Red Tilapia Fish
Red tilapia fish is a name used to refer to several different manmade tilapia variants that have a red colouration.
The red tilapia fish is therefore not a species but a variant that have been produced as a result of continuous selective breeding.
The red coloration ia a genetic mutation found in the nile, mozambique and blue tilipia fish
Red tilapia fish tend to be more tolerant of high salinity conditions and some of the red tilapia fish strains are quite capable of being able to be cultured in full strength sea water
Many farmers prefer to cultivate red tilapia since it is much sought after in certain markets.
A few examples of red tilapia fish variants commonly seen in fish markets are the Florida Red, Jamaican Red, Taiwan Red and the ND56.
Unlike wild tilapia fish species, which tend to be black or greyish in colour, these fishes have showy red and pink colours.
The Florida Red tilapia is the result of Blue tilapia (Oreochromis aureus) mating with Mozambique Tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus).
The growth rate of Florida Red is normally somewhat higher than that of Taiwan Red.
Hybrids created by crossing Taiwan Red with Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) are however known to grow just as fast as the Nile tilapia; which is much faster than Florida Red.
The tilapia hybrids created by crossing Florida Red tilapia fishes with Blue tilapia fish have a growth rate somewhere between Florida Red and Taiwan Red.
For fish farmers living in non tropical countries where the weather is colder, crossing in Blue tilapia is popular , because the Blue tilapia is one of the most cold tolerant tilapia species we know of.
Please note that some tilapia species might have the term “red” in their common name, e.g. Redbreast tilapia (Tilapia rendalli) and Redbelly tilapia (Tilapia zillii).
