I know tilapia are omnivorous, but what I saw today really surprised me. After I cull fish, I throw them back in the water for the remainder to eat. I usually leave right after, but today I stayed for about 15 minutes.

I saw several tilapia nibbling on the fish that I had just thrown into the water. After floating for probably 30 seconds, tilapia would swarm the fish, peck off all the scales and fins, and then interest would drop off dramatically. I even saw one as long as my forearm come up and eat a one inch fish whole.

All the tilapia were as fat as could be, so I'm not concerned about them being too hungry. I'm just curious as to whether or not this behavior is typical?