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Joined: Jun 2016
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My ~2 acre pond has a lot of FA, and grass carp are illegal in Michigan.

Talapia appear to be legal in Michigan.

A few questions:

Our winters get very cold with lots of ice, will the talapia have to be restocked every year?

Is anyone using them in MI?

Where do you get them and what is the average cost?

Any reviews on the success using them to control FA?

Last edited by Sk187; 06/12/16 02:25 PM.
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Sk187, yes, tilapia will die and need to be restocked each spring. Stocking rate is 40# Tilapia per surface acre. or 80 pounds for your 2 acres. By dying, your other fish, turtles and terrestrial critters get fed well on the Tilapia that grew big on muck and FA that nothing else could eat

MANY pondmiesters in MI use Tilapia as a management tool for forage production, muck reduction, and FA control.

Reviews? google Blue Tilapia Toledo Blade...there are 3-4 articles on the successes.

FA is the favorite food of Tilapia...Grass Carp will not touch FA...they'll starve trying to eat it.

I don't know who in MI sells Tilapia.



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Thanks a lot! I will check into it.

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SK,
I'm probably not far from you and used tilapia the last 2 years. They worked awesome and are very fun to have in the pond. They are bold, cruise around in packs, and don't care if you watch them all summer long. They like the warm water and 'sunbathe' in groups in the afternoons with segregation by age. You will want blue tilapia if possible to allow them to live longer.

If you click on my name you can get a shortcut to my posts. There is a post in there sometime last fall that tells when the tilapia died last winter, by my recall it was perhaps in early Nov?

EDIT: Found the post and will save you the time:
------------------------

It was a record mild fall/winter for us, shirtsleeves well through Dec and 50 degrees on Christmas Day. My tilapia I think made it till about Nov 19. I only saw the mature adults floating or struggling at the shore line. I have to believe the smaller ones sunk or were attacked by aggressive crayfish and turtles. I never saw a dead one that was say 3" or less. The large ones were coated with green slime and floated into the shallows. It is funny that the raccoons didn't seem to want to eat them either with that mold on them.

-----------------------------------


But usually late october or nov they die. I only saw a few floaters, the large ones. They would come to shore on the sunny side of the pond and on those fall days where there was a little sun they would be at the surface trying to warm up. The smaller ones must have sank and become turtle food.

Someone from the forum here sells blue tilapia on ebay. I don't recall who but I know you can find them or that person can private message you.

I bought my first batch from a aquaponics store locally (message me and i can give you more details) But I got very small ones and not enough for my sized pond the first year. The second year I found another aquaponics enthusiast and he got me about 50 fish in the 4-5" range and they did the trick.

If you connect with a aquaponics place they may even be willing to overwinter them for you (or I know some pond owners in SE MI who used to come to the forum from time to time set up a holding tank in their garage or basement for the winter and then back in the pond in the spring) or save some of their larger fish for you for the next spring as they grow out their tilapia.

The MI DEQ (DNR) makes it tough on fish haulers to haul tilapia in from out of state else Rex (RAINMAN) would certainly try to help us out.


Last edited by canyoncreek; 06/14/16 01:59 PM.
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Great info, thanks!

I am in Holland/Zeeland MI and the pond is 1.5 acres so it will take a good amount of blue tilapia.

I am nuking the pond this weekend with sonar/fluridone to kill all the weeds but I know FA will always be a problem.

I have found several people on eBay selling them but I would need around 60lbs of fish and don't think that would work being shipped.

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When you use the fluridone, just remember that it takes 30-45 days to see results, which is a good thing in my book. Weeds dying slowly so you won't have to worry about a DO crash.

Yes, the Mi DEQ does make it hard. The way I understand it, if you have a permanent outflow structure on your pond, you have to apply for a pond stocking permit. The fish supplier has to get a copy of it or he/she can be in just as much trouble as the pond owner.


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Originally Posted By: esshup
When you use the fluridone, just remember that it takes 30-45 days to see results, which is a good thing in my book. Weeds dying slowly so you won't have to worry about a DO crash.

