# Tilapia



## robert69 (Jul 16, 2005)

Happy New Year to all! After reading the many feeding posts about Tilapia on this site, I finally decided to pick some up at the grocery store. I dropped a large piece into my tank and my P's devoured it. They really love Tilapia. I have always fed them shrimp, catfish, smelt, etc. but never tried Tilapia until now. I will definitely be using Tilapia as a staple for them.


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## Retaks (Apr 6, 2008)

Thats good. Mine love shrimp so its what i stick with. They dont really go after feeders unless they come close to them. As soon as i walk in and they are hungry there are 3 of them that come to the side of my tank where the door is and follow me across the room. As soon as shrimp hits the water they are all over it. Ive got to the point of having to put it in there frozen so all the fish get some. If i put a feeder in there it takes them about 5 mins to go after it even if they havnt eaten in a few days.


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

Yeah, tilapia is great.
Not only is it a healthy food, but it's relatively inexpensive and my favorite part- it stays together in the water. (Solid meat, not flaky.)

Also, it doesn't have any growth inhibiting hormones like catfish does. (Which also stays together in the water.)


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## Ibanez247 (Nov 9, 2006)

Ya Talapia is the cheapest fish for the most part for me as well. Once i na while catfish or cod will be on sale and Ill get some of that. Heres an idea Im goign to try tonight. Raised my reds on shrimp and pellets. Im going to start stuffing my fillets with medium hiakari pellets to give them a boost in color. Seems to have faded away being Ive only fed them fish fillets for the pass several months. I tossed a few pellets in last night for the hell of it to see if theyd even look at them. Oh they did they still like em.


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## Guest (Jan 5, 2009)

My reds aren't all that fussy on Tilapia. Now smelts and scallops are a different story all together. I feed mine a "meat meal" in the morning, NLS pellets for lunch, bloodworms for dinner and usually pellets again just before I head to bed.

Grow my pretties....grow!!!


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## Rough996 (Oct 3, 2006)

Tilapia should be a staple in any P's diet. It's very close to the white fish meat they'd eat naturally in South America. I look for thick cuts of tilapia from the grocery store, but I always select it from the deli/seafood section rather than the pre-packaged stuff. The thick cuts allow me to slice a pocket into them to put in large hikari pellets. It's really the best of both worlds. I also suppliment with large shrimp from time to time. no live feeders except for any existing stock I already had and no longer wanted. I know that's bad, but it's convenient and easier on my wallet.







If you want great coloration, you will need more than JUST tilapia, but the carotenes in the shrimp's shell and pellets should be adequate to get great color.


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## FEEFA (Nov 19, 2007)

ksls said:


> My reds aren't all that fussy on Tilapia. Now smelts and scallops are a different story all together. I feed mine a "meat meal" in the morning, NLS pellets for lunch, bloodworms for dinner and usually pellets again just before I head to bed.
> 
> Grow my pretties....grow!!!


I like to mix it up aswell shrimp, Tilapia, squid, mussels and pellets.


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## Trigga (Jul 1, 2006)

not gonna lie..my fish hated thilapia. they would never eat it unless i starved them for two days and then fed em.

Sole was their all time favourite IMO they would never even let that sh*t hit the ground.


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## khmerboiRED (Jul 15, 2008)

i mainly feed mines Hikari gold pellets and they love em. BUt when i throw in Tilapia or Shrimp in there... They devour it!


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## Ibanez247 (Nov 9, 2006)

I found that if I only fed one type of thing for a week then tried to switch to something else they are picky. So Ive been mixing it up more feeding two different kinds of fish or whatever. Seems to make them more apt to eat whatever I drop in.


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