Coptodon (Tilapia) rendalli
A popular angling species, growing to a weight of about 2.5kg and a length of roughly 45cm, the Redbreast Tilapia prefers still, well-vegetated waters in rivers and marshes and thrives in dams. Water plants and algae form the bulk of their diet, but they will also eat invertebrates and even small fishes.
When breeding, which occurs in summer, the pair clears a nest up to a meter in diameter among the plants in shallow water in which they protect the eggs (up to 8,000!) and the fry, until these are between 1 and 2cm long. They can live for up to 7 years.
Redbreast Tilapia are found naturally from the DRC southwards, and have been introduced to a number of other African countries where they’re valued in aquaculture. In South Africa they occur naturally in the east-flowing rivers from the Limpopo-system in the north to the Tugela-system in the south, but there have also been some introductions to waters outside of this area. According to the IUCN, this species is of least concern.
DeWetsWild 
8,000 eggs??? Yikes!!
Thank goodness her babies can’t wail!
😆😆😆
Great pics of such handsome fish. And they are good parents too!
That’s remarkable to me, Carol – most fish leave their eggs and offspring to their own devices, yet the Tilapia is among a handful that are excellent parents by comparison!
Pragtige foto’s van die vis … dit moet nogal ‘n uitdaging wees om hulle af te neem! Nog nooit gesien (of geeet) nie – ons Weskussers ken net snoek 😁.
Ek is self nie n groot vis-eter nie, Corna. Ek geniet hengel van tyd tot tyd, maar gooi hulle eerder terug.
Interessant. Dankie. Is dit ‘n lekker vis om te eet?
Ek verstaan so, Toortsie, want hulle is baie gewild onder visboere ook in ander dele van die wereld.
Dankie
De Wet, ons klein lagoon hier reg voor ons huisie is vol van die Tilapia-kraters. Die lagoon het ñ inloop van die hoof seewaterlagoon by Biléne af, Lagoa Uembje. Die klein lagoon se naam is Lagoa Kafufa. Ons is deur Maritime gevra om die klein lagoon ‘op te pas’, hier mag niemand met bote kom visvang nie. Dis als natuurbewarings-area, maar die plaaslike bevolking steur hulle nie altyd daaraan nie. Ons sien die Talapia baie uit die water uit spring, maar bedags bly hulle in die diep kant, so 5 meter. Hul kraters is fassineerend, vol van sulke kleiner holtes.
Wat n wonderlike geleentheid om hul broeigedrag dop te hou, Una!
Tilapia are such an underrated fish. Thank you for an interesting article. I wonder if they could be caught on fly?
Given how I’ve seen them behave in the wild I have no doubt that they’d be quite likely to take a fly-lure, Kathryn.
Well done on getting such fine photographs of these fascinating fish!
Thank you very much, Anne. Fish are tricky but great fun to photograph.
I’ve never seen one that was alive. 😉
Come visit us, Janet!
We’d love to. We’ll have to see. 🙂
My husband loves tilapia to eat. Much more reasonably priced than other fish at the market.
It’s a favourite here too, Lois, for angling and eating !