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Is this species available?
Cecil, I am trying to find a source for T. Rendalli myself right now. I'll let you know if I can find some.
12 ac pond in NW Missouri. 28' max depth at full pool. Fish Present: LMB, BG, RES, YP, CC, WB, HSB, WE, BCP, WCP, GSH.
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I changed the link to add the new one. That comment noted is not from a study it is from an extension fact sheet. There is a big difference. The study I posted is correct and provides balance to the fact sheet (more info and accuracy as to food items) and is why I posted it also. The fact sheet qualifies the statement "readily". That is exactly what I am talking about in looking closely at what effects the conclusion. They will eat what is there if hungry. A better choice of words would have been "prefer algae" IMO.
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Cecil, I don't think they'd like the water temps in your trout pond!!! T. rendalli actually can tolerate temps down to 51 degrees, but they require 69 degrees or higher to spawn. In their natural habitat, they live in water that ranges from 56 to 97 degrees.
12 ac pond in NW Missouri. 28' max depth at full pool. Fish Present: LMB, BG, RES, YP, CC, WB, HSB, WE, BCP, WCP, GSH.
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Ewest and Rainman, you both are right. It's all semantics.
Bottom line is that different tilapiine cichlids have different preferred food sources that they will target IF AVAILABLE, but most of them will eat basically whatever they have to in order to survive.
Now, take a typical private pond. Most ponds are abundant in a variety of food sources on a tilapia's menu. Once they run out of their favorite food, they move down to the next favorite.
When introducing tilapia to a pond with a specific goal in mind (to reduce chara, to reduce FA, to cut down on detritus material, to cut down on vascular plants, etc.), some choices of tilapia may be better than others. For instance, If you have a type that prefers FA, and you really want to get rid of chara, you may not accomplish your goals if you have abundant enough FA available to them to make them happy. Then again, you really only have a choice between mozambiques, blues and niles in the continental US currently, and frankly, these three target pretty much the same stuff from all the data I've seen. They all do a pretty solid job at vegetation control, but according to a lot of the info out there, some of these other "rare" types to us in the US could potentially outperform them in a lot of situations as far as private pond vegetation control is concerned.
12 ac pond in NW Missouri. 28' max depth at full pool. Fish Present: LMB, BG, RES, YP, CC, WB, HSB, WE, BCP, WCP, GSH.
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Is this species available?
Cecil, I am trying to find a source for T. Rendalli myself right now. I'll let you know if I can find some. Petshops?
If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.
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Weiss, if you want some T. Rendalli, you may want to fish the Salton Sea or the Imperial Valley irrigation canals.
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I have been stocking tilapia now for about four years and have had some very interesting results. The stocking rate per acre is probably the biggest factor in what is controlled in your pond. At a stocking rate of ten pounds per acre most of the algae and many of the weeds that you would want to control are "KNOCKED DOWN" but not eliminated. I made the mistake one year of overstocking because I thought more is better. This was a mistake since almost all of the vegetation in the pond was removed even grass along the edge of the pond looked like a weed eater had been used. If you wanted to remove all of the vegetation seventy pounds per acre stocking should do it. It just depends on what your goals are. At this high of a stocking rate it could be detrimental to your other fish. What is the highest stocking rate you have used?
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Weiss, if you want some T. Rendalli, you may want to fish the Salton Sea or the Imperial Valley irrigation canals. I have heard that in both areas mentioned, they believe many of them are hybrids, crossing with T. zillii. Of course, that might not be all that bad if they are viable offspring. T. Zilli loves milfoil and other similar plants.
12 ac pond in NW Missouri. 28' max depth at full pool. Fish Present: LMB, BG, RES, YP, CC, WB, HSB, WE, BCP, WCP, GSH.
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n8ly,my pond is now down to 47 degrees and I still have not seen numerous slow swimming tilipia that could be caught in a dip net.I have removed 8 to 10 dead tilipia.I am sure that most blue tilipia will die at this temperature but I hope that a few will make it to next year.I did remove one tilipia that weighted 3 lb. 4oz.I plan to stock 1200 additional tilipia next april to hopefully eliminate pithophora algae.I have not caught any tilipa on hook and line this past year as bluegills always beat the tilipia to the worm,green pea ,lettice,etc.Still looking for an effective way to catch these critters!
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James,my pond is 8.77ac.andI stocked 1200 3"to 5" blue tilipia in April 2009. I have pithophora algae and it resembles sleel wool. I believe that the stuff could be used to make cloth as it pulls apart like cotton.Anyway the tilipia made a pretty good dent in the amount of algae. I want to get it under control so I can fertilize my pond.I plan to wait at least another year to fertilize and give the tilipia time to do their thing.Thanks Al Allison
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Al, where do you live?
