Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Tilapia in small ponds?

Overton Fisheries will deliver our tilapia in the near future for our 2-acre pond, and I am considering the feasibility of stocking tilapia in the ¼ pond as well.

Due to concerns about overpopulation, we did not stock tilapia in the small pond last year.

When my wife and I visited the fish farm last year, Todd demonstrated how simple it is to determine the sex of tilapia?

Todd, why not stock male only tilapia in small pond – algae control without potential overpopulation problem?

George Glazener

http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=000269;p=1

Can you share with us how to tell the differnt sexes?

Here's a couple of pictures I took when visiting Overton's last year:

Male Tilapia



Female Tilapia


George Glazener
N.E. Texas

These pics are perfect for mature mozambiques. May not be this easy with other types of tilapia being sold.

Only on the PB forum can you get service like this. Pic below ,Auburn Univ.- tilapia are sexed using the genital papilla. Tilapia on the left is male and on the right, female.

I stocked Tilapia in a 1/4 acre pond and they were fine. All those here are sterile anyway from what I understand. I stocked about 30 in that pond.

What other species of fish are in the pond in question and what is the intended use of the pond?

Depending on those answers, there are several questions concerning the fundamental utility of the original premise.

First, if there are no other fish in the pond, why worry about the algae? If there are other fish, including predators, why worry about overpopulation?

What is the worry about overpopulation, irregardless of the predator answer? Too many fish dying at the end of season...that is not a problem at all in any part of Texas that has the "natures clean-up crew". An oxygen depletion? If there aren't any other fish then that could happen, but again if no fish why worry about it? If there are other fish, including predators, the depletion isn't much of a concern as relates to Tilapia.

I'm willing to make a bet that two pair of Tilapia, i.e. two males and two females, will provide far superior algae control in a 1/4 acre Texas pond without predators than would 5 or even 10 pounds of all male Tilapia...assuming you can indeed get perfect sex determination. My bet is based on the fantastic reproduction rates of these fish and my own experience. I did something very similar in my first year with Tilapia 4 years ago...stocked only a few pairs in a predator empty 1/4 acre pond. The result...perfect algae control and very happy raccoons and eagles at the end of the season. You will pay at least $50 to $100 for 5 to 10 pounds of all male Tilapia, whereas a couple of pairs taken from your overall order is virtually free.

Okay moderators, have at it....I'm just raising questions about the premise so that everyone can see all sides and maybe all of us can learn more in the process.

One reason I can see to stock single sex Tilapia would be if you wanted a few REALLY BIG ones at the end of the year, rather than a lot of smaller ones. That would be good for eating if you had an effective way to harvest before the Winter die off.

ML well knows the results of stocking breeding Tilapia - fat Raccoons and Coyotes are the worst aspect I know of.

George was speaking about his small 1/4 acre pond, and I'm absolutely positive that we would not have a pond that didn't have at least HSBs. Anyway, this 1/4 acre pond has been thoroughly discussed on the forum. The pond has been stocked with HSBs, redear, and large coppernose males and females. He would like to achieve good growth on tilapia in this pond and avoid overpopulation. The pond is muddy and not likely to grow algae anyway. So I think, with his goals in mind, that it is a very good idea for him to stock all male tilapia at a conservative rate of 3-5 lbs.

With the goal of growing large tilapia, one must either have large predators OR stock all male fish. By the way, we are unsure of the HSB population status and average size for now. Bluegill and redear aren't a serious predator unless in very high numbers...which they aren't. If mozambique tilapia overpopulate, they won't grow to decent food size by fall.

So the premise is more like...if algae control is not an issue, large predators aren't present, and the goal is to grow large tilapia....STOCK ALL MALE TILAPIA! Same concept as the stocking of all male bluegill for trophy production.

When George mentioned "algae control without potential overpopulation problem" he was simply suggesting this idea in theory and not referring to his own pond.

In addition to my recent post: It would be a burden for George to share aquamax 500 fish food with hundreds of needy tilapia. Feed is purchased and hauled from Plano to Sulphur Springs and dispersed by a 25 lb capacity feeder. This is George's problem with potential tilapia overpopulation.

That all makes sense to me.

Sounds like some good eating next fall. Good post Todd. Thanks

Makes sense to me now also if the goal is raising large Tilapia...but not the good eating part.

Without Todd's information it sounded to me like Todd was recommending all male Tilapia stocking for small ponds. If the goal is growing large Tilapia, I agree with your approach....if the goal is good eating fish, I do not agree.



Here is why I say that...and it is based on actual experience...for those folks who may be considering following the same approach...

You guys may recall the Tilapia I caught and posted a picture of on Cecil's record site. It tasted absolutely terrible. I caught it out of a very small pond, that had no artificial feeding and the only thing available to eat was algae(just like the situation Todd describes).

Don't be surprised if the all male Tilapia without artificial feed and only algae turn out to taste just like algae smells. That's what happened to me. The Tilapia I catch and eat from the big pond with artificial feeding are absolutely delicious....to die for...the Tilapia that feed only on algae (at least my algae) are not fit for consumption.

