Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Tilapia Research Experiment

Anyone in northern climes interested in seeing what Tilapia will do to green string algae (aka filamentous)up north here in the north (Northeastern Indiana) vs. down south? If my hunch is correct they may be a biological control for "pond scum" up here as they are down south, and if used in conjunction with Grass Carp for certain macrophytes could preclude the use of chemicals?

I will drain and refill a pond this spring up here in northern Indiana, and if it's par for the course I will get quite a bloom of filamentous algae initially before the macrophytes -- chiefly Chara take hold.

I'm going to get some Talapia from Rainman via air at some point this spring, put them in an RAS temporarily to get them up to size to escape predation, and then plant them at say 25 lbs. per acre.

They won't have to be too large as the pond will only have male bluegill and yellow perch in it. No bass.

Only thing that may not be comparable to many of your ponds is there won't be much predation to keep their numbers down due to the lack of bass. I'm thinking in this case I may want to use males only?

Thoughts?

Ryan Freeze? Theo?

Cecil, ~5 lbs of same sex tilapia has worked well for algae control in our 1/4 acre pond, when no reproduction is needed or desired.

Wow only ~5 lbs.?!

The particular pond I will put them in however gets massive blooms all over the place when first filled. I'm talking blooms of 10 by 20 feet all over the pon all the way to the bottom. I'm thinking more than 5 lbs. of same sex would have to be stocked for that amount right?

Todd can tell you stocking numbers for your particular problem.
Depends on numbers of male tilapia /lb.

If you are looking for just algae control and not as a food fish for LMB then 5-10 lbs per acre maybe OK? No experience with tilapia though. Definitely would be interested to see what the results are though.

Bluegill and SMB will hammer the tilapia fry and small fish after the bloom is controlled. Early spawns may well grow large enough to avoid predation.

Thanks George. It's not really a problem. I could eliminate the filamentous algae with aquashade easily, but I thought I could see what the tilapia will do with extensive algae as a research idea for an article. The water in this pond, although nutrient rich, is gin clear btw. You can see the bottom at 12 feet. If it was 20 feet I could probably also see the bottom. The algae loves it for obvious reasons.

I've often said a guy up my way could possibly raise and market the tilapia for biological algae control and if he promoted it right could have a booming business. Maybe market both tilapia and grass carp. Lots of folks are frustrated using chemicals up here.

I will contact Todd at some point and get his recommendations. I really respect anything Todd says as I do you and others on this site.

Yes, yes I am Cecil. I think a little cheat sheet with basic questions answered would be very helpful for anyone up North.

Sounds to me like growing them out in Aquariums to spawning size is the key. One only need to keep a few back every year to continually resupply their ponds each year. I like the sound of that.

So I might not worry about putting them in an RAS initially to get larger but can plant some fry I get from you directly into the pond?

Cecil, I think it was HeyBud that put in enough tilapia that I thought was way overstocked and would just beg for a DO crash. However, it didn't happen. With a shorter season, you might be able to ignore gender.

Hmmm... never thought of producing too many fish.

Cecil I would recommend mixed sex tilapia at a rate of 30lbs per acre. You are experimenting and the results have implications about market potential in northern ponds. Aquaculturists interested in this market may shy away from the need to sex their tilapia stock and find a market for their females. There are "all male stocks" available but aren't 100% males.

Rainman is right, bluegill and SMB will put heavy pressure on tilapia fry.

Good luck.

As Todd has said in another post, DO seems to stabilize with tilapia. Tilapia actually prefer lower quality waters and they thrive where other fish die.

Tilapia are constantly on the move in water and I am sure this helps to circulate it. With large numbers, they may create somewhat of a turnover in ponds since they use the oxygen deprived areas of the water to feed in and their large tail moves a lot of water.

Totally guessing on my part except for the personally observed constant motion. But it makes sense in my imaginative little mind.

Thanks for the feedback gentlemen!

Todd,

What size do you recommend for planting into a pond with 10 to 12 inch yellow perch and adult bluegills to 1.3 lbs. (most 8 to 9 inches)? I don't have any smallmouth anymore. No bass whatsoever.

Cecil, I don't know anything of preferred size for the SMB, but the tilapia will be too big for even large gills in under a month of age.

Maybe not fry (<1") But certainly 50 to a hundred 2" fish would get large so fast the SMB could not eat them. I doubt a 1 lb gill could get a 2-3" tilapia in it's mouth either. (If it could catch it--They're fast!)

No bass whatsoever in the pond.

No smallmouth in the pond!

I apologize Cecil! Substitute every referance to SMB with your Yellow Perch. I've got SMB on the brain today!

No problem. You guys kept saying smallmouth and I didn't recall saying smallmouth bass!

SMB, YP, Same thing only differant!

Cecil,
I ended up using 100 1/2 lb. nile tilapia (~7-9") in my 1 acre pond last year. I had about a 10' ring of FA all the way around the perimeter and they cleared it up completely in less than two weeks. By November 4th, they had died and were about 12+ inches and 1.5-2 lbs.

You catch any of those tilapia to eat? Sounds like they were the perfect filet size!

Looking forward to hearing all about this project.

I only caught and ate 4. I caught 3 during the summer on hook and line and 3 or 4 in a cast net, but let them go. The 4 that I kept I caught when they were sluggish with a cast net near the end of October.