Growing Tilapia In Floating Cages In Warm Oxygenated Water

The  myth that is nurtured by those who think that THE sex OF FISH has something to do with getting large size tilapia at harvest.  This is CLEARLY a myth without clear scientific proof.

The vast amount of disinformation  FLOATING AROUND IN THE AQUACULTURE  COMMUNITY  ABOUT SEX AND PRODUCTION partly supports this myth.

Brilliant colors=RED RED strain T. mossambica

HOWEVER, We beg to differ because for instance. We tagged some female tilapia and some male tilapia grown in our High oxygen Intensive system in Palmetto Florida.

To better understand how the system works  See the video on    you tube.com

——————————————————————————————–

Go to “you tube.com type in “cherry snapper” in the search box, click on the video and watch the video and enjoy.   This video shows the largest  group of  happy tilapia you will ever clearly in one spot  because of the high oxygen level in the tank.

——————————————————————————————–

Another very good thing about this system is that tilapia  Fish grown in this system like this, with as many tilapia per cubic foot (5-6 pounds / cubic foot.), also, does not allow enough room between tilapia for breeding to be possible.

The video starst out with me (MIKE SIPE,) standing in front of a large cryogenic tank used to store up to 5,000 gallons of liquid oxygen, and just in front of the tank is a 12 inch u-tube. where oxygen is being measured into the top of the u-tube and travells down the u-tube as tiny bubbles through an eight inch center tube.

The oxygen travels one hundred feet to the bottom of the inner 8″ tube, and travels through 3 atmospheres of increasing pressure with the tiny oxygen bubbles bouncing around inside the inner tube as it desperatly tries to rise while the speed of the water through the tube keeps the bubbles entrained in the stream and actually moving down the tube at a half inch per second.

The time then that the tiny bubbles spend in going down to the increasing pressure which eventually reaches about 100 pounds per square inch which makes the bubbles even smaller in diameter and this helps the oxygen in the water.

The females only slightly tagged behind the males and reached a pound and a quarter.  The average number of weeks that it took for the females to reach a pound and a quarter was approximatly 17 weeks and the average for the males was 16.5 weeks.  The difference does not justify being concerned about the sex however the difference between the pennyfish hybrids  in the system and pure gene lines such as t. mossambica were much more significant.

The pennyfish group of tilapia generally reached a pound and a quarter by 16.5 weeks whereas the male t. mossambica took 30 weelks or more, a very significant differance.  The preconditioning created in our minds by the myth made it difficult to recognize that the questions were not “do males grow faster?, or “do females grow slower? OR ”

Do certain hybrid crosses grow faster than either females or males or sex reversed  pure gene line such as T mossambica or pure gene line of T.aurea or t. nilotica ?

Does a hybrid tilapia(pennyfish) both male and female grow faster than sexDreversed T Nilotic or YY T.Nilotica .

ON THIS ONE  QUESTION, I CAN SAY,  YES, THE PENNYFISH HYBRID TILAPIA GREW SUBTANTIALLY FASTER THAN EITHER OF THE TWO NILOTICA STRAINS THAT WERE GROWN AS “ALL MALES.”

So the answer to this question is yes.

Pennyfish tilapia (80 %male and 20% female reached an average weight of 2.2 pounds in 34 weeks of growth in a  (no reproduction cage) floating in  warm water in a large lakewher there was plenty of oxygen.

These gene lines  are advertised by The Israles as being the fastestest growing sex reversed tilapia they have.

This Israli strain and the YY produced strain of T. nilotica  only produced half as many pounds of skinless boneless fillet as our Pennyfish did in a year of production.

So I can say with confidence tha our pennyfish hybrid grows faster than either  strain of T.nilotica since they

The other tilapia strain was the one touted as the YY nilotica fingerling produced by breeding Male nilotica which were supposed to have sex genes with YY sex determinating genes in their chromosomes so that every fingerling would have at least one Y chrosome in their cells and would therefore be all male.

Our hybrid cross made withthe Female (we call pennyfish)

While I  cannot make any comments on other hybrid crosses I can say that every growth test ever grown with this

In other words it is all of these questions which if definitive answers could be presented as to the “truth” of each question then the choices might be easy to make.

Tilapia mossambica(mossiambica strain) females sometimes grow faster and sometimes slower thanTilapia mossambica(mossiambica strain) Males.

1.  Does sex make the most difference,

SOME CONSIDERATIONS

Their are several gene lines of t. mossambica that have faster growing females.

