The resilience and versatility of tilapia has taken the fish from its natural habitat – the rivers of north Africa – to almost every continent on the planet. The species adapts to a wide range of environments. In one extreme example, having been introduced to the Salton Sea in California (which was merely brackish at the time) tilapia now thrive there in salinity levels that kill other native marine species. Numerically, at least, it is an evolutionary success story.
The name tilapia is an umbrella term for a variety of species, the most common being Mozambique tilapia, the Oreochromis aurenus and the Nile Tilapia. It is streamlined with a deep body. The lateral line in tilapia, like many fish, is uninterrupted.
One of the reasons tilapia are preferred over a large variety of fish for farming is due to their ease of growth. Tilapia requires minimal upkeep to reach maturity. For these reasons, fish farmers can invest less capital and space and still expect to produce many mature fish.
Successful farming of tilapia depends on many factors. To breed them commercially one needs to understand the species’ maturity rate. Understanding this aspect of tilapia farming will enable accurate estimation of the investment required before the fish can make expected returns. Native tilapia take more time to mature and, due to overfishing, these indigenous species are slowly decreasing in numbers.
For this reason, among others such as the difficulties in growing hyacinth (a staple of the tilapia diet), the native species of fish are much more expensive as compared to the exotic species. The weight of fish wholly depends on the conduciveness of the environment in which it grows.
In a well-lit and fed environment with optimum temperature, the Mozambique tilapia can grow up to half a kilo. In a poor environment, however, their growth is stunted and they can weigh as little as 20 grams.
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The Aquaculturists
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