Are blue tilapia cichlids?
- Thread starter Gambusia
- Start date
"tilapia" as in Cyphotilapia Frontosa? then yes, it's a cichlid found in the deep waters of Lake Tanganyika, East Africa.
What you listed is the Frontosa and not an actual tilapia. The blue tilapia is Oreochromis aureus. Though yes they are still a cichlid. They are native to africa and eurasia, however they are not rift lake cichlids. They are found in fully freshwater streams and lakes as well as brackish estuaries and lagoons. They can also grow rather large 40+cm so a larger tank would be essential. I took a program in High School were we raised these guys from about 1inch fry to 10inches. We had about a 1000 fish in two large grow out tanks, one tank was 500 gallons I believe and the other was 700. We raised them for 6 months, and in that time they went from the 1inch fry to 10 inches, so they grow quickly. They are hardy fish, looking back on it now we did a lot of things wrong, but most of the fish managed to pull through. They color up in pretty interesting patterns when in an aquarium, very neat fish, not overly aggressive, but still they are cichlids.