# Mozambique Tilapia Cichlids in tank



## johnnymax (May 22, 2019)

Mozambique Tilapia Cichlids in tank
I have been hesitant to say that I am going to start my tank with Mozambique Tilapia in it, because I was afraid of the response. I am getting some for my catfish pond. I have had them in a tank about 7 years ago. I did not even know they were cichlids? They can reach 12" in 7 months under ideal conditions and they can start reproducing at 3 months old. They reproduce like crazy average 700 eggs at a time.

I am thinking about setting up three tanks, 75, 55 and 20. I will keep some breeders in the 75, move the mouthbrooding female into the 20 until she releases her fry.
The 55 will be my grow-out tank. I was thinking about selecting the smallest from this tank to make my next breeders.
Do you think it is possible to selective breed a small aquarium size Mozambique Tilapia? :-? It will be a fun experiment anyway.
Thought&#8230;. Comments&#8230;.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Oreochromis mossambicus. I would give any 12" fish a 72" tank.

I know they are popular in aquaculture (raising for food) but also that they are invasive and tend to overpopulate any structure they are in.

Why not just breed them in your pond? Do the catfish eat them all?


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## johnnymax (May 22, 2019)

They eat all the algae and filter it out of the water, they filter the sediment and will deepen my pond up some and the bass, catfish and bluegill will chow down on the fry and fingerlings. It is basically a quick way to turn plant matter into fish fillets.
I am in the process of setting up cichlid aquariums, so I was going to start with them in my tanks. It is really very interesting, because the reproduce like crazy! I will keep a few breeders in one tank so next year I can stock the pond with my fish instead of having to drive 200 miles to get them. I used to keep them in a 55 gallon plastic barrel for that purpose also.
I am sure I will eventually get the more expensive African cichlids. Ultimate goal.
Also, if we have a cold winter, they will die off, That is the only reason Texas allows them.
I start building aquarium stands and setting up tanks tomorrow. I took vacation Thursday & Friday for the sole purpose of working to get may tanks set up.
All I have are tanks, so I have to build almost everything, stands, tops, lights and filter.
I am making my filter out of stuff I bought from DollarTree. I LOVE THAT STORE!


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## BC in SK (Aug 11, 2012)

johnnymax said:


> I was thinking about selecting the smallest from this tank to make my next breeders.
> Do you think it is possible to selective breed a small aquarium size Mozambique Tilapia? :-? It will be a fun experiment anyway.
> Thought&#8230;. Comments&#8230;.


It's certainly possible to line breed an animal for just about any trait. But it's going to take a lot of time over many generations and require a set up of many tanks to grow them out for selection.
You'd face many challenges trying to selectively breed _Oreochromis mossambicus_ for small size because the size is going to have as much to do with environment as it does with genetics. The fish is already known to stay much, much smaller when kept in small tanks or severely crowded. The fish doesn't reach it's potential under poorer conditions .....but still has the genetic potential to get much larger under different conditions. You'd be selecting for fish that are small at a young age; so called runts, but often with many fish, they make up for it with growth spurts at a later point or stage. What I have found with many cichlids is that superior growth rate at an early stage often means very little in terms of what the fish becomes at later adult stages and have had many runts that ended up the same size as siblings that were much larger at early stages. Pecking order is always a factor in terms of growth rate as well as a thousand other environmental factors.
Since you are breeding them to stock your pond, I don't really see the point in tying to selectively breed them for smaller size. I don't think your set up is bad idea at all. When the adults get too large, they could be moved to the pond to make room for younger breeding stock. Mossambiques will breed at a tiny size. At 2-4", they could be breeding already. Your main issue will probably be aggression. 12"+ male mozambiques can be an awfully aggressive fish. You'll need to keep them in large groups and with any size, you'll probably only be able to house 1 adult male per tank.


DJRansome said:


> Oreochromis mossambicus.
> I know they are popular in aquaculture (raising for food)


No, not really a major player in the aquaculture industry.
_Oreochromis niloticus_ has a much superior growth rate and has pretty much taken over since at least the 1980's. 
Nile tilapia is what they sell in the super market (or at least fits the phenotype). I have never seen mozambique for sale in the super market and it is likely you and I never will see it because _O. mossambicus_ has long since been replaced by the Nile tilapia.


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## johnnymax (May 22, 2019)

Thanks for the input. All the points you brought up are concerns. I am wanting to do it for fun and experience. It will add a little added purpose to having fish. I am still ultimately wanting to get more popular fish, but keep a stock of these for my pond every year to restock.


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