What is the time frame to expect these results?
When would they be stocked and when would they be harvested?
What kind of results would you get if you change your 4 inch range to say 1/2-1 inch fry?
Would you have to add more or less fish?
Would they even have a chance to spawn as I have read where the Blues spawn at about 6 months?
Would you get different results from stocking other types of Tilapia like the Wami, Nile, Mozambique, rocky mounting white, etc.?
Nile, (Oreochromis Nilotica) and Blues, (Oreochromis Aurea) will reach an average of 1.5 pounds in 6-9 months from hatching.
I have never heard of a "Wami" tilapia. "Rocky Mountain White" is more of a slang name for Nile Tilapia---usually a hybridized version to produce whiter scales. (the whiter scales make the fish look more presentable when sold live by making missing scales and handling injuries harder to see).
Blue and Nile hybrids are by far the two most popular fish in the food industry. Blues for their growth rate and superior flavor. Niles for their late sexual maturity and excellent flavor.
Whoever wrote what you read about Blues becoming sexually mature around 6 months was simply wrong....Mozambique (Oreochromis Mozambicus) reach sexual maturity in an 11 week average, Blues in 12 weeks and Nile in 1.5 years...these are for the pure strains. Most tilapia are hybridized with some other tilapia and there is no telling when they will reach sexual maturity.
Stocking rates are entirely dependant on specific goals and the species to be stocked.
In a pond enviornment with only a 6 month growing season, stocking a 4" Blue Tilapia would result in at least 3 seperate generations of offspring...Blues and Mozambiques will spawn about every 3 weeks in average water conditions and fish densities...Ask Weissguy about Niloticas as I'm not sure. Weiss grows a popular Nile hybrid.
Every tilapia variant, like every pond, is different.
I read the link Hal posted about tilapia in Austrailia. Au. is up in arms and FEARS the tilapia will pose problems to native species, yet they have yet to report a single native species being harmed....go figure!
