TILAPIA CULTUREby

Leonard LovshinDepartment of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures

Auburn University, AL 36849 U.S.A.

Water Temperatures for:

Tilapia are native to Africa, Israel and Jordan

Best growth- above 250CSpawning - above 200C

Death- 10 to 120C

Nile Tilapia Mozambique Tilapia

Blue Tilapia Red Tilapia

Popular Cultured TilapiasPopular Cultured Tilapias

Food HabitsTilapia 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.

Reproduction

Males dig and defend a nest

Females incubate eggs

and defend the fry

Tilapia can be spawned in:

1. ponds

2. cages ( hapas )

3. tanks

Fry can be harvested:

2. 40 days after stocking brood fish

1. 18 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

Advantages: 1. Technically easy

Disadvantages: 1. Small harvest weight 2. Mixed sizes at harvest

Grow-out:

Mixed-sex Culture

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

Disadvantages: 1. Technically difficult

Mono-sex culture

Stocking a predacious fish with mixed-sex tilapiawill control tilapia density and increase final harvest weight.

Largemouth bass in the U. S. A.

Peacock bass inSouth America

Mono-sex male tilapia populations can be produced by:

1. Visual selection

2. Hybridization

3. Sex-reversal

4. Genetic manipulation

Male Populations

Visual Selection of the Genital Papilla

Male papilla

Female papilla withoviduct

anus

anus

Hybridization

Male Hornorum tilapia

Female Nile tilapia All-male hybrid tilapia

ZZ

XX

XZ

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 fedAgricultural by-products Pelleted feeds

sinking

floating

cottonseed meal wheat bran

rice bran

Tilapia can be sold to

Neighbors and

Friends

Tilapia can be purchasedAt supermarkets and fish shops

whole on ice

fresh and frozen fillets

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.

Tilapia farming in the U. S.

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

Advantages of Farming 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

Disadvantages of raising tilapia

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

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