Their are several gene lines of t. mossambica  that have faster growing males.

Their are several gene lines of t. mossambica  that have faster growing females

Their are several gene lines of t. AUREA  that have faster growing males

Their are several gene lines of t. NILOTICA  that have faster growing males than females.

Their are NUMERUS  HYBRIDS ALL OF WHICH have faster growing males & FEMALES

PERHAPS IT IS THE WAY WE BUILD QUESTIONS THAT WE BECOME PREDISPOSED TO CLEAN ANSWERS.  FOR INSTANCE:  WHEN WE ASK  ONE THING SUCH AS “WHETHER X GROWS FASTER THAN Y”

2. Does the hybridization make the most difference.   I am voting yes because of the Study mentioned above.

3.  Does controlled reproduction make the most difference. Again I am voting yes because preventing reproduction by growing cages them in floating cages properly made and inspected with .5” by .5”mesh on the bottom

4. Does uncontrolled reproduction make the most difference.

Again I vote yes because everytime male and female tilapia are released in a pond or lake uncontrolled breeding produces so many recruits that the eat most of the food and use up most of the oxygen.  This creates conditions that prevent the intended fingerlings from growing properly.

So, to sum up the end position That I occupy. If you can breed large numbers of pennyfish and size them to one ounce and make cages that float and stock the cages with 1,000 pennyfish and they are “tight” the cages can hold a thousand fish that weight an average of 2.2 pounds each at the end of a growing cycle of 35 weeks  in clean well oxygenated water (controlled with an oxygen U-TUBE.) .

Then you will have the cheapest highest yielding tilapia production system in the World.

In other words We can make any system we build capable of yielding large crops of delicious tilapia by building excellent cages, stocking them with fingerlings and making sure the water is treated so it is clean, feeding the adequate feed and begin harvesting on the 35th week after stocking.

TILAPIA & CATFISH FILLETS

|

Mike Sipe to

show details 4:43 PM (4 minutes ago)

When I started LEARNING ABOUT TILAPIA IN 1963 I had never even owned an aquarium, or bred or grown a fish.

After 40 years of experience, working with tilapia, learning about tilapia.

I learned how to design  our own breeding systems using Special breeding cages and how to grow tilapia and build intensive systems.

We then Obtained a contract with the Department of fisheries.  I put together a very special team to Train 20 student technicians and shipped thousands of breeders and designed and helped put together and stock 20 separate hatcheries in Mexico which I was told by Mexican Fisheries Officials were responsible for nourishing over 400-600 small hatcheries all over mexico who sell most of their tilapia to artesian or unwealthy people and who are currently producing well over 750 million pounds of tilapia today, which along with all of the other projects I have helped to start, has done more to help both the wealthy, and the unwealthy people in nearly ever country in the western hemisphere.

I also bred the first red tilapia in this hemisphere and developed the Red gene line for over 110 generations over 35 years and I also developed through selective breeding an improved body form in the T. horonorum gene line.

This gene line, according to Hickling, which started out by producing tilapia hybrids that provided 24% skinless boneless fillet  for C.F. Hickling who wrote the first popular Article in Scientific American in 1963.  In the article Hickling said, ”at one pound a tilapia yields about 24 per cent of its weight as boneless fillet ”  The current fillet ratio from basically the same hybrids produced by mating female t.mossambica with improved body form male T. horonorum gene lines now yields 46% to%50%.

I created a selection protocol that increased the fillet ratio from 24% (in 1963 ) to 46%-50% in 2009.  This is an increase of 22 percentage points.

An Article published by the Thad Cochran National Warmwater Aquaculture Center in Stoneville, MS 38776 by Brian Bosworth, Research Geneticist & William Wolters, Research Leader

Go to WEB URL: http://www.deltabusinessjournal.com/HTML/archives/5-99/CATFISH%20COLUMN-MAY%2099.htm

The article states “Fillet yield, the proportion of fillet weight to whole fish weight, is one of the traits targeted for genetic improvement. Small increases in fillet yield could have a substantial impact on the amount of retail product (catfish ) produced and sold.

For instance, a 1 % increase in fillet yield  of Catfish would result in over 5 million additional pounds of fillets per year given current whole-fish production in the United States

So, if that is so and the quantity of tilapia being grown were the same then by increasing the percent of skinless boneless fillet in the pennyfish over the last 35 years and 50,000 hours from 24% to 46% should be ultimately worth 150 million pounds of tilapia fillets instead of

In the case of Mexico if they are really producing  750,000,000 pounds which yields 180,000,000 pounds of skinless boneless fillets with the current 24% yield then with the new yield provided by the improved body form of 46% T. horonorun, Mexico would produce 345,000,000 pounds of skinless boneless fillets.

