Pond Boss
Posted By: chadwickz71 How many Tilapia does everyone stock? - 04/27/09 09:14 PM
Could I get some quick info from everyone on your Tilapia stocking experience. I have a 4 acre pond that im trying to make a trophy bass pond. I have taken out a little over 50 lbs of bass per acre to correct the stunted bass population, and I should hopefully have them under control. Im either going with 10 or 20 lbs to the acre.

What have you found with your stocking experience and what would you say I should go with.

Please include what your ponds condition is as far as (bass heavy or balanced) and what results you've seen. Any other info or findings would be great.
Posted By: Rainman Re: How many Tilapia does everyone stock? - 04/27/09 09:34 PM
Looks like a question for SUPER-Todd, or the Boss himself!
Posted By: csmith Re: How many Tilapia does everyone stock? - 04/27/09 09:43 PM
Chadwiczs, I have a Pond thats right at 4 acres and I have stocked 100 pounds of talapia for the entire pond each of the last 5 years. It is definitly not full of stunted bass, I take out 80 to 100 bass each year from half pound up to 5 pounds. Mine are mostly tagged, so I throw back all tagged bass as I know apprx. how old they are. Cody
Rainman, yeah Im just more or less seeing what results people get from stocking different amounts etc.

csmith. Thats 25 lbs to the acre. I'd like to hear more about your setup when you have time. other forage species, fertiliztion or not etc. What kind of growth rates are you getting on your bass with that amount of Tilapia?
check this link out....

Raising Trophy Bass
Posted By: Rainman Re: How many Tilapia does everyone stock? - 04/27/09 11:46 PM
Here is a study done by Kentucky U on a tilapia/bass polyculture.

http://www.ca.uky.edu/wkrec/BassTilapiaPolyculture.htm
Thanks for the info guys, like i said im just seeing what everyone here does.

Todd, I should be able to make it down to Buffalo this Saturday.
Posted By: BarO Re: How many Tilapia does everyone stock? - 04/28/09 01:16 AM
I have done 10#s for my .75 acre aerated pond the last 4 years. That gives me plenty of forage and no FA. My pond is pretty well balanced IMO. My CNBG have been getting lots bigger and my LMB are well fed.
Thanks BarO thats like 13.5 lbs to the acre.

By all the Tilapia post on this forum surely there are way more people than this that actually use them.

Keep'em coming.
Posted By: george1 Re: How many Tilapia does everyone stock? - 04/28/09 01:36 AM
20#s for 2 acres - forage and algae control - OR - how many #'s Overton recommends. Maybe less this year since very little algae due to turbid water and fewer predators due to restocking after fish kill.
Todd's call...

5#'s same sex for 1/4 acre pond for algae control only - no forage needed

Overton price for tilapia this year $8.00/lb ad in current PB magazine.
When you are talking about pounds per acres, how many fish is this, or how big are they?

Has anybody bought Tilapia this year yet?

How warm is your water?

I'm hoping to check mine this week. and if I can, go pick up mine this weekend.

Eddie



Posted By: esshup Re: How many Tilapia does everyone stock? - 04/28/09 02:03 AM
I picked up mine from Rainman yesterday. 4 hr drive home with 0 morts. They are in a 300 gallon livestock tank outside, heated of course. The water has a pretty good bloom in it, visibility is 6" or so. Haven't seen any since the release last night. I'll try to grow them out for a month or so until I can trust the weather to stay warm, then into the pond they go!
On Saturday I picked up 50 pounds of Tilapia from Todd Overton. The 50 pounds was determined by my budget, rather than the size of our 10 acre lake. I hope they will help some with the FA plus provide good eating for the bass. They put 10 lbs each in plastic bags with oxygen, inside of cardboard boxes, which rode well in the back of my SUV.

The size of the fish surprised me as some much have been 8 or 9 inches long, while some were 3 to 4'' long. I expected all smaller fish. Todd advised that I wouldn't have to worry about acclimating them to my pond water, as "they were tough as leather".

http://s269.photobucket.com/albums/jj48/outdoors57/Tilapia2009/?action=view¤t=100_0239.jpg
Posted By: CJBS2003 Re: How many Tilapia does everyone stock? - 04/28/09 04:52 AM
Good photos... Thanks for sharing! What species or hybrid are the tilapia?
Posted By: Rainman Re: How many Tilapia does everyone stock? - 04/28/09 05:32 AM
CJ, in Texas, only Mozambique are allowed.
Posted By: CJBS2003 Re: How many Tilapia does everyone stock? - 04/28/09 06:51 AM
I thought I had heard that was the case. Thanks for refreshing my memory!
Posted By: JHFV Re: How many Tilapia does everyone stock? - 04/28/09 05:50 PM
Got mine last saturday from Todd. 2 1/2 acre pond put in 30 pounds. No morts. There was some smaller ones that might be eatin by bass so i kinda wished i would have bought 40. But the bass are on beds about every 5 feet around the pond, so they dont seem very interested right now. I say that cause i put them in right by a bass sitting on a nest and she just chased them off. My water is 65 right now in the shallows were the Tilapia mostly run.
Posted By: Bob Lusk Re: How many Tilapia does everyone stock? - 04/29/09 02:17 PM
If the fish are large enough to escape predation, Chad, you can probably stock 15 lbs per acre and do yourself a world of good, especially since you have removed so many bass.
I'll have to see how big Todds Tilapia are running this year.
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