The water in our aquaponics system has been warming over the last few weeks as spring finally set in. Every few days I look into the water to see if there is any sign of tilapia fry in the tank and this morning, there were. I madly scrambled around and created a home for them. I made a square out of PVC tubing and elbows so it would float and then put that around a pond plant pot to secure the fry from the big bad adults in the system. So far, I've only found three little ones, but I'll keep watching and adding any more I find into the containment area.

I'll be supplementing their feed with a recipe I found on the Backyard Aquaponics forum. There is a lot of life in our aquaponics system and I've already seen one of the fry eat what appeared to be nematodes floating around in the water. I'm guessing they will have plenty to eat but I want them growing fast.

Part of the reason for choosing tilapia was their breeding madness. It helps to add to the sustainable nature of the system. And, from looking at the adults, we'll be having a fish fry soon. We're thinking we'll wait until the 4th of July and include them in our holiday fun. That will make them almost a year old which is a little slower than it should take to grow them out to eating size. Now that we've worked out some items to help heat the system using solar energy, hopefully, the next batch will be a bit faster.