for your fingerlings.
If you want to be successful in tilapia farming and as efficient as possible, it will require a proper diet. Live tilapia are omnivores but tend to lean more on the vegetarian side. Good nutrition for tilapia fingerling will help their immune system and also resist disease. Water temperature also plays a huge part on how tilapia metabolize food and turn it into growth.
Live tilapia can’t be cramped in a tight space, unable to grow to their potential. Having too many tilapia fingerlings in a small space can deplete the shared oxygen faster than it can be replaced. Not having enough room to swim around will cause slowed growth in your tilapia fingerlings. Food domination/suppression is another concern to have when your live tilapia are not in a large enough area and can sometimes lead to disease. You need 3.74 gallons per pound of tilapia that you want to grow out. If you have less space than recommended for your tilapia fingerlings, you might end up stunting and could potentially kill your fish.
Giving your tilapia light should be fairly easy, in most cases. Live tilapia prefer a bright light. Direct sun is the number one choice for the tilapia fingerlings, and it is free. The tilapia need light from sunrise to sunset. If you are unable to give them natural lighting, you can use just about any other light source. Substituting the tilapia fingerlings light source may not be the number one option, but it’ll work.
There are many ways to give your tilapia the oxygen that they need. Waterfalls and fountains are very cost-effective and can be set up to break the surface tension over a very large area. You can also use an aggressive bubbling system by using an air pump and air stone to push bubbles through the stone to create a break in the surface tension. Whichever way you choose, just make sure that for blue tilapia, you have a dissolved oxygen content of 7ppm, which is very easy to achieve using bubblers or waterfalls and fountains.
In summary, you only need to worry about five things that make sure your tilapia fingerlings survive. Clean Water needs to be free of all chlorine and chloramine, a PH of 8.0, and a temperature of 75-85. Feeding your live tilapia a nutritious diet will give them optimal growth. Don’t cramp your tilapia fingerlings in a small space. Sunlight is the best way to provide lighting. And your dissolved oxygen content should be at a 7ppm. Doing all of this will make your tilapia healthy and happy.