PLEASE IDENTIFY

Howzit all

Can you please identify this fish for me....

 

black fish with orrande fins and blue or grey head

 

thanx

Firstly where did you see it? And if its part of the tilapia family then it looks like it could posibably be a blue kurper with its breeding coulors .

its in a dam in stellenbosch

Thanx CD

 

so how do i target these fish, there are some "big" ones in there... 30-40cms

ja its blues... earthworms are the go-to for tilapia, but they readily take lures

I got a couple of them in my tank with a cape moonie

Well like already said earthworms is probably the bedt to use and if you are looking at using lures, I often use a spinner in size 0 or if you are looking using flies and bloodworm is worth trying sometimes tight lines .:wfish

It is blue kurper in their spawning colours. The top photo has the male (dark blue) and the female (lighter grey) in the picture. This time of the year they are protecting their nests while they wait for the eggs to hatch and after that the male nurses the small ones for another 3-4 weeks by protecting them and then if there is danger, taking them in his mouth.

If they do breed, you battle to get them to bite but with a small curley tail over or close to the nest you will get them to attack the lure. I do not promote catching kurper while they are breeding so give them another month and they will not leave a earthworm on a float alone and you will have a lot of fun catching them on light tackle. The problem with kurper is that birds and other fish prey on them and if you do not give them the best change to breed, you will not have a lot of kurper left in a dam after a few years.