My whole point on this is that there usually are more than one points of view on most pond subjects. I thank you for allowing mine to be expressed so that the Forum as a whole can see more aspects of the matter and make up their own minds. Thanks.

Think of eating algae-fed Tilapia as insurance for when you go salt water fishing. Think how bad it would make YOU taste to a shark! :p

ML,

In your opinion, if you stocked tilapia to medium density in your pond, and they were provided with pellets as well, how much, by percentage, do you think the tilapia would derive their nutrition from pellets, and how much from algae? A WAG would be OK.

Now if you didn't feed pellets, do they eat strictly algae, or do they use invertebrates to a certain extent?

I may be way off on this but I think with catfish, the fishy taste is caused by a bacteria or algae and not by what they eat. Catfish growers sometimes get "off flavor" fish and they only feed food. Could it be your pond and not the diet of your tilapia that are makingf them taste bad?

Ml, I was remiss in not mentioning that our ponds are muddy from the recent rains, so algae will not be a problem this year.

Tilapia will be stocked in main pond for forage but I do not want any reproduction in small pond.

Thanks Todd for clarifying this.

The Tilapia will be fed Aquamax 500 so taste should not be efected.

You should know the merits of tilapia on the fly.... ?

Bruce,

My experience is limited to Mozambique Tilapia (O. Mossambicus). My WAG would be about 30% from natural food and 70% from pellets...actually I think I've read the scientific answer from real science is 30 to 50%, but my experience would say its on the low end of that.

Second question....my answer. They use whatever natural food organisms are available including planktonic and benthic aquatic invertebrates. My gut feel is that common algae is a preferred food item when in my ponds. They love the stuff...but will eat significantly less algae when pellets are made available.

You may recall some discussions from the far past with Greg and others about how comfortable I was with a "no artificial feeding program in an F1 bass pond stocked with Tilapia". That experiment has worked spectacularly, simply spectacularly and is accomplishing every single objective....but I digress, sorry.

When someone asks me about Tilapia I always try to ask them first what they want them for. If for algae control, I believe artificial feeding works against that and should not be used when optimum algae control is desired...if for eating, artificial feeding helps in size and taste...algae does not help with taste. My advice is always if you want to eat them, feed them anything but algae. Of course, if you want forage, which is the main reason for stocking them, I believe, you want both male and female.

Stocking only males may satisfy a need for large fish, but will not IMO reap any of the other benefits of this great fish, including eating, forage, and algae control. But this is only one East Texas pond guys opinion going into his fourth season with this absolutely wonderful fish.

If I have not answered your questions, please advise. If my answers are wrong, in your opinion, I'd like to hear that also. I simply want to learn everything I can.

BrianH,

This is an excellent question and premise. I can only reply that in the pond where the Tilapia was unfit for consumption and without any artificial feeding, the BG tasted wonderful.

However, one data point(one pond) does not an answer make. If others have experience, it would be interesting to hear it. Again, Brian, excellent question. Thank you.

George, yes they fight like a banshee on a 5 weight rod in shallow water...if only we(I) could catch them with some regularity. Take care George.

Here is some interesting info on commercial tilapia production from SRAC :

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

Including "With heavy supplemental
feeding, natural food organisms typ-
ically account for 30 to 50 percent of
tilapia growth."

Here is one on off-flavors in fish. As usual there is a lot more to it than what one would think. It can come (lots of types) from food but often it comes from the water (absorption).

http://srac.tamu.edu/tmppdfs/10464902-192fs.pdf

Now if I've got this straight, tilapia will eat single-celled algae, right? So in effect, they're tying up nutrients in a form that's usable for bass. It makes perfect sense. Now I know I'm too far north for tilapia, but in a situation where the nutrients are tied up in filamentous algae (not single-celled) what would the net effect of tilapia be? Will they graze? My ponds sometimes are completely void of planktonic algae because the emergence of a rooted plant is sucking up all the nutrients.
The water is beautiful, but then "boom" the rooted starts to fade and planktonic takes over. It's frustrating...one moment I've got crystal clear water, then one day later my secchi readings are taking a dive. It's not coincidental I believe, that this is when I have a fish stress event. I wonder if tilapia keep things more on an even keel?

The algae taste of the tilapia reminds of an experience by my ex Brother in Law. He had a dairy and was feeding a lot of baled alfalfa and coastal bermuda that they grazed daily. One of the cows got injured and he butchered it. He said the meat had a greenish tint and grassy taste.

Bruce,

I have said many times that I'm feeding my bass algae...and get incredulous reactions. The algae feeds the Tilapia, the Tilapia feeds the bass, and the pond meister is one happy camper....without artificial feeding bills or the associated "pollution" or the training of bass to eat BG feeding on pellets rather than take lures or the use of chemicals and on and on.

This has been my theory/approach for three years now...widely rejected by many/most on the Forum, but in one pond it is working spectacularly...and soon will be the system in all ponds for predator based fishing on Meadowlark Ranch.

Do they keep things on even keel? Well, I'll say this, pond management is a breeze with them in the pond, but they haven't done much for the rest of my life as to even keel.