Tilapia: Is it hardy enough?

Tilapia are considered one of the fastest breeding fish. But it is considered hardy enough? I bought 8 tilapias (fingerlings) last week at a price of RM1 ($1 is equivalent to RM3.50 so do your own math) and by today all are dead. So i say to myself "What the hell is this?". The first one died because it jump out while transportation. Then 3 more died because of fin rot. Then 3 more died for unknown reason after I gave some medication and added some salt. And the last one died today. So this fish is not as hardy as it tought it be.

Live Food

Any kind of fish would love to devour any kind of live food based on their species though. Some fish will only accept live food as their main diet. Some channa sp are like this. Some can be taught to accept commercial food but mostly are to stupid to eat it. My haruan (channa striata) still eat live food. I tried giving it food stick but it spits it out. Darn stupid. 

Look out more in my blog the secret technique on how to persuade wild fish to accept commercial food. 

Carbon

Carbon are used by plants to make glucose. Same as underwater plants. For aquarium used it is to make the plants stay green. It can also make the water much clearer. Sometimes even there is fish in the aquarium the carbon produced ny them are not sufficient. So it is essential to add a little bit of carbon to your tank.

Peat Soil

Peat soil is used to reduce the pH of the water. Peat is made of composting material that gave the acidic pH to the water.

Some fish prefer acidic water rather than hard water. Most of the South American fish like to live in soft acidic water.

To use peat soil put in the water and wait for it to fall. Usually it takes about 2-3 days for it to fall. Once all of it settled down the water should be brown in color.

Snakehead (Channa Striata)

Channa Striata or haruan is one of the snakehead in Malaysia. Its colour its not striking or colourful but rather its behavior toward its owner.

With its aggresion and its snake-like mouth its bite can be devastating. Some rhave been reported that one bite and you can loose your finger.

This fish. is really nasty. This fish is really bad. It's really nasty and bad. But they taste really tasty.People like to roast or fried it. Some just make soup out of it.



Well you can see it although the water is greenish at the front. Some people catch it from some stinking swamp and just eat it.

For the conclusion this fish is very hardy and does not really need specific requirement. Just try to keep the water clean. All the best.

Making Infosuria The Easiest Way

Infosuria is a small microorganism that is very small to see with the naked eyes.They are microscopic and can only be seen under the microscope. So why are we bothering with this little guys?

Because almost egg-laying fish will need them as their first source of food. Using crushed flake food will only get you a handful of the babies like gouramis, bettas, and even angelfish. Some babies can accept can accept crushed flake like kribs, most large cichlids, and even some type of catfish.

To make a culture of infosuria you need a glass jar(small one is good enough), a piece of potato, fish food, anything you can think of. Put it in the jar and pour some free-chlorine tap water. Leave it out of the way in the open light for at least a week. The water will smell like "something". To feed the babies just pour about 3/4 of water in the jar and add again water after that.

The idea of putting something in the jar is to start a small bacteria culture to be the food for the infosuria. The infosuria will it the bacteria and multiply.

Last word, if you want to breed fish just got yourself a jar of infosuria.

Jewel Hybrid

I have bred a hybrid of between Red Forest Cichlid (Hemichromis lifalili) and Jewel Cichlid (Hemichromis bimaculatus ). Its offspring look some like a bit of each but mostly like the Jewels. The pictures shown above are not very clear but you can still see the colouration. Most are drabber like the ones on the front but some are stunningly red.

Some have interbreed among itself and have come in sort of colour pattern and sizes. But most show intense colouration during breeding time like the one shown below.

The one at the front is most likely the male and at the back is the female. The female is at normal size but the male is dominantly larger than any other jewel x red forest hybrid that I have.

Sexing the jewel fish is relatively quite simple. Look at the blue dots on its gills.If the dots are large it is most probably a male. If it is small then it is likely a female.

The above picture show the eggs laid by the pair.

Breeding would likely take place after a couple is form. Once they dominated an area it will clean a site and lay eggs after a few days. The eggs will hatch for 3-4 days depending on the temperature. Then it will disappear but wait don't be to hasty on the situation. The fry will start to appear after a few days when it is free swimming. The fry can be given crush food on the first day it started free swimming.