What Species Of Fish Is This That You See Commonly Grilled?

[canuckamuck]

Many years ago someone either told me or I read somewhere that a Tabtim fish is a cross species of the native Thai Flowerhorn fish and a type of river carp.

See picture below:

A flower-horn is a cichlid and a carp is a cyprinid, so they don't breed together. Standard Thai bs which is received without question.

The tilapia/tabtim is also a cichlid but from Africa, while the flower-horn is a product of multiple cross breeding of South American cichlids by aquarium enthusiasts in Malaysia.

[canuckamuck]

Canuckamuck, believe what you want, but just read the agricultural forum here on Thaivisa and you will see that those doing it commercially have different systems for nin and tabtim.

I am willing to believe that the red variation of bla nin requires better care than the natural version. The same thing goes for other specialized animals. You can't feed a white skinned pig the same way you can feed a bush pic for example. However, tabtim do live in ponds but growing them in nets on a river is better. it would be better for standard bla nin too, but I guess it isn't necessary.

Also if they were exactly the same except for a color difference, then why is their price 2-3x as much.

Ill tell you, it is because they are more costly to raise.

This is Thailand, it is difficult to explain many things that occur here. but it is a good thing for tabtim growers.

I have a rinky dink set up but still manage to raise 1k kilo every six months.

Yes, they can the two species can breed together and often do mix and yes there is a chance that they can carry genetic material from both and pass it on, but to do it commercially it is best to separate the two. if you are not super over crowding Nin you don't need to ariate the water. you do with tab tim though.

Once again this goes back to the tabtim being specialized, it does not make them to be a different kind of fish, just a mutation that is perpetuated through breeding.

[cloudhopper]

You mean there's still more to learn?

MSPain

Very interesting thread and it's good that such a great tasting FW fish is a local resource.

Anyone ever try making ceviche with it?

[necronx99]

So are we saying that Tubtim are packed full of hormones??? I guess that's going to be one more thing off the list of edibles.

Every animal including you is packed full of hormones.

The fish are treated with hormone just after they hatch to control the sex. This is essentially a controlled version of what happens in nature.

once done they then are raised with no added hormones. It's not the same as farmed chickens or other livestock which are continually fed hormones to promote growth.

[T_Dog]

So are we saying that Tubtim are packed full of hormones??? I guess that's going to be one more thing off the list of edibles.

Every animal including you is packed full of hormones.

The fish are treated with hormone just after they hatch to control the sex. This is essentially a controlled version of what happens in nature.

once done they then are raised with no added hormones. It's not the same as farmed chickens or other livestock which are continually fed hormones to promote growth.

Are these the same as "sex reverse" fish? I guess they do that to make them grow faster as no energy is wasted on reproduction.

[necronx99]

So are we saying that Tubtim are packed full of hormones??? I guess that's going to be one more thing off the list of edibles.

Every animal including you is packed full of hormones.

The fish are treated with hormone just after they hatch to control the sex. This is essentially a controlled version of what happens in nature.

once done they then are raised with no added hormones. It's not the same as farmed chickens or other livestock which are continually fed hormones to promote growth.

Are these the same as "sex reverse" fish? I guess they do that to make them grow faster as no energy is wasted on reproduction.

Yes,.also, if they bred the ponds will get overstocked and outstretch the food and oxygen supply. It's not perfect and there is still some breeding usually, farmers throw in a few predator fish to clean up any unwanted spawn.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Are these the same as "sex reverse" fish? I guess they do that to make them grow faster as no energy is wasted on reproduction.

It does make sense. Without females you don't get half your population wasting time on endless gossip, shopping, and doing their nails.

Edited August 21, 2012 by WinnieTheKhwai

[NancyL]

Tubtim is a widely consumed fish in this part of Thailand. It can be farm-raised, grows quickly, tolerates crowded conditions and brackish water. Thus, it's cheap and easy to produce.

In learning to read Thai, I've used Thai children's books -- books they use in their schools. There was a charming story in one about how the tubtim came to be so widely consumed in Thailand. The story claimed that many years ago the emperor of Japan gave the current king of Thailand a small group of Nile tilapia, because of HRH's interest in trying new food crops to promote sufficiency living. The King grew them in a pond at his palace in Bangkok, personally tending them himself. They multiplied quickly and some developed the mutation of light, golden-skin. The King noticed that those light-colored fish grew more quickly and were bigger than the darker Nile tilapia. He isolated them and bred them among themselves to develop what we all know now as tubtim.

Charming little story, but kind of at odds with the previous story about the fish being engineered and copyright (patented?) by the CP group.

Nancy.... I ran across that history a few years back and here is a bit more background for those interested:

http://www.siamtilap...n/farm/nile.php

Wow, the first three paragraphs of the article on that link is EXACTLY the story I read in the Thai children's book, only translated into fairly good English. Too bad I didn't know about the English-language article -- could have saved myself an hour of effort in translating it!

It's good to know "the rest of the story" as Paul Harvey, an American commentator used to say. I guess they figured 4th grade kids weren't ready to know things like transsexuals!