Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Tilapia Eating Machines

So I got some tilapia fry last year and I've got them in a 100g rubbermaid tub to over winter them and grow them out for this year.

I'd been feeding them pellets, and they're growing nice. They're about 2 inches now. It's been interesting because if I don't feed them for a day they eat the algae that grows on the side of the tub. They just mouth the rubbermaid until it's the algae film is cleaned off.

I put some water hyacinth in with them to make sure it didn't die in the winter. (small pond and its controllable) It's been in there for a month or so, and no issues. It looked like the tilapia may have eaten some of the roots, but the plants were doing okay.

Then I go out of town for 4 days and they're not getting pellets. When I come home, all the water hyacinth is eaten up! Now that's not exactly a soft plant, and the fish aren't that big. These things are eating machines.

I threw in all sorts of old lettuce from our refrigerator at home in my tilapia tank.

Then I came back 4 days later.

It was gone without a trace. I had to do a double-take and think for sure if I actually put it in there.

They will eat most any veggie or fruit. We used to get scraps from the market and during that time they were easy to catch. Apparently conditioned to eat anything on the water. Cabbage and cucumbers were killer baits.

No wonder they taste so good, they eat the finest fresh vegetables around... HAHA

Aaron, I could/should have warned you about the water Hyacinth. Before you try to raise some Fatheads with them DON'T! They eat almost anything they can tear apart to get into their mouths. I HAD a stunted 3" CNBG that I took out of my show tank and added to the HEAVILY stocked Tilapia tank. Several Tilapia ganged up like Pirhanna and had it completely gone in a few hours.


On a side not Bruce, I bet your tilapia are a lot happier with the veggies than only getting fed every few days.

Humm.. wondering if 40 tilapia eating a BG would make a good video...??

Didn't think about it Aaron! Don't know if it would help sales either!

aaron's journey to the fringe of pond management....

I know Dave.. that was sacrilegious.. I should have said "eating a green sunfish"

Is that better?

Jeez Aaron! Now you'll get that nasty ole GSA shield on this thread too.

actually aaron yer post would have only been sacrilegious for those over at BigBG.com

but since you bring the mighty GSF into it.....



yer tilapia wouldnt have a chance

Ahh, the old GSF on a Boga grip pic.

Send me one of those DIED and we shall see!

That's a beauty DIED.... wondering how we can set up a cage match.

Tilapia are ghirly fish, real fish don't eat lettuce.




Oh and Aaron I see that Bob Lusk will be visiting you, congratulations!

Thanks Jeff.. should be a fun time with Bob.

I kinda agree on the 'real fish don't eat lettuce'.. I'll add that real fish don't float to the top of my pond and die when the water gets too cold... but I do love the damn things that keep my algae clear and my bass chubby.

I just needed to get the GSFA logo on my post.. maybe we should start a littlegreensunfish.com?

I thought of you the other day when I accidentally came across this guys blog post claiming to have a largemouth/bluegill hybrid... it looks amazingly like a GSF..

http://www.alvintung.com/blog/?p=16

HAHA largemouth x bluegill hybrid! Now that is funny...

AaronM, thanks for posting the link to that blog. That is the funniest thing I have read in a long time :D.

OH......MY.......GOSH!!!

That's the single funniest, stupidest thing I've seen on a fishing website in my life. (Wait a minute...isn't it me who just posted another blog about my life with Buddy Ebsen?)

AaronM has found a true classic.

That would be like a guy shooting a rabbit and claiming that he'd just shot the world's first kangaroo X dog hybrid.

Sorry Bruce kangaroodog

that is really funny as we sit on the throne of higher knowledge, but his logic is pretty good. no one has called him out yet.

that is a gorgeous fish that IMO leans heavily towards pure GSF pig. looks almost identical to those i caught in the neighbors ranch pond and originally stocked in my pond. probably similar pond conditions (lots of hungry underfed bass).

I thought for a brief moment about emailing them and telling them about GSF. Then I decided naw.

I think it's your duty to the Green Sunfish to straighten him out, JHAP.

I posted a comment on his blog a couple weeks ago that helped clarify his 'unique and special' fish as Lepomis Cyanellus... but the post say "Your comment is awaiting moderation."

Mine to is "awaiting moderation". I guess that explains why there are no corrections to his new hybrid......HE does the moderation.

thats too funny.

aaron, maybe you should try just saying green sunfish. they probably think "lepomis cyanellus" is some code word for a bio terrorism agent.

Yeah I called it a green sunfish as well, but I thought having a big nice name would make him feel a little bit better after realizing it wasn't exactly a world record that he caught. Wonder why "lepomis cyanellus" isn't in the GSFA logo??

Sometimes it is best to leave some people in their stupid bliss...

I'm surprised my comment was "accepted"!

Aaron, to tell the truth, I was too lazy to find the scientific name to put in the comment.





Also, I may regret adding the "ultimate trash fish" comment, but as they say....It is what it is!

Aaron, do you have a layer of gravel in your tilapia tank? I was wondering if they had started nesting yet. I believe they are pushing 3 months old now.....

I'm wondering if the blogger is the same "Dr. Tung" who starred in all the 3-D movies on SCTV.
Evil House of Pancakes

Nope.. was going to do that just haven't got around to it. How big do they need to be to start spawning? Most of the growth has happened in the last month, but I doubt any are 3" yet. The first couple month I didn't have much, then I put a heater in the tank and finally got them on pellets rather than flakes/bloodworms.

Aaron, (and Bruce), you guys may want to put a measuring stick on you fish!