This is 180,000,000 pounds of additional production which is 8,181,818 additional pounds for each percentage point of improvement that I have made.

Increasing the fillet ratio from 24% to 64%, (an improvement of+22%) is a highly significant improvement that should revolutionise tilapia aquaculture in this hemisphere, and in the whole World.

Sincerely,

Mike

This paper explores the  Advantages!! of *Pennyfish* (ALL OF THE NUMBERS IN THIS ARTICLE ARE REASONABLE ESTIMATES BASED ON MY EXPERIENCE)

by

Mike & Jan Sipe

Hybrid tilapia are cross-breeds between animals of similar genetics, generally, within the same genus such as in hybrid tilapia produced by crossing a tilapia mossambica with a tilapia horonorum.

A pure gene line is a made up of a group of tilapia which shares their genetics with other very similar individuals due to the fact that they have been bred from a pure member of that same species with a pure member of that same species fish  who share a particular genome such as my red tilapia mossambica,  Orange tilapia mossambica, or my Black buterball T. horonorum.

This improved gene line has been selected for over 100 generations for an improved body form.  The original body form T. horonorum (from zanzibar Africa) which was bred to T. Mossambica (from mossambic Africa) produced a skinless boneless fillet from the whole hybid in 1963.  Dr. Hickling who wrote the Article in Scientific American wrote “the skinless boneless fillet from these hybrids when grown to 1 pound was of the total live weight of the hybrid” as when Hickling wrote this was considered a really good yield.

After 36 years of selection I have selected from from over 100 generations better and better body forms until now and the hybrid yields 46% the total live weight of the hybrid.

A study done in Panama reported this fillet yield as being 46% as the skinless boneless fillet in 2007.

So ..the hybrid cross yielded in

1963 was 25%  skinless boneless fillet

2007 was 46%  skinless boneless fillet

and today is 47%-50%.

Pennyfish Hybrids ARE truley SUPER FISH  at WARM TEMPERATURES between 80 and 85 degrees when compared almost any other fish which does not have this super immune system. Pennyfish Hybrids withstand heat, high temperature levels. Pennyfish Hybrids withstand rough handling (often described “tough as nails“) Pennyfish Hybrids  are immune to most diseases, Pennyfish Hybrids  tolerate most Parasites Pennyfish Hybrids  tolerate low oxygen levels they have been able to survive with 0 oxygen in a pond in Mossambique for up to two weeks (they do what is called “skittering” which is they come to the surface and draw the very thin layer of water that is exposed to air and therefor has higher level of dissolved oxygen over their gills) The Pennyfish therefore as proved that they grow nearly twice as fast as pure line species such as t.aurea, t. mossambica, or t,nilotica. Pennyfish , grew from average weight 10  grams (1oz each) to a weight of 1,000 grams (2.2 pounds each.) Pennyfish grew this much in 34 weeks in the warm water of Panama growth test.

BY COMPARISON:

Sex reversed t. nilotica (SOLD AS THE FASTEST GROWING TILAPIA THEY SELL) GREW FROM A weight OF 1 oz each to a weight of 2.2 pounds each.)

THE SEX REVERSED DID THIS IN 43 WEEKS

Pennyfish yielded …………..1,112 pounds of skinless bone less fillets from 2,224 pounds of whole fish.

Sex reversed nilotica ONLY yielded 682 pounds of skinless bone less fillets from ………………………2,200pounds of whole fish.

THE CHOICE IS CLEAR

PENNYFISH YIELD 1,112 POUNDS

OF Skinless bone less fillets PER year

OR

SEX REVERSED NILOTICA.

