Species
Oreochromis
niloticus
Common
name
Nile tilapia
Oreochromis
aureus
Blue tilapia
Oreochromis
mossambicus
Mozambique
tilapia
Oreochromis
spilurus
Oreochromis
hornorum
(Tilapia urolepis)
Sarotherodon
galilaeus
Sarotherodon
melanotheron
Tilapia rendalii
None
Tilapia zillii
Red tilapia
hybrids*
Characteristics
Performs well in tropical/subtropical areas; sexual maturity in ponds only at age
of 5-6 months; suitable for culture in wide range of farming system (extensive to
highly intensive systems: monoculture and polyculture); high consumer and
producer acceptance; least tolerant to cold water.
Most cold resistant species (can tolerate low te mperatures of 8-9˚C); suitable for
culture in countries with seasonal changes in temperature; sexual maturity in
ponds at age of 5-6 months; commonly used in hybridization for production of
monosex tilapias.
High saline tolerance (grows well up to 20ppt); early reproduction (attains
sexual maturity at 8-9 cm) and high fecundity; poor aquaculture potential
except when used for hybridization.
Saline tolerant, used in seawater cage culture.
Zanzibar
tilapia
Can tolerate brackish water.
Galilee tilapia
Saline tolerant; slow growth.
Black-chinned
tilapia
Redbreast
tilapia
Redbelly
tilapia
Hybrid origins
Wide salinity tolerance (0-45 ppt. but prefers 10-15 ppt; of interest for brackish
water aquaculture; used for extensive aquacultures in some parts of Africa.
Feeds on macrophytes.
Grows well in full strength seawater.
Suitable for brackish water and seawater because of salinity tolerance of
parental species; commonly used for intensive culture (cages, tanks, raceways)
but also reported to be suitable for farming under low-input conditions; initial
high consumer acceptance due to colour; sometimes exhibit low fecundity.
Table 2: Commercially important tilapia species and their characteristics.
*produced through crossbreeding of albino or mutant-reddish orange O. mossambicus (a normally black species)
with other species, including O. niloticus, O. aureus and O. hornorum.
faster. Some SA farmers, especially
those on the Limpopo system are
farming with what is known to be
O. niloticus. Recent developments
have indicated that authorities in
SA are looking at issuing permits to
farm with O. niloticus in areas that
do not have indigenous O. Mossambicus. In the latter half of the of
the last century O. niloticus and O.
aureus were imported into the
Western Cape and some of the
stocks today known as O. mossambicus may have inherited some
genetic material from these introductions. O. aureus is generally recognized as being the most cold tolerant. Cold tolerance may become
an increasingly important criterion
for selecting a species in areas with
cold winters. The most farmed species globally is the Nile tilapia (O.
niloticus). The reason for this is basically that this species have been
domesticated a long time ago and
over many years genetic selection
programs were followed to improve
the growth rate of the species. The
Genetically Improved Farmed Tilapia
(GIFT) Programme is probably the
most well-known programme. It
makes economically sense to use a
tilapia species in your production
system which will grow fast and
have a good fillet yield. Local research studies and field trials with
the O. mossambicus was not convincing to demonstrate that this
species have potential for aquaculture in this country. The main reason is that this species was not subjected to the same genetically improved programmes yet in SA. The
species grow slower and have
shown stunting in the growth rate
starting around approximately 300
to 350 grams in average size.
Culture Practices:
The essence of profitable tilapia
farming is obviously the final yield
of table size fish that can be produced from a given volume of water over a reasonable period of
time. The final yield obtained from
production ponds is basically a reflection of the growth rate of the
fish. This, in turn, is related to a
number of variables such as stocking density, temperature, the strain
and/or species of fish used, the
pond design, the management or
level of control, food availability,
etc. All these factors contribute to
the productivity and profitability of
tilapia farming.
For all tilapia species, the male is
bigger than the female and has
higher production performances for
farming (growth speed and food
conversion ratio). Different methods can be used to obtain, theoretically, 100 % male populations in