TILAPIA CULTURE

by

Leonard Lovshin
Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures
Auburn University, AL 36849 U.S.A.
Tilapia are native to Africa, Israel and Jordan

Water Temperatures
for:

Best growth- above

250C
Spawning - above
200C
Death- 10 to 120C
 Popular Cultured Tilapias
Nile Tilapia Mozambique Tilapia

Blue Tilapia Red Tilapia

Food Habits
Tilapia feed low on the food chain
phytoplankton

zooplankton
Tilapia can be cultured in fresh and salt water.

1. All tilapia can be

grown in fresh water.

2. Mossambique tilapia
and red tilapia with
Mossambique tilapia
genes can be grown
in salt water.
 Females incubate eggs
Reproduction

Males dig and defend a nest

and defend the fry

Tilapia can be spawned in:

1. ponds

2. cages ( hapas )

3. tanks
Fry can be harvested:

1. 18 days after stocking

brood fish

2. 40 days after stocking

brood fish
Fry can be:
1. partial harvested

2. completely harvested
Eggs can be removed from females:

Incubating tilapia eggs

Yolk-sac tilapia fry

Tilapia can be cultured as:

1. Mixed sexes - males

and females together

2. Mono-sex - only males

Grow-out:

Mixed-sex Culture

Advantages:
1. Technically easy

Disadvantages:
1. Small harvest weight
2. Mixed sizes at harvest
Mono-sex culture

Advantages:
1. Large harvest weight
2. Uniform size at harvest

Disadvantages:
1. Technically difficult
Stocking a predacious fish
with mixed-sex tilapia
will control tilapia density
and increase final
harvest weight.
Largemouth bass
in the U. S. A.

Peacock bass in
South America
Mono-sex male tilapia populations can
be produced by:

1. Visual selection

2. Hybridization Male Populations

3. Sex-reversal

4. Genetic manipulation
Visual Selection of the Genital Papilla

Female papilla with

oviduct

anus

Male papilla

anus
 Hybridization

Male Hornorum tilapia

ZZ
XZ
XX
Female Nile tilapia All-male hybrid tilapia
Sex Reversal of Tilapia Fry
Genetic Manipulation
1) XXF + XYM
estrogen
XXF + XY”F”

2) XY”F” x XYM

XXF + 2 XYM + YYM

3) XXF x YYM

100% XYM
Tilapia are raised in:
Small earthen ponds
Tilapia are raised in:
Large earthen ponds

Harvested tilapia are held in net enclosures

while waiting to be loaded onto trucks for
transport to processors.
Tilapia are raised in:
Floating cages
 Tilapia are raised in:
Circular tanks with partial water exchange and mechanical aeration
Tilapia are raised in:
Raceways with constant water exchange
 Tilapia are raised in:
Indoors with water reuse, mechanical aeration and oxygen injection
Tilapia ponds can be fertilized with organic
and inorganic fertilizers to increase yield
Tilapia can be fed to increase yield
 Tilapia can be fed
Agricultural by-products Pelleted feeds

sinking

cottonseed meal wheat bran

rice bran floating

Tilapia can be sold to
Neighbors
and
Friends
Tilapia can be purchased
At supermarkets and fish shops
fresh and frozen fillets

whole on ice
 Tilapia farming in the U. S.

1. Most production is from enclosed, water reuse systems

because of cold winter water temperatures.

2. Production costs are high.

3. Most tilapia are sold live or whole iced.

4. Presently, U. S. producers can’t compete with producers in

tropical climates for processed tilapia.

5. Fresh fillets are imported from Central and South America.

6. Frozen whole tilapia and fillets are imported from Asia.

 Advantages of Farming Tilapia

1. feeds low on the food chain

2. accepts wide range of feeds

3. resistant to poor water quality, disease and handling

4. good flesh quality

5. fingerlings easy to produce year round

 Disadvantages of raising tilapia
1. sensitive to low water temperatures

2. reach sexual maturity at a young age

3. males grow faster than females

4. difficult to harvest from earthen ponds with a seine

5. low dressout percentage of fillet

Over 2.0 million mt of farmed tilapia
were harvest world-wide in 2004.

China>Egypt>Indonesia

U. S. tilapia Production 2004: 9,000 MT

EAT MORE TILAPIA