Pond Boss
Posted By: pondsea success with Tilapia - 10/06/08 12:40 AM
Just wanted to say how great Tilapia stocking turned out to be. I was getting overrun by algea and had waited really late in summer to try to attack it. Covered over half of my new 5 acre pond. Then my fish guy brought me about 30 tilapia. That was mid July. I have had little problems since, even though we have had a hot Sep. And they spawned a gazillion little fellows 1-2" now and munching any algea left in shallow water. The adults are crazy curious and follow me around the pond on the surface like pets as if they want to watch my every move. Really fun to watch them. And what is really cool is that my May stocking of LMB are now 10-11", and they seem to hang around the tilapia beds a lot, and all I have to do is reel a white grub or jig across the water and pow! I will definitely do this again except start in the late spring next year. I truly recommend to anyone wanting to try it.
Posted By: Captain1 Re: success with Tilapia - 10/06/08 01:47 AM
I wish I could say I had the same success. Sometimes I see thelarge Tilapia that I stocked this spring, but never see any fry and I still have FA on the pond. I also put some in a small pond that was 60% covered in duck weed that is now 100% covered. I guess they could be in there - but have not had much of an impact.
Posted By: Rad Re: success with Tilapia - 10/06/08 04:41 AM
Capt 1,
A thought, where you bought the fish might make a difference. Aquaculturists use all male because they grow faster. Could be you got same sex fish?
Posted By: Rainman Re: success with Tilapia - 10/06/08 05:46 AM
Congrats Pondsea!

Captain 1, by observing the tilapia in my tanks, I have noticed that once they hit maturity at about 3 months, the tilapia don't eat nearly as much. The Fry on the other hand, eat constantly! I think Rad is on to something with the all-male theory. I am sure the tilapia would eat MUCH more in a pond than my grow out tanks, but once they hit 8 inches, they hardly touch the food.
Posted By: george1 Re: success with Tilapia - 10/06/08 12:39 PM
 Originally Posted By: Captain1
I wish I could say I had the same success. Sometimes I see thelarge Tilapia that I stocked this spring, but never see any fry and I still have FA on the pond. I also put some in a small pond that was 60% covered in duck weed that is now 100% covered. I guess they could be in there - but have not had much of an impact.
Captain, our ponds are between Sulphur Springs and Paris and have had excellent results with tilapia.
No FA on 2 ac main pond with 15# tilapia stocked, and no FA on 1/4 acre pond with 5#'s same sex tilapia.
Tilapia from Overton fish Farm.
Posted By: Rainman Re: success with Tilapia - 10/06/08 02:02 PM
Captain, do you have a lot of vegitation, other than FA, in your pond? The tilapia could be eating something else......
Posted By: pondsea Re: success with Tilapia - 10/08/08 03:18 PM
Captain,
The only time I see the little fellows is when I walk along the edge and stop for a minute where there is FA just under the surface or clinging to structure. The whole bunch will sort of sneak out in a big school for a curious peak at me, and then the whole bunch disappears back into the algae remaining unseen. The fry are kind of hard to see because they are sort of a clear white color.
Posted By: 14737 Re: success with Tilapia - 10/09/08 12:54 AM
Could these tilapia go into a pond in nys. It gets mighty cold here but part of my pond remains open due to spring flowing into it,
Posted By: ewest Re: success with Tilapia - 10/09/08 02:18 PM
SRAC

http://srac.tamu.edu/index.cfm?catid=11



Tilapia

Life History and Biology



Water temperature

The intolerance of tilapia to low

temperatures is a serious constraint

for commercial culture in temperate

regions. The lower lethal tempera-

ture for most species is 50 to 52o F

for a few days, but the Blue tilapia

tolerates temperatures to about

48o F.

Tilapia generally stop feeding when

water temperature falls below 63o F.

Disease-induced mortality after han-

dling seriously constrains sampling,

harvest and transport below 65o F.

Reproduction is best at water tem-

peratures higher than 80o F and does

not occur below 68o F. In subtropical

regions with a cool season, the num-

ber of fry produced will decrease

when daily water temperature aver-

ages less than 75o F. After 16- to 20-

day spawning cycles with 1/2-pound

Nile tilapia, fry recovery was about

600 fry per female brooder at a water

temperature of 82o F, but only 250

fry per female at 75o F.

Optimal water temperature for

tilapia growth is about 85 to 88o F.

Growth at this optimal temperature

is typically three times greater than

at 72o F.
Posted By: Captain1 Re: success with Tilapia - 10/13/08 01:58 AM
Sorry for the delay in answering - been out of town. I got my Tilapia form Ken Hale at Boatcycle - he know what he is doing and definitely would have distributed both sexes. Today I saw quite a few large Tilapia at the surface and edges - the ones I stocked in April. I have few plants. I do have Chara (muskgrass) that they like to hang around but don;t know if they eat it or not. The FA I have seems to float to the top after growing on the bottom of the pond. My water is pretty clear - probably too clear. I have schools of bass fry everywhere - a bunch of 6-10 inch bass from this springs hatch and I would estimate 40 12-16 inch bass that I put in there to start the chain. I started with an 18 month headstart with Fatheads 500 bluegill fry and 30 7-9 inch bluegill breeding stock before I ever put bass in. Is it possible the bass are eating the Tilapia before they can get to the FA?
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