…..YIELD 375 POUNDS

PENNYFISH EAT 1.7 POUNDS OF FEED FOR EACH POUND OF WHOLE PENNYFISH

THEIR IS 2,200 POUNDS OF PENNYFISH IN A METRIC TON.  2,200 POUNDS OF PENNYFISH EAT 3740 POUNDS OF FEED TO GROW 2,200 POUNDS OF WHOLE PENNYFISH. AT $0.20 A POUND THE TOTAL FEED COST FOR PENNYFISH IS $748.00

TOT FEED COST PENNYFISH=$748.00

TOT FEED COST SEX REV N=$748.00

DIFFERENC IN FEEDING COST BETWEEN PENNYFISH AND SEX REV N =0

3 POUNDS SEX REVERSED NILOTICA YIELD SAME WEIGHT OF skinless bone less fillets AS 1 POUND OF PENNYFISH.

VALUE PER POUND OF skinless bone less PENNYFISH fillets =$4.00

SEX REV N fillets =$4.00

VALUE OF WHOLE PENNYFISH BASED ON FILLET  VALUE PER POUND = $4.00

VALUE OF WHOLE SEX REVERSED NILOTICA BASED ON FILLET VALUE PER POUND =$2.66

PROCESSING COST AT $.30 PER WHOLE POUND FOR PENNYFISH……………..$0.30

PROCESSING COST AT $.30 PER WHOLE POUND FOR SEX REV NILOTICA………..$90.0

COST OF FACILITY COMPARISON FOR GROWING PENNYFISH IN SUITABLE CAGES BASE ON NUMBER OF CAGES NEEDED AND SYSTEMS REQUIRED.  ESTIMATE FOR EACH PENNYFISH…………………….$0.15

COMPARISON FOR GROWING SEX REVERSED NILOTICA  IN SUITABLE CAGES BASE ON NUMBER OF CAGES NEEDED AND SYSTEMS REQUIRED.  ESTIMATE FOR EACH ……………….$0.45

SEX REVERSED

A QUICK SUMMARY OF THESE NUMBERS:

FEEDING COST PENNYFISH……………………….$0.30

SEX REV NILOTICA…………………$0.90

PROCESSING…………………..PENNYFISH……………………….$0.30

SEX REV NILOTICA…………………$0.90

FACILITY COST

PENNYFISH……………………….$0.15

SEX REV NILOTICA…………………$0.45

PENNYFISH………NILOTICA

$0.20 FEED…………$0.60

$0.30 PROCESSING…….$0.90

$0.15 FACILITY COST… $0.45

$0.65……TOTAL..$1.95

EST TOT $ 4 GROWING PENNYFISH……=$0.65

EST TOT $ 4 GROWING SEX REV NILOTICA$1.95

Related Posts

1. Advantages of Hybrid Pennyfish (Tilapia) Culture
2. NEW BLACK DIAMOND PENNYFISH
3. Value Increase of tilapia for each percent of skinless boneless fillet increased= 8,181,818 lbs
4. WHAT IS A TILAPIA ?
5. TILAPIA SPECIES “?”

About the author

MIKE SIPE

I am 70 as of August 4th 2010.  I have spent over 41 years Breeding tilapia, improving tilapia gene lines creating Red tilapia, and improving the body form of "pennyfish" from 24% in 1963 to 50% in 2009. I have pioneered and installed high oxygen intensive aquaculture production  systems.   We (TILAPIA AQUACULTURE INTERNATIONAL) built the first u-tube used to control oxygen and co2 levels in aquaculture.   We can dissolve up to  800 parts per million parts of water and thereby control oxygen levels in growing situations. ( THIS IS WHAT MAKES OUR INTENSIVE CULTURE SYSTEM WORK SO WELL) We have designed hatchery systems to produce thousand of pennyfish fingerlings a day using breeder cages.   We have helped to establish the production of over two billion pounds per year of our tilapia in over 50 locations in North America, Mexico, South America, Central America, Kenya Africa, and Saudi Aribea in the Middle east.  Our goal is to help people with the production of tilapia necessary to *feed everyone* in the world a well balanced nutritious* diet, and to restore the forest of the world. If you wish to talk with me my phone number is 877 217 7006. Please feel free to call me during normal Eastern daylight times. At this particular time I believe that I have more hands on experience in building , designing and running u-tubes to lower the cost and risk for growing all kinds of Aquaculture by 10% - 20% and the cost of dissolving oxygen in an intensive system by 50- 85%. The safety issue is by far the most important issue because having complete control over the oxygen level in a tank helps to assure he safety of the crop and the cost. Another area where I have extensive experience is on what is required to create new characteristics in a gene line. We can take a tilapia that is black and turn it to a brilliant red or take a gene line and select for various body form changes or various internal genetics needed needed to manufacture certain expensive biochemical products..such as Heparin which is an important molecule in haemoglobin that plays a role in clotting blood. A good breeding and selection system could virtually increase the production of almost any biological chemical system in the tilapia.

Where Am I:

Email This Post