One item that hasn't been asked or mentioned.......
If tilapia are successfully stocked and their population rapidly increases (as expected), and the predator population has a reactive population increase (in size and/or quantity): Assuming no harvest of the expanded predator population, what happens to these preditors during the winter when their primary prey (the tilapia) meet their Maker in the fall when water-temps fall below 55F?
I posed the above question to Bob Lusk today at the BASS 102 Conference in Conroe. His response (if I interpretted him correctly) was that maintaining a predator:prey equilibrium would become manditory if tilapia are introduced into the scheme (that means harvesting predators). Otherwise, one could end up with a predator population that could decimate the overwintering stock of bluegill after the tilapia have checked-out for the season.
