Different type of Tilapias and their pros and cons

[ariodpalm 1]

Hi,

 

I just finished my AP system a month ago and have been buying tilapias from some of the folks on Baltimore's Craigslist. I have Blue Tilapia fingerlings and some larger tilapias from a different guy, which I think are Nile tilapias.  I'm ordered some red tilapia fry from ebay.  My AP system is in the basement and maintained a temperature of 70F since it got cold outside.  I've been looking for comparative research or articles on different type of tilapias and what they look like but no joy.

 

Just wondering if anyone on here has a link that describe each type of tilapias with pictures.

 

Thanks

Loc

[Cecil 629]

Ariodpalm,

Did you see this?

http://aquaponicsnation.com/articles.html/_/articles/general-aquaponics/tilapia-a-basic-intro-to-the-different-generic-classifications-r11

Additionally the major sponsor of this site, Allied Aqua sells several species and strains of tilapia here:

http://alliedaqua.com/live-fish-inverts/live-tilapia-fingerlings.html

Edited October 7, 2015 by Cecil (see edit history)

[ariodpalm 1]

Cecil,

 

I saw the first link but not the second one. 

 

Thanks

[Cecil 629]

You're welcome. Steven VavGorder also has some good stuff on tilapia in his book Small Scale Aquaculture, i.e., species, spawning your own, etc. If you're not familiar with it it's only about $20.00 on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Small-Scale-Aquaculture-Steven-Gorder/dp/0967773202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1444248617&sr=8-1&keywords=Small+Scale+Aquaculture

Edited October 7, 2015 by Cecil (see edit history)

[Cecil 629]

Kellen Weissenbach here is an expert on tilapia as he, and I believe his wife, run the White Brook Tilapia Farm, which of course is associated with and supplies fish to Allied Aqua.

I see several books on tilapia listed here on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_7?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=tilapia&sprefix=Tilapia%2Caps%2C324&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Atilapia

Perhaps Kellen, yourself, and others could tell us which books you've read and are good choices?

Edited October 8, 2015 by Cecil (see edit history)

[dalep7324 0]

It is important to be know that there are different types of tilapia like The Hawaiian Gold Tilapia, white tilapia, blue tilapia, etc. You can choose the right fish for your set up. Your main role is to feed them and maintain the water temperature and quality. In the wild they would eat diatoms and plenty of blue, green algae.
Pros:- Good development and fast growth rate, Easy to harvest
Cons:- High temperature

[bcotton 161]

this is a very old thread but i will go ahead and advise,

 

i am pretty sure the Hawaiian golds are not a species , there are just Mozambique( O. mossambicus ) bread for their recessive color trait.

blue (Oreochromis aureus) and nile  (O. niloticus) are other species...That's not a comprehensive list by any means but they are the most common ones i see in the U.S.

There is another popular strain which i call "hornorum" some people call it a "wami" which is  Oreochromis urolepis hornorum . The other species of tilkapias (nile, blue, mozambique)  tilapias have X and Y chromosomes to determine sex. The hornorum has something different like Z and W. So hybrids are all male. Which is interesting for commercial production but the wami is considered to be more invasive and aggressive than others and is prohibited in more places than some of the other varieties.

Usually "red" are niles bread for color too but maybe other species can be red too, not certain.

And usually "white" are a cross between blue and nile

 

After saying all of that, i have a lot of experience raising and breeding tilapia but i wouldnt recommend them for a backyard aquaponics system in the temperate U.S. There;s usually a  lot better , more temperature tolerant options for people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 15 by bcotton (see edit history)