Tips and Tricks for Choosing Quality Tilapia Seeds

The most important factor that makes a business tilapia cultivation success is to use superior tilapia seeds of the highest quality. To get it, you need to know how to choose these tilapia seeds. 

Tilapia fish farming is a type of fish farming that is quite productive compared to other freshwater fish such as carp and catfish. This is because tilapia has its own natural spawning method without engineering.

Apart from that, another advantage of tilapia farming is that you can start with minimal capital but can still generate lucrative profits because the selling price of mature tilapia is relatively stable. 

The good news, amidst the high demand for tilapia, quality tilapia cultivators can still be counted on the fingers so that you have a pretty good prospect. Therefore, complete your knowledge by knowing how to choose tilapia seeds, to how its spawning.

How to Choose Quality Tilapia Seeds

There are several criteria that need to be considered to select quality and superior tilapia seeds. The goal is that the cultivated tilapia can grow to a standard weight of fish that can be consumed by humans.

First, you need to do research on several tilapia fish traders or farms to find out carefully the quality of the fish seeds offered by these traders. This can be seen from the physical characteristics of tilapia seeds.

Second, make sure the physical condition of the tilapia seeds is healthy, complete, and there are not the slightest defects in the body parts of the tilapia seeds. Starting tilapia farming with superior quality tilapia seeds can speed up the process of growing these seeds, including minimizing exposure to diseases and viruses.

Third, pay attention to whether the tilapia seedlings can respond quickly to stimulation. For example, when you try to feed it, does the tilapia respond immediately or not. If yes, then the seeds that you bought are included in the quality tilapia seeds.

Fourth, pay attention to the size of tilapia seeds between one another. It is recommended that you buy tilapia seeds of uniform size, between one seed and another to expedite the process of growing tilapia in the same medium.

Ideally, the size of the tilapia fry to be raised is grouped into three groups, namely:

1. Tilapia seed size 6-10 cm.
2. Tilapia seed size 10-14 cm.
3. Tilapia seed size 16-18 cm.

With the same size of tilapia fry in one pond, their growth will be relatively uniform and minimize the risk of mass death or cannibalism due to the presence of larger seeds.

The seeds will be raised in ponds until they reach the standard size for fish suitable for consumption in the local market, namely 200-250 grams per head or 500 grams per head for tilapia to be exported.

How to Spread Tilapia Seeds

The proper way to spread tilapia seeds is to pay attention to the seed stocking density, depending on the type and size of the pond used. For still water ponds, you can sow seeds with a stocking density of 10 individuals/m2. The stocking density of tilapia fry will decrease to 5 fish/m2 if you feed tilapia seeds with feed containing less than 26% protein.

If the type of pond used is running water ponds, then the stocking density can reach 20 fish/m2. If you use floating net cage or KJA cultivation media for tilapia fish cultivation, then the stocking density can reach 40-50 fish/m2. Water quality levels are also a factor supporting tilapia cultivation which is quite crucial because the good or bad quality of the water used will affect the growth of tilapia seeds. 

To spread tilapia seeds, you need to carry out an acclimatization procedure which aims to accustom the seeds to the aquaculture pond. The method is quite easy, namely by placing the bag containing the seeds on the surface of the cultivation pond for 5-15 minutes. 

Pay attention to the condition of the seeds while in the bag, whether the seeds look weak or vice versa. If the seedlings look weak, then open the bag and add water from the pond little by little so that the seedlings can adapt to the water temperature in the rearing pond. If the condition of the seeds looks good, you can spread them in the rearing pond.

Next, what if you find sick seeds? So, you need to carry out anticipatory procedures when you find some tilapia seeds infected with certain diseases or viruses. The process is quite easy, namely the seeds are left to soak for approximately 15-30 minutes in a solution of potassium permanganate at a concentration level of 4-5 ppm so that the fish affected by the disease or virus can be neutralized.

Tips for Successful Tilapia Hatchery

Apart from buying superior quality tilapia seeds, you can also use the second method to get quality tilapia seeds, namely by marrying the best quality tilapia broodstock to produce the best tilapia seeds. 

Ensuring that the tilapia broodstock that are mated have good genes is one of the main factors for the success of tilapia hatcheries. Following are the characteristics of female and male tilapia brooders which are highly recommended for spawning.

1. Kriteria Indukan Ikan Nila Betina

The difference between male and female tilapia brooders lies in the holes. In female broodstock, tilapia has 3 holes in the urogenital section. These holes are the hole where the eggs come out, the hole for excreting urine, and the anal opening. 

In addition, the fins of the female breeders are pale reddish and the belly is whiter than the male breeders. If you strip the female sires, there will be no liquid coming out of the stomach.

2. Kriteria Indukan Ikan Nila Jantan

The criteria for the best male tilapia breeders is to see if the sires have two urogenital openings, namely the anal canal and the opening for sperm and urine.

On the fins of the brooders, you will see a reddish color that is more visible than the reddish color on the female brooders. Then, on the belly of the male sires a black color will appear. Unlike the female breeders who do not secrete fluids, when you strip the male sires, there will be liquid coming out of the sires' stomach.

Other tips for tilapia hatchery that are no less important are feeding in the form of pellets which have a minimum protein content of 25% and a minimum fat content of 6-8%.