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TILAPIA
INTRODUCTION
 The Nile tilapia (
Oreochromis niloticus
) was first introduced into Thailand in 1965 when theEmperor of Japan gave a few fish to H.M. King of Thailand. The fish were bred at ChitraladaPalace and hence the name Chitralada strain was born. Since then, many other strains of Niletilapia have been introduced, most notably the GIFT strain in the mid nineties. The red tilapia,which is a hybrid of Nile tilapia and Mozambique tilapia (
Oreochromis mossambicus
), wasintroduced into Thailand in the late nineties. It is raised using high quality commercial feeds andis aimed at a more affluent consumer. Nile tilapia are mostly raised using manures and otherrecyclable wastes in earthen ponds, as low cost rather than quality is the main priority.Tilapia can be reared in tanks, cages or earthen ponds both in fresh and brackish water up to 25ppt salinity. Red tilapia are more tolerant of high salinity and some strains can be raised in fullstrength sea water. Unlike most other fish species, tilapia have the ability to consume minutephytoplankton that they filter out of the water. For this reason, commercial pelleted feeds are notnecessary for growing tilapia and nutrient-enriched water (“green water”), produced by theaddition of animal manure or fertilizer, is sufficient to achieve a marketable fish of 300 to 500grams in six months.Besides phytoplankton, tilapia will also eat zooplankton, detritus, aquatic plants, insects andeven small fish fry. Commercial pellet, waste food and almost any other type of feed given, withperhaps the exception of meat, is also eagerly devoured. Very little investment is, therefore,required in their nutrition.The biggest drawback to the culture of Nile tilapia is their highly precocious reproductiveefficiency. This results in overcrowding, leading to long grow-out periods of up to a year and aharvest of small mixed sized fish with very little market value. To overcome this problem, NamSai Farm controls sexual development of young fry so that they all develop into male fish. Thisis done by feeding testosterone-impregnated feed for 21 days. After this period, the sex of thefish cannot be changed and the fish will be male for the rest of their lives. The fish are tested ona monthly basis by gonad squash method and are very close to 100% male. The benefit of this isa culture period of only six months, and a harvest of even sized, large, fat fish with high marketvalue.
POND SIZE
 There is no ideal pond size for growing tilapia and they vary from 1 to 100 rai (1 rai = 1,600m2). Big ponds require less time in labour (fertilising, feeding, etc), but are more difficult toharvest and take longer to prepare and fill with water. Surface aeration and water flow in largeponds is generally better as the long fetch allows larger waves and currents to develop. Smallponds are more costly to excavate (per unit area), but are of advantage if selling fish directly to
 
retailers, as a regular supply of fish in small amounts is required.The main thing to think about is the amount of production required per month and one canexpect 600-800 kg per rai using fertilization only and up to a ton or more if feeds are used.Yields in excess of this are possible, but an aeration system and/or regular water exchange willbe necessary to support the high biomass of fish. The bigger the production scale, the bigger thepond sizes should be.In Thailand, tilapia ponds are mostly 5-20 rai in size (water area) and would typically produce 4to 16 tons of fish per crop.
POND DEPTH
 An ideal depth of pond is between 1 to 2 meters. Ponds deeper than this are not good becauselight, necessary for phytoplankton growth, will not penetrate to the bottom. This will lead toanaerobic conditions and poor water quality. More fertiliser will also be required to maintain agreen pond.There is one exception to this rule and that concerns rain-fed ponds where a large volume of water is required to prevent the pond quickly drying out in the dry season. In this case it may benecessary to increase water depth during the rainy season to 3 meters or more. High fertilizationwill be necessary at this time, but during the dry season nutrients will tend to get concentrated,due the evaporating water, and so little fertilization will be necessary.Ponds shallower than 1 m are not recommended, because temperature fluctuation will be veryhigh and production per area will be lower due to the reduced volume of water and lower overallbiomass of phytoplankton.
POND PREPARATION
There are four important steps in pond preparation:1) Eradicate all wild fish from the pond.Eradication of any fish left from the previous culture cycle is imperative in order to ensureoptimum growth of the new crop. The best way to do this is to dry the pond for 1-2 weeks. Notonly will this kill any fish remaining, but it will also have a beneficial effect on the pond bottom.Application of a piscicide (such as rotenone, tea seed cake or cyanide) to any water remainingmay be necessary during the rainy season when a pond cannot be dried.2) Lime the pond bottom.After draining the pond, it is advisable to treat the pond bottom with lime. This is recommended
 
practice in aquaculture, as it will kill disease organisms and will buffer fluctuations in pondwater pH. 100 kg per rai is sufficient for most ponds, although more lime may be required inacid soil areas, particularly if the pond is new.2) Fill the pond with filtered pond water.After drying and liming the pond it can now be filled with water. To do this, a filter bag, madefrom fine nylon netting, should be secured over the pump discharge pipe to ensure that no wildfish fry or eggs can get into the pond. This may not be possible for large pumps due to the highpressure. In this case, a hapa can be erected under the water inlet to catch any unwantedorganisms. Unwanted breeding (due female tilapia getting into the pond) will be prevented if these procedures are followed and your all-male tilapia should grow to their full potential.3) Add fertilizer to the pond to create green water.Nam Sai Farm recommends the addition of 30 kg of 16-20-0 fertilizer per rai to the newly filledpond to create a phytoplankton bloom. Animal manures can be used, but chemical fertilizer willcreate better water quality, thus ensuring higher survival of the newly stocked fish. A week isnormally sufficient for the water to turn green, after which time fish can be stocked.
FRY TRANSPORT
The sex reversed tilapia fry you have purchased from Nam Sai Farm have been starved prior topacking. This will ensure that the water in the bags stays relatively clean and the fish shouldsurvive for 18 hours without any significant mortality. Nam Sai Farm asks all customers tofollow the following set of guidelines with respect to fry transport:1) Please order and confirm in advance, as this will enable our staff to starve the fish for theoptimum period prior to packing.2) Arrange a time to pick up the fish and arrive on time. Our staff will attempt to finish packingthe fish at the time arranged. Not only will this minimize your wait, but it will also reducetransport time.3) Try and avoid traveling long distances during the day in April and May due to the extremeheat.4) If traveling during the day, then cover the bags with wet sacking to keep the temperaturedown.If a significant number of fish die in the bags during transport, then please inform Nam Sai Farmsales manager. New fish will be given to customers to replace those lost during transport if NamSai Farm is at fault.
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