I thought some of you folks might find this interesting.

POLYCULTURE OF LARGEMOUTH BASS (Micropterus salmoides) WITH BLUE TILAPIA (Oreochromis aurea): USING TILAPIA PROGENY AS FORAGE

http://www.ca.uky.edu/wkrec/BassTilapiaPolyculture.htm

Very interesting stuff... Thanks for sharing.

wow earth shattering. so stockign less bass and more tilapia produce better bass growth. Man glad they did that study to tell us that.

weissguy thanks for sharing just poking fun and the conclusion of some scientific papers just crack me up.

Thanks. Greg the study was for aquaculture purposes after all. There is some very good info there.

Contemplate this :

“Numbers and biomass of unexploited tilapia were comparatively larger in low density bass ponds than in high density ponds (Table 2). In addition to many big juveniles, ponds stocked with bass densities at or below 494/ha had several kg of tilapia fry (819/kg). Each kilogram represented approximately 20,000 fry/ha. “ From 246 brood fish to 831 lbs of tilapia per acre in 6 mths.

3209 vs. 115 % growth rate on LMB in 6 mths depending on High vs low # of LMB stocked. That is a huge difference. Do have to note “Additionally, each pond was stocked with crawfish (Procambarus spp), 45 kg/ha, and top minnows (Gambusia affinis), 30 kg/ha, to provide forage until juvenile tilapia populations had become established. A 32% protein, floating catfish feed was offered for the first three weeks of the experiment at a daily rate of 14.4 kg/ha to provide nutrients for tilapia broodfish and to stimulate natural pond productivity. After three weeks, feed was offered at a fixed daily allotment of 7.2 kg/ha until water temperature fell consistently below 15 C…”



These are some strong #s.

Also, the lower density LMB pond had a higher turbudity level, which could have resulted in the LMB having to work harder to find a meal. I wonder what the numbers would have looked like if all the ponds had the same turbidity level?

Scott, I was actually thinking that the higher turbidity was because there were a much larger number of tilapia that survived predation due to lower LMB numbers. My thought was if, similar to heavy carp ponds, the tilapia had eaten most of the vegetation, they then started eating the muck as they will apparently do, thereby stirring up the sediments. I figured the higher volume of tilapia were able to out-eat their primary food sources. Just a few thoughts that crossed through my mind.

Eric I guess your right it is good to have from a more scientific nature. However for me I pretty knew this info already from personal experience.

The production we have in tilapia from Copelands pond (past PB article) almost mimics your comment " From 246 brood fish to 831 lbs of tilapia per acre in 6 mths." We stock a low number of large tilapia and pull out thousands from mid sumemr on, it is/was truely amazing. I would like to see similiar study in presence of bluegill. Now the "tilapia pond" has little production since the bluegil are established there. I think they might make a bigger impact on numbers than bass, that is one to look at!

On growth of bass, it still amazes me at what we are getting in general and again not surprised at that growth rate on low density stocking. I will be working on article about Jeff Foxworthy where so far the growth is outstanding. I know this is about tilapia but to me expected growth at the lower density.

Lots of points of light - tilapia and LMB growth and numbers but only for 6 mths. Its the second , third and later years when added that tell the rest of the story.

There was a quick note about bluegill but really didn’t see any real note about them.
Again. I’m old so bear with me please. I live in south Texas 40 miles north of Houston. ¾ acre pond. Ewest have taken time to in light me on this fish and I agree with him that this would be a great food source for my young bass. My question in my little pond if the bass are feed on the TILAPIA would my SFBG over populate? Would they feed of the small tilapia too? This is a young fish stock pond 9 to 11” bass 5 to 7” SFBG Hybrid.
Could really use the help in cleaning up the vegetation in the pond these fish would bring also. Just asking.

Rick, On paper, tilapia compete with bluegill and bass. In reality though, The tilapia when stocked in proper numbers, will improve water quality and take pressure off the young of year for both bass and bluegill and increse both the sizes and numbers of both.

Tilapia should be thought of as a supplemental feeding program though. They consume mainly plants in the pond thaat no other fish does and if you do not stock them annually, there will not be a large enough food source to maintain the bio-load of fish and they will slowly starve.

To answer your question though, without removing bass and managing the fish in the pond, you will eventually get out of balance whether or not tilapia are in the mix.

FWIW, your hybrid bluegill probably won't be able provide enough forage for your bass from the start.

thanks. With this little pond it should be easy to fish out the bigger bass and smaller gills when time come. Thanks again