Tilapia kills everything or bullies it to death

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Gambusia

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I had three tilapia and the biggest one nearly killed the other two. I removed them from the tank.

If I put in a pleco with my blue tilapia who is 10" will he kill it or harass it to death?

This is a 75 gallon tank.

I've kept plecos before in my 20 gallon.
 
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I'll venture a guess to say I think a 75 gallon is too small for Tilapia....

Here's a few 'outdoor' tanks with them in it..

Aug05_01.jpg


...Not the best looking....

tilapia.gif
 
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Those are aquaculture facilities with thousands of fish.

I now have just one.
 
Mmmm...Tilapia...sounds good.
 
Tilapia are cichlids, someone in that forum might know a little more about them ;).
 
Gambusia said:
I had three tilapia and the biggest one nearly killed the other two. I removed them from the tank.

If I put in a pleco with my blue tilapia who is 10" will he kill it or harass it to death?

This is a 75 gallon tank.

I've kept plecos before in my 20 gallon.
Click to expand...

That's typical tilapia behaviour, they're actually one of the more aggressive cichlids out there. Don't expect to keep much with it. Even a pleco would probably end up being harassed to death.
 
This is a 75 gallon tank.

I am new to Tilapia but am beginning to breed them. What I learned from the breeder I got mine from is.... They need to be crammed. When a lot of them are in a tank they will feel like a unit but when there are fewer in a tank the alpha will begin to bully. Case in point. I have about 75 in a 45 gallon tank. They are destined for a 300 gallon aquaponic tank but it is 20 degrees outside and I haven't finished my green house for them yet. So to keep the ammonia in check I just today, transferred about 25 of them into another 55 gallon tank ( which is giving me a very pleasant 8 feet of tanks) Within an hour of thinning out the first tank, the largest tilapia in the 50 fishies tank began to torment and attack all of the other fish. I have yet to see him go after the pleco that keeps it all clean but "Jaws" likes to keep away from the hoard of hungry, curious chichlids. So I think I will add the filter from the 2nd tank to the first and get the school back to its original size. I will try to remember to let you know how it goes.
 
This looks like a super old thread but here is what I know:
1) not all "tilapia" are the same, it is a common name for a species of cichlidae which there are about 100 of
2) tilapia display more aggressive behavior after reaching sexual maturity and
3) Blackchin tilapia (Sarotherodon melanotheron) are very peaceful passive fish I am raising 14 of them in a 55 gallon tank all of them are 4-5 inches now and growing: heamalamalokookawai.blogspot.com
4) S. melanotheron reproduce around every 22 days after the have formed a mating pair and the male is the one who broods the eggs.
 
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