Aquaculture of tilapia is although an old endeavour has taken a significan leap in the commercial fish farming in India marginally exporting Nile tilapia while looking forward to meet the huge demand for the fish in the domestic as well as international market. Culture of Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (L.) is mostly practiced in tanks, ponds or cages and is clustered in Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu and Kerala states with an estimated production of around 20,000 metric tonnes while MPEDA has targetted its production close to 22,000 metric tonnes by 2020. Under the existing regulatory framework, the introductions of improved strains, implementation of quarantine and biosecurity, the fish production from pond, tank and cage culture has resulted into sinificantly rasied commercual productions.
However, tilapia now form part of the fish fauna in several important river streams, the Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery, Yamuna and Ganga Rivers and reservoirs. In these river streams and reservoirs, tilapia and Indian economic local fish species share a common food niche, the success of one in competition with the other has been determined by the ability of the fish to breed and propagate. Tilapia has created its own ecology, for survival thriving and developing its colony for perpetuation. Given the propensity of tilapia for auto-stocking, indigenous species that breed in the ecosystems have to struggle to coexist with tilapia and the naturalized breeding population of tilapia in rivers and reservoirs is being considered to be responsible for declines catches of Gangetic carps and other local fish species but positively contributing towards the over all production. Released tilapias as a result of anthropogenic activities tend to establish in waters that have deteriorated or in quasinatural water bodies such as reservoirs, rivers and irrigation systems.
Over the last two decades, the aquaculture entrepreneurs and farmers have been demanding importation of many improved strains and varieties of tilapia or improved production including monosex production technology to compete in global markets. Suggestions for further improvement of tilapia production in India are proposed for further distribution of improved stocks, better formulated and floating feeds, deployment of advanced aquaculture production systems, monosex culture and continued quarantine and tighter biosecurity standards.