Here are two sisters of the fry I sent you-----I thought they were around 4" till this! Obviously they look smaller IN the tank!

Yeah.. umm.. sisters from the October fry??

I need to get out and feed mine more. They're microscopic compared to yours.

A couple of mine are legit 4 inchers now.

I don't even have legit 3 inchers. Definitely made a mistake not warming the water and getting them on pellets sooner. What's your temp rainman? and what are you feeding? Now I know why they ate the hyacinth, they were hungry!

In the last month I think I probably feed them 5-6 times a day.. I just need to get them to 5 inches or so to not worry about them becoming bass food.

Yup.

These are 2 of the blues I kept from the same mid-october spawn you guys got. The ones I sent you were all less than 2 weeks old.

I keep the temp at 82-85. I switched their feed about 3 months ago to a cichlid pro formula. 45% protien and high in vitamins for the fish and 54% protien powder for the fry. I've cut WAY back on the qty. I feed but still feed often. I don't measure but would guess I feed 160+" of fish 2oz per day now.

Because I designed it and I don't speak latin, not even pig latin.

EEN-gray UNfish-Say.

http://www.pondboss.com/12.html

From the PB photos page of what a lab created LMB X BG would look like.

How could that guy fish that much and not have caught a greenie before?

Now those are some interesting hybrids... I hear BCP and BG can be artificially hybridized but I have yet to find a picture of them. Does seem like the bass genes are dominant in the hybrids.

BG and LMB can cross with viable offspring. I have seen pics but that is not one on that site.

Here is some info on Oreochromis reproduction.

http://srac.tamu.edu/getfile.cfm?pubid=53

SRAC 0283 Tilapia: Life History and Biology

Reproduction
In all Oreochromis species the male
excavates a nest in the pond bottom
(generally in water shallower than 3
feet) and mates with several females.
After a short mating ritual the
female spawns in the nest (about
two to four eggs per gram of brood
female), the male fertilizes the eggs,
and she then holds and incubates the
eggs in her mouth (buccal cavity)
until they hatch. Fry remain in the
femaleÕs mouth through yolk sac
absorption and often seek refuge in
her mouth for several days after they
begin to feed.
Sexual maturity in tilapia is a function
of age, size and environmental
conditions. The Mozambique tilapia reaches sexual maturity at a smaller
size and younger age than the Nile
and Blue tilapias. Tilapia populations
in large lakes mature at a later
age and larger size than the same
species raised in small farm ponds.
For example, the Nile tilapia
matures at about 10 to 12 months
and 3/4 to 1 pound (350 to 500
grams) in several East African lakes.
Under good growth conditions this
same species will reach sexual maturity
in farm ponds at an age of 5 to
6 months and 5 to 7 ounces (150 to
200 grams). When growth is slow,
sexual maturity in Nile tilapia is
delayed a month or two but stunted
fish may spawn at a weight of less
than 1 ounce (20 grams). Under
good growing conditions in ponds,
the Mozambique tilapia may reach
sexual maturity in as little as 3
months of age, when they seldom
weigh more than 2 to 4 ounces (60
to 100 grams). In poorly fertilized
ponds sexually mature Mozambique
tilapia may be as small as 1/2 ounce
(15 grams).

Rainman, can I buy from you too? I'm new in here and very interesting raising tilapia

Welcome to the forum Pao! I replied to your privte message.

I mean really, what's this Tung guy a docter in, dentistry?

DOH!

Was doing a little culling and I put about 10 BG into my Tilapia holding tank with about 15 Tilapia. 2 days later, I'm down 3 BG. I found this one this morning:

Brutality rising.

He's probably been dead for like, ten minutes.

last night it was swimming around, but had clearly been attacked.. they go after the fins and rip them to shreds, and I think they started with the eyes too.. they even killed a BG that was at least 50% bigger than the biggest tilapia.. it's kinda freaky.

Cant you spare a little bluegill feed even though they are malnourished?

Aaron, are they tilapia or piranha? HAHA

I sure am glad I feed my Tilapia! If my wife sees the BlueGill she'll NEVER go into the tilapia room!

As far as I know this damage occured on a 6 hour flight in total darkness, but more likely it happened shortly after being bagged.
Think Tilapia aren't tough? This guy only had a small bone where his tail was and lived over a week that way and never had a sign of fungus or infection.

Aaron, are you sure that carcass wasn't a greenie? tilapia hate greenies!

Rainman you're going to get in trouble provoking greenie's like that! Nope, was just a little bluegill. I'm pretty sure they hate everything that's not one of their own.

Makes you wonder what happens when they go into a pond, or with the large space they don't go ravaging individual fish...

Fully agree. Maybe the open water is better for them, but it's interesting, and curious, when you watch them harass and destroy fish much bigger than them.

We're gonna have to put a tilapia and redear in together and see which is truly the nastiest!

As for the GSF, I do it to keep Jhap and Died's quick wit finely tuned, but they are either really mad at me or trying furiously to locate their target!

Yes, it's true we do on a rare occasion get mad.

But we always get even.

Jeff, Dave,

I am actually trying to make ammends to you poor Californians for the mis-guided enviornmental situation you must endure in your beautiful state.

Do a little research on who the first bike trail listed in this PDF is named after, and please remember, I couldn't choose my blood relatives. I'd say more but it would have to be in a PM (one tid-bit is VERY funny if not bizzare).

BTW, we share the same last name, he is my father's eldest brother's son.

Coastal Ventura County Trails

Well Senior Rainman, that explains a lot. Hmmmmm, my Rainman file just got bigger, a lot bigger.