Are These Tilapia?

[Baccus]

Recently down at my local river I caught a couple of these while looking for some native rainbow fish and hardyheads. These fish don't look like any native species I know and I am sure they are a type of cichlid. If they are tilapia there is only one lawful out come for them. But first I wanted to get some other more experienced in cichlids views on them.



Adult tilapia I can identify, but these because they appear to be juvi, I am not so sure.

 

[DrRob]

Looks very much like tilapia mossambicus to me.

 

[Baccus]

Thanks Dr Rob, I was leaning towards Redbelly tilapia T. zilii
Do all tilapia get the "egg" or tail spots? And if so do the juvi's tend to have them or is that a later colouration development?

 

[Better is Betta]

Many many years ago my kids brought home a juvenile talapia.  At that time I had no idea what sort of fish it was....it was just a fish to me.  It looked exactly like your picture Baccus.  Ignorant of the laws for certain pest fish, we kept this fish which we named George.  He was put in the pond with a pair of convict chichlids.. When he got big and older he had 4 big black spots running horizontally along his body. Ugly fish....muddy slimy green color.  But we all got attached to him.  He was there to take a feed off you and was very friendly.  One day a friend of ours was looking at him and said  I think you have an illegal fish in your pond.  He said if you were caught with him you could face a $50,000 fine (thats 100 pounds in uk currency

)  That was a shock to me and the thought of having to kill George after we had him for 10 years. I just couldn't do it and who in our family was going to volunteer to carry out the task. I was torn between what to do.....what would you have done?  I did the right thing and the wrong thing.....I kept George and made sure no one knew about it.  Well not long after that George passed away

A blessing I suppose.  I know now what talapia are and often we catch them in the creeks when we go looking for shrimps. Its mainly the very small juveniles that get caught in the nets.  With a sad heart I destroy them.  

 

[Baccus]

Thanks Better Is Betta, I have seen mature tilapia before, but not juvi's and never have I seen tilapia in the Fitzroy river and I guess the only reason I managed to net these two was it was night time and I had a bright torch. The government and its bodies like DPI really need to make identifying potential pest species much easier, rather than mostly only showing the fully mature specimans. I wonder how many people have innocently taken home an illegal juvi fish, just because it looked nothing like the matured pest species. I at least knew it was most likely a cichlid and potentially an invasive pest.
One of the tilapia is already not long of this world because when I caught it, it was covered in fungus, I am guessing the recent cold snaps could be the culprit since they don't like cold weather, and the other one that looks healthier also has a couple of little fungus spots on its tail.
Prior to these ones demise I shall try to get some clearer/ better photos simply as a record even if I never know definitively which species of tilapia they end up being.

 

[NickAu]

 
and never have I seen tilapia in the Fitzroy river

Have you informed the DPI Baccus? Just a suggestion.
 
 
Around here European carp is a big problem.

 

[Baccus]

Apparently tilapia can live along side just fine with wild carp, typical two pests not killing each other but both helping to wipe out natives.




The other small fish in these shots is another pest species that will not be alive much longer gambusia.

 

[DrRob]

Thanks Dr Rob, I was leaning towards Redbelly tilapia T. zilii
Do all tilapia get the "egg" or tail spots? And if so do the juvi's tend to have them or is that a later colouration development?

 
I wasn't aware that Zilii had managed to spread again, but sadly it's always possible. Juvi's often lack the spots, and colour up (sort of in this case) as they mature, the adults are tasty though. I've seen quite a few Mossambicus juvi's, and it's a similar look to be honest, hence my initial comment. Never really worked out why people keep them, they're not the prettiest fish, and they're huge when they're adults, but each to their own.

 

[Baccus]

Sadly it looks like tilapia are here to stay, however they got into our water systems (either deliberately for other pest control or accidentially by unwise owners who thought dumping was better than killing), being profound breeders and usually getting to a good size I would hope that barramundi and the like would eat these fish with gusto while the fish are small.
Sadly tilapia are the downfall of many of our native fish, and I personally would prefer to see a thousand types of rainbow, gudgeon and blue eye over these pests.