New centre in S'pore breeding larger, golden marine tilapia, expected to reach diners in 2026

The tilapia fish has a bad rap among consumers.

As the fish is typically farmed in freshwater, it's shunned for its supposedly 'muddy' taste.

The Singapore Agro-Food Enterprises Federation (Safef), however, is hoping to change that.

To boost demand for local produce, Safef, with the support of the Singapore Food Agency, is hoping to breed higher-quality tilapia, using sustainable methods, that will meet consumer preferences.

Selective breeding

This tilapia that Safef is farming, which has been dubbed The Straits Fish, is not your usual freshwater variety.

Instead, it is a marine tilapia, farmed in seawater, which gives the final product a fresher and cleaner flavour.

In November 2024, a national broodstock centre (NBC) was set up to scale up the farming of marine tilapia.

Aside from its taste, the centre focuses on selectively breeding marine tilapia to create a consistent supply of a higher quality variety.

This variety will ideally possess some specific desirable traits.

The fish should be golden-coloured and will retain its bright colour even after it is cooked, something that is sought after among restaurants and consumers, said Ken Cheong, the chief executive officer of Safef.

In order to sell the fish for filleting, each individual fish also has to be meaty enough and weigh at least 1kg.

The fish should also have better immunity.

Currently, the NBC is still fine-tuning the breeding process — at the moment, the golden tilapia they're breeding only grow to a maximum of around 700g after seven to eight months.

It aims to produce its first batch of larger, fast-growing and golden tilapia, which they plan to call the Golden Titan, by 2026.

Bringing it to the masses

The farming of the tilapia is carried out by a coalition of five tilapia farms, as well as two hatcheries.

Tilapia fingerlings (also known as young fish) at the NBC which have the desirable traits Safef is looking for will then be sent to hatcheries like Century Aquaculture to multiply further.

Their spawn will subsequently be transferred to open sea cages at farms located in the Johor Straits, where they will continue to grow and mature until they reach a size good enough to be harvested.

At the moment, the five farms are able to harvest around 600kg of tilapia a week.

The Straits Fish tilapia is now sold at Qian Hu Fish Farm and eight NTUC FairPrice outlets.

Additionally, diners can soon try out The Straits Fish tilapia at Keng Eng Kee Seafood restaurants in June 2025, where it will be served in Assam curry.

Safef also plans to bring the tilapia to hawker centres next.

Top photo from Ashley Tan