The ND 56 is a hybrid between a female from the ND-5 Tilapia family line and a male from the ND-6 Tilapia family line.

ND56 tilapia comes with four main advantages:

• ND56 tilapia are fast growers with a growth rate comparable to the famous Oreochromis niloticus.
  
  
• ND56 tilapia is a very calm fish, which makes handling easy. This will greatly reduce the risk of losses brought on by aggressive behaviour or handling stress.
  
  
• ND56 is salt tolerant and can be successfully grown in waters with a salinity up to 35 ppt, the average salinity of sea water. This makes it possible to utilize brackish and marine environments. ND56 is an ideal species for polycultures with tilapia and shrimps.
  
  
• The skin of the ND56 tilapia is uniformly red, without any white areas or spots. Most tilapias have a black belly membrane, but in ND56 tilapia this area is pink. The red and pink colouration makes the N56 tilapia highly sought after in certain markets. The fish looks almost like the popular Red Snapper (“Huachinango”).  

If you want the ND56 population to consist of males only, you can achieve this by treating the hybrids with hormones for 21 days at the initial larval stage. The will cause the females to develop into males.