The Biology and Culture of Tilapias

There is a good example from Lake George where one species (S. leucostictus) is a filter
feeder in the open water, but feeds on the bottom near shore. From my own experiments,
I know that S. mossambicus, which almost always feeds from a substrate in the natural
environment, when confined in an aquarium and excluded from any substrate will filter
feed on plankton and suspended detritus. So, they are highly flexible and I do not think
an absolute distinction between filter feeders versus substrate feeders is valid, especially
when we are talking about aquarium or aquaculture situations.