If you have Blue Tilapia, they should be slow. 47* is a barely survivable temp, but disease will certainly set in soon to kill them. 100% death will occur at 43-45*.
As far as I know, I am the only supplier in the US with a pure strain of blue Tilapia capable of living to 45* and I don't recall selling the to you. Since you said you have scooped up large dead ones already, my guess is you have hybrids. A hybrid Blue won't last below 52* so again, my guess is that your water is much warmer than 47* at depth and they are surfacing for other reasons--most likely to avoid predators.
On a side note, if you stocked 3-5" fish in a mature predator pond, it is highly unlikely more than 10-20% survived predation. achieved results. 3-5" is the prime eating size.
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Rainman, I purchased my tilipia from two sources from lower s.c. I originally purchaced 300-400 in october 2008.I knew that they would most likey not make it over the winter,but the winter was mild.I caught one tilipia in a net that weighed 3lb 4oz.do you think this fish was from the 2008 stocking?Also I do have mature preditor bass. Should I stock a different size next year or should I isolate my stocking for a month or two? Any advice will be appreciated.Thanks Al Allison
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Al, the bigun' was probably from your spring stocking. Sometimes you'll get males that would rather eat than build nests and they can be real hogs.
If you've got mature LMB, stock, or let the tilapia get, over 7 inches to avoid most predation.
Just one 8 ounce female will produce over 10,000 surviving fry in a season and one of our Arizona members grew a 3 pound+ tilapia that was under 11 months old in a HEAVILY overstocked pond.
If your goals are to control the algae, stick with your current 2-5 pound per acre rate. If you want to nearly eliminate the algae and increase the biomass of your other fish , increase the stocking rate (and size) substantially.
The tilapia dying each year is why stocking them can be a benefit. If they survived all year, they could easily over-run a pond. Tilapia can provide a myriad of benefits, but if they survived year round, a fishing pond would be totally devestated by them.
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Rex:
As long as we are on the topic, what size fish will (should?) you have available for stocking this Spring?
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If all grow as planned 7-10" with an average weight of 1/3 pound.
There will be all sizes mixed in with no sorting so the smaller ones will get chased, leaving the adults to do the baby makin' thing. the smaller ones will most likely be under 3 inches.
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Hmmmmmmm.... I think I'll get the 2nd cage ready!
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It has been over a year sense I made a report on tilipia and the results on the elimination of pithophora in my 8.77 ac. pond.I stocked 800 blue and 700 white tilipia.The results were incredible!The pithophora is 99.9% gone despite a severe drought.My pond is down almost 3 feet and 2-3 ac. of pond has only 1 1\2' of depth.
The tilipia are now 2-3 lbs.and I still have very little success in catching these fish . Dough balls,worms,rasins,bread,lettice,green peas,etc.have not worked.Any ideas on some way to successfully harvest these critters? Thanks for any replys! Al Allison
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Al thanks for the report. That is good to know.
Can you seine part of the pond - deep to shallow ?
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Al, I know of no way to specifically catch tilapia as the target species. However, I have accidentally caught them on darn near everything you have mentioned. And, a guest recently caught one on a small spinner bait.
It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.
Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.
Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
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I caught some of mine on kernels of canned corn 18 inches under a bobber. Here is a pic of one caught - it is a bit bigger that the one i weighed which was 3.1 lbs. A blast to catch and great eating. Have not been able to catch any the past couple of weeks. I think they are staying lower in the warmer water. Tilapia photo
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Ewest,I have tried a couple of areas that we have seined. But,I only have a 30'seine and have a lot of bottom snags.I seine mostly blue gills when we pull the seine.I have had good success with a cast net,but it is a lot of work!Last december we caught approx.300 tilipia with the cast net.We also scooped up 2oo+/-dead tilipia with a long handle dip net .The buzzards had a feast!The tilipia fight pretty good on an ultra light rod but I catch 40 to 50 bream to every tilipia.Still looking for a more productive method to harvest the tilipia before the cold water causes the tlipia to die.Thanks for th reply.Al Allison
T
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Farmer Rick,Great photo!I caught 10 to 12 tilipia in October but I must have fished 20 hours over several days.I have thought about heating an area in my pond as the water temp drops to congregate the tilipia.I know that tilipia seek warm water in large lakes where power plants dicharge cooling water from their generators.I don't know if it would be practical to heat a small area of an 8 1/2 ac.pond.Any comments or knowledge of this being done .Thanks ,Al Allison
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I catch mine in my pond on crickets and I'm planning on adding to tank heaters 1500watts at one end of my pond. Here in south Texas we only get about 5 to 10 day of below 32 weather. Most of all the other old times tell me they'll make though most of our winters. We'll just see.
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Even a slight difference in temp should congregate the T. Then since they are lethargic, a 10 ft mullet weight castnet should do the job nicely. At least that's how we do it down here.
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