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Those fish in the article are the ones that Rex (Rainman) delivered.

I'm looking forward to the results of the stockings there. My biggest fear was the company was quite conservative in their stocking rates for the climate and I don't know if enough fish were being stocked to achieve the results desired.

In addition, if bass are in the pond then a lot of the youngsters will be eliminated and will not be recruited to eat more FA, thin type weeds and some bottom materials. This feature also requires a little heavier stocking of original fish. A little earlier stocking would also be beneficial so fish could have longer to munch on their wide ranging diet.

Bill:

In your opinion, if a PondMeister has a heavy algae growth, what should the stocking rates be? I was trying to twist Rex's arm to bring the fish up in late April, but I couldn't twist hard enough...

You won't need to twist it much next year!!!!

Thank goodness!!!

esshup asks "In your opinion, if a PondMeister has a heavy algae growth, what should the stocking rates be?" Good question. The answer depends mostly how one defines "heavy algae growth". It also probably depends on the type of algae. Too bad there isn't a good quantitative or even qualitative way to estimate heavy alage growth. Distance the growth extends out from shore would be a good place to begin. Then the next feature one should know is how tall the algae is above the bottom.

At this point I am not sure if tilapia will eat cool water algae as well as warm water algae and also bluegreen (FA Cyanobacteria) as well as green algae (Chlorophyta). There are definate differences in flavors and textures of both types. The Cyanobacteria are generally the ones that produce offensive flavors in water and fish. Lots of unknows at this point about what tilapia can do specifically. The other important feature is how much recruitment can these fish provide in a predator based pond. Is amount of habitat and cover a factor in their recruitment?

At this point a very light stocking of tilapia is IMO 2-5 lbs /ac and a heavy stocking is 25-30 lbs/ac. I'm still very much a novice at all this tilapia stuff. The learning curve is steep.

Hi Bill,

Will the tilapia eat the eel grass? It seems that much of what I planted in pots (the regular kind, not the red) has disappeared. Scott, do you have similar results?

The algae in my ponds is less than a week ago.

Nope, the eelgrass is still there. Both kinds. I've only seen a total of 7 Tilapia. I can walk around the pond and see them in the shallower water.

Bill, I have the spiro and the other type that is similar (my notes are downstairs), and the algae in spots would extend 12' out from shore, with at least 80% of the shore covered 5' out. It's covering all of the narrow leafed pondweed, and was getting hung up on the eelgrass. I raked a bunch out, treated about 100' of shoreline algae with dissolved copper sulphate, and the rest of the algae was treated with 50# of Phycomycin in 2 different treatments, the 2nd treatment was today. (I threw the granules out on top of the mats)

I also saw 3 spots of Eurasian Water Milfoil that weren't in those spots last year. Those were treated with Diquat (Reward). The Milfoil that cropped up last year was treated wtih Diquat at that time, and it's been absent in those areas. I treated the Milfoil before it reached the surface last year and this year.

esshup - FA growing on pond weed indicate excess nutrients were available at the time the FA is establishing / flourishing. If more rooted plants were present and consuming more nutrients then the FA would be much less due to lack of nutrients; competition for space and nutrirents. FA always thrives on availability of excess nutrients not being used by something else. Feeding fish pellets results in producing excess nutrinets.

Directions (label) for peroxygen algaecides (Green Clean, Phycomycin) tells the user to apply when FA is young and in early growth stages. FA is most vulnerable during early growth. Applying peroxygen granules on old growth FA requires much more algaecide and it works less effectively. Species being treated could also affect how well this algacide works.
Tilapia in a cage will eat FA first and leave behind leaves of eelgrass. Eventually the eel grass leaves dissappear; so they must eventually eat it when other items are not available. Freshly planted eelgrass is not well rooted and can be pulled out easily (taste testing?) from water soaked soil which is maybe why it dissappeared from the pots.

Thanks Bill. I agree totally with your asessment. Hopefully next year I will have less of a problem, as more submerged plants take hold. I have very little submerged weed growth now, the pond renovation will be 2 years old next month. I think I have a couple hundred pounds of CC in the pond that I need to remove, which will help reduce the loading. I am pellet feeding, but currently a 50# bag will last a month or slightly more because the trout aren't eating like they were when the water was cooler.

I had 2 small spots of Milfoil before the renovation and I had hoped that we dug it out during the renovation. I may have inadvertedly re-introduced it when I transferred some GSH last year.

Bill, that pondweed in the lake that I showed you is starting to send flowers up thru the surface. Unfortunately, the ski boat was dropped in the lake this past weekend, and the weeds will most likely be chopped up this coming weekend. I will go swimming and remove as many as I can, clean them, and transplant them in my pond before this weekend. I'll get some viable plants or seed pods to you before the summer is over.

my tilapia were stocked may 17.. my pond is 3/4 acre and i had 30 lbs added, i still have fa..they started eating pellets the same day i stocked them, however it seems that i see very few of them at the feeder now. i have 3ft patches of fa floating in several areas of my pond. i hardly ever see it attached to the bottom though. i am thinking of digging the edges a little deeper this winter, reckon that will help?

scott69, tilapia are usually raised on pellets.

do you think maybe they are eating more of the fa now and less pellets? i have a thick algae bloom and it is hard for me to see what is what at feeding time. algae is less now than it was a few months ago, wasnt sure if it was tilapia or the warmer water killing the fa.

Way too many factors to even make a guess for you Scott....sorry

Rainman, Do you think the three foot patches of FA scott69 has floating in his pond are from tilapia eating close to the roots and the patches floating away?? (I have the same)

Also you said that the tilapia are raised on pellets. Are we supposed to quit feeding pellets until they learn to eat FA?

One more thing, Thanks for busting your "B...ass to bring tilapia to the midwest this year!!!!!

I can't say what caused the patches or if tilapia had anything to do with it...the babies consume the vast majority of it by their sheer numbers. Since it is the offspring making the largest plant impact and are too small to feed on the pellets, I doubt stopping feeding would make little noticable impact on the reduction of FA.

BTW, the ones I couldn't make it to may not feel I made enough effort, even if they understood. I hated disappointing them.

Rex,

Have you ever thought of finding a reliable source of tilapia in the midwest where you can just pick them up and distribute them? I do know there are a few suppliers in Ohio.

Energy costs outweigh the fuel costs still to grow in the midwest. I think you will fing the food fish growers around Ohio and Indiana are all male fish as well....That makes pond stocking them virtually pointless since the offspring are what provide 95% of the benefits associated with stocking them in the first place.

I am looking in to using one of the closed RV bullders to raise them at, but they want unreasonable rent. Maybe they will learn some income is better than none, but I doubt it.