Tell me more Rainman?

I have pure strain Blue Tilapia. I think there were about 10-15 fish about 2" long and 10-15 at 1" long. Assuming they all live, how long before they are old enough to lay eggs? I assume eggs will just hatch and start growing and then I'll run out of time in the season? This means that I might be able to catch about 20 full size adults providing no coons or GBH get them, but the thousands of young will die as well.

Do tilapia eat anything besides algae? Decaying leaves? other thin aquatic plants? insects or mosquito eggs?

Will they show up in the shallows when they grow larger or will they largely stay out of sight in the deeper water?

The hydroponics store started with some babies last october and they had a few of the biggest tilapia I've ever seen in their tanks.

Would they eat softened up fish pellets?

Very neat to learn about!