Texas715,
This pond should be in the range of 1/2 acre give or take. It is about 5 feet deep so that is one reason I think we would have a hard time with any fish making it through the winter.
Plus as that depth it may be reasonable to drain it toward the end of year to get Tilapia out.
If I were to make it a Tilapia pond how many should be stocked in this size pond?
40-50 Blue Tilapia in the 4 inch range would produce hundreds of thousands of offspring for forage. But left to spawn uncontroled, most would max out at .75 pounds except for the original stockers. If seined regularly, and fed, the sizes of the first yoy would average about 1.5 pounds.
If you want to grow Tilapia for food, stock 1500 all male 1 inch fry and fertilize the pond. You'll harvest about 3000 pounds of filletable fish at the end of the year. Feed and aerate and you'll get about 4000 pounds. Expect around 20% mortality from cannabalism.
Tilapia are not a real sociable fish.
