How to Raise Tilapia in Pens

A small backyard pond is necessary for raising Tilapia.

Having a pond in your backyard can provide your family and friends with some or all of their fish meals with just a one-time investment and a few chores to maintain it. The fish you can raise in the pond is the Tilapia, or “aquatic chicken,” considered the fifth most popular fish in America today. The Tilapia fish variety, whether fresh, gutted or in frozen fillets, is traded in the international food markets, especially those coming from China, Egypt, Thailand, Taiwan and the Philippines. Your backyard fish pond can easily go beyond personal needs to become a viable small business to supply community fish vendors.

Things You'll Need

• A freshwater pond
• Tilapia fingerlings or at least a pair of mature and healthy Tilapia fish
• Commercial fertilizer, like chicken manure
• Algae for food
• Screen or bamboo sticks

Instructions

1. Prepare your freshwater pond by ensuring that it is conducive to raising Tilapia. It should have access to a water source at all times. It should be exposed to the sun to encourage growth of aquatic plants like algae, which is food to the Tilapia. Be sure it is not easily flooded and can be drained of water during a heavy downpour.

2. Apply the commercial fertilizer to the pond at least once a week before stocking with Tilapia fingerlings or mature Tilapia fish. Do this to ensure that algae grows profusely. Put it directly on the bottom of the pond at around a kilo per 10 square meters.

3. Populate the pond with the right fish density. As a general guide, you can have 2 to 3 mature fish for every square meter of water surface space.. But you can start with 5 to 6 Tilapia fingerlings from a local store or existing fishpond owner. If fingerlings are not available, you can put 20 to 30 pairs of mature Tilapia breeders from any variety for every 3 by 6 meters of water surface area.

4. Secure the fish in your pond. If your pond is a natural water formation connected to a river stream or canal with an inlet to and outlet from your pond where water flows in between, be sure to have a screen or bamboo sticks at the inlet or outlet so your fish cannot escape. This also ensures that no predatory fish enter your pond to feed on your Tilapia.

5. Supplement the natural algae food in the pond with a daily morning and afternoon feeding. Bread crumbs, earthworms, rice bran, and termites are fish food that you can spray over the pond at 5 percent of the total weight of each fish.

6. Harvest your Tilapia using a lift net. The net is spread at the bottom of the pond and spraying some food over the net will attract Tilapia. Lift the net as fast as you can to catch those that wander over it. Then restock the pond after a few have been harvested. The most common Tilapia fish (Buttokofferi) get fully mature in 3 years while those that people love to eat are just 2 years old.

Tips & Warnings

• Plant shady trees in some places around the pond to provide shade to your Tilapia during the hot summer months. You can also put in a few water lilies.

• Remove excess fingerlings (beyond 6 per square meter), which you can sell to other pond owners for additional income.

References

• Raising Tilapia in Your Backyard
• Tilapia biologist wins World Food Prize - June 2005
• Putting Baby Fish in Your Pen