Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants how many tilapia

here are pics of my pond:





it is about 3/4 an acre, and the depths are anywhere from 2 - 6 feet, i think. we moved into this old house where everything had been neglected for years. there are bass, bluegills, and some grass carp in the pond. last year i bought 2 pounds of minnows and 6 grass carp, but the grass carp didn't seem to do much. i don't know anything about the weeds/algae. i just want to get rid of the pond scum on top and thick nasty weeds and i don't know what to do. i don't plan on eating any of the fish since our well was contaminated so i'm sure the pond is too (e. coli).
a local high school raises tilapia and recommended getting 5-6" tilapia so the bass don't eat them, at $1 a piece. also, he recommended 400 of them, which i thought was crazy. am i wrong?

How much does a 5-6 inch tilapia weigh?
Bout 4 or 5 to a pound?

10 lbs /acre in past years has done a good job on our pond that looks worse than yours.

Tilapia around here runs about $10 bucks a pound.

So, George, does this mean you're thinking a .75 acre pond would need about 7-8 pounds of tilapia? This would equate to about 30 5-6 inch tilapia, or less than one tenth of what Benji was recommended! Sounds like someone wants him to buy a bunch of tilapia.

I agree...

After looking at the pictures again - maybe 8 -10 pounds...
Depends on how many big and hungry LMB.

I have put in 10#/year the last 2 years with fantastic results in my .75 acre pond. The FA has been controlled nicely and a new forage base for my LMB has given my BG a chance to grow up.

the guy i am going to buy them from had never sold them or heard of them for a farm pond. they are a high school ag class that raises tilapia and sells filets. he didn't know what to tell me or if he could even sell them to me at first and had to call me back later in the day. supposedly he talked to someone at UT about it and came to the 400.

benji,

If you plan to feed artificially and your primary interest is algae control, you might want to consider stocking at a higher rate than advised above.

My experience says that Tilapia are at least 50% less effective for algae control when stocked in artificially fed ponds. Studies show the data may be as high as 70% less effective.

I specifically told that info to a friend once and he stocked at 10 pounds per acre anyway, fed very heavy artificially and got slow results with Tilapia. It isn't the fish's fault that people sometimes ignore facts and then are unhappy with the results.

One other thing to verify...be sure the high school or source has both male/female Tilapia. A lot of the Tilapia that are raised and sold for eating are all male.

I beg to differ with ML, but 10 lbs tilapia/acre has controlled FA very well with our aggressive feeding program.

I would agree to a higher stocking rate however, if your plan includes increasing your forage base.
ML has gained much experience since he first advised me to stock 5 lbs tilapia per acre, that was totally ineffective.

“It all depends”

ps: Let me correct the record that I give "advise" on any pond/fish questions.
I only share experience.

I stock and manage our ponds only on the advise and consent of Todd Overton, or other trusted fisheries professional...

i guess what you guys are saying is to try about 50 of these 5-6" fish and see what happens. i'll give it a shot and report back in a few months.

thanks for the help