Recently, Fish and Fisheries Zambia, considered working on the Identity, biological characteristics and behavior of the Red Breasted Bream, a Tilapia species widely known its taste meat and the considerable popularity it has among the four common cultured species grown in Zambia. Red Breast is believed to be the preferred fish among consumers as hinted by the cookery industry. Even still, some of the consumers are not well acquainted to this fact, it is on principal that we avail these facts to food supplying centers in order to boost on their customer confidence.

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It has a wide preference due to the taste and the colour appearances. Rendalii has the best taste and colorful among the common cultured breams. One factor that alludes much to its taste is much related to the feed tolerance and the subsequence dietary benefits it obtains from the wide range of food it can easily adapt to, besides it being a confined consumer of mainly aquatic plants, algae and small water in vertebrates. Tilapia rendalii is a known macrophyte feeder and can also have a generalized diet becoming opportunistic, changing its diet to whatever food items are abundant and available. Its feeding habits also change with age offish and the seasons.

Once the identity of the Red Breast is learnt and the knowledge shared across the fish lovers in the fish production and their related value chains. It will become necessary to understand its biological characteristics and behavior. Potential and existing fish farmers will now succumb to the challenge of growing the tastiest fish in the industry.

Tilapia rendalii is the Red Breasted Bream which also stems from the generic group of the chromis, distinctive to the Tilapia because of a colour spot found located at the end bottom part of the dorsal fin closer to its tail. Its colour adds an appealing look to the human eye; it has a unique reddish breast. On the caudal, also known as the tail, the fish can be distinguished by a reddish lower half of the caudal fin and grayish upper part of the same tail fin. It also has a brightred throat just after the deep head. The surface of its body is further decorated by 5 to 7 vertical olive coloured bars.

The common known local names of this fish in Zambia are Mpende, Pende and Nkundu. This fish is tasty and its’ the most preferred fish among most patients suffering from loss of appetite.

Fish farmers willing to grow the tasty fish “Mpende” must be willing to understand and acquaint themselves with the general biological characteristics and behaviors that makes it suitable for growing in aquaculture facilities.

Firstly, famers must consider the growth, the reproductive habits and processes, feeding habits and tolerance to environmental conditions. It grows to a size of 300 grams of body weight in a period of six months provided there is a balance in feed ratios and environmental factors. Mainly weather factors are oxygen, temperature, hydrogen potential and turbidity. A good temperature range of 11 -37 degrees Celsius would be ideal. Have low mineral particles for turbid concentration, but full of vegetative material. Secondly the potential environmental impacts, there is no fear for trans-locating this species since it is widely distributed in southern Africa.

Tilapia is widely distributed all over major river systems of the country and that of the neighboring countries. Therefore, there are no ecological threats even if it escaped from an aquaculture system. It does not easily hybridise with other species and neither does it displace other fishes or aquatic organisms from their respective places, the nitches.

Farmers must be economically comfortable to grow rendalli as it does not require complicated inputs for its production. The only hindrance threatens its seed production in grow out systems, is vulnerability to predation due to its being a substrate spawner. However, a well-managed hatchery system can be created where security to the juveniles can be well guarded and guaranteed. Farmers can never go wrong investing and growing of the Tasty Nkundu.

By Alex Choompo