Yes, the Mi DEQ does make it hard. The way I understand it, if you have a permanent outflow structure on your pond, you have to apply for a pond stocking permit. The fish supplier has to get a copy of it or he/she can be in just as much trouble as the pond owner.


I wish it killed fast, I have 5 diffusers running 24/7 that supply enough oxygen.

I am just worried about rain and the natural springs(very minimal) washing out all the fluridone.

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SK,
Keep me posted on your success. It has been hot and dry. It looks like I'm starting my second algae bloom of the year. I also see a little FA in the shallows for the first time this year this week. I didn't put tilapia in yet, but I might still do it just for kicks. The 2 times I used fluridone, I undertreated on purpose, trying to just treat eurasian milfoil and it worked very well for me although it definitely is a slow kill process..

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First,,grass carp will not control FA. tilapia will die in cold weather. When you reach for the chemicals what happens? With no plants left to help soak up the nutrients FA takes over. In my experience 20 KOI and 6 Israeli carp per acre controlled the FA. With Largemouth Bass to control the carp offsprings. I also had grass carp for some plant control. Then I had the usual other kinds of fish including Channel Catfish with also will eat FA. I use just a little bit of chemicals to slightly control my cattails in selected area. So what happens when I do kill them. The following year these areas have FA. It's that simple. Chemicals lead to FA, then it takes chemicals to control weeds
and FA and you're in a vicious circle as I see it.

I took out Eurasian Millfoil in a completely choked pond in four years using 18 grass carp per acre. This would be a disaster to bring on FA but the other combination mentioned above took care of the FA.

One other thing...plant create oxygen...

Last edited by John Monroe; 06/26/16 03:55 AM.

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It is too bad JM does not have water clarity readings for the pond before and when the koi and Israeli were at the point of controlling the FA. My experience is the algae gets controlled due to reduced turbid water clarity (suspended sediment) rather than these fish actually eating the bulk of the filamentous algae. Sediment laden turbid water causes reduces growth of bottom originated filamentous algae and attached periphyton with is food and often shelter for many small fish (fry).

Scientific research has shown many times that turbidity due to suspended sediments and not plankton actually reduces the food productivity of the ecosystem by reducing light penetration with non-edible food particles. These non-edible sediment particles in the water column also do not produce dissolved oxygen which is not beneficial to the pond ecology.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 06/26/16 09:17 AM.

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Bill I wish also I had tested the water for clarity back then. This picture and a couple of others are all I have as I wasn't really into taking pictures back then or testing the water for clarity. But yes it was much less clear then now. But still I could see lots of things. For instance, this strange occurance, my 18 grass carp would form two groups like a train and swim head to tail around large circles in the pond. I could easily see this all over the pond. Another thing I saw, I was setting on the deck and hear a loud slupping sound. I looked down and a large Israeli Carp was sucking down the FA that was floating on top of the water. You would have thought he would only be eating the new tender FA growing on the bottom. I have the advantage of being retired and closely observing my pond. Just the other day I was feeding my minnows and a large bullfrog was setting on some vegetation when a large Golden Shiner got to close and the bull frog dove into the water and grabbed him, came back up and continnued to swallow him.


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I have experience with Koi in a pond. The pond did have a bad FA issue. After the koi went in the FA issue was solved. I never saw them eating the FA but I did see them rooting around and the bottom and tearing and breaking up any FA that tried to grow. The water clarity did be come more cloudy as they obviously stirred up some clay from the bottom. Tilapia now seem to be controlling the FA and I have been Removing koi and see some improvement in the water clarity.

I also have noticed some erosion around the edges where the koi have been digging for worms or what ever in the grass roots along the edge of the pond.

Last edited by BobbyRice; 06/27/16 07:59 AM.

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Even plant eaters will switch diets when their preferred or primary food source is depleted.

A client emptied his bug zapper collection pan into his pond, and had both Triploid Grass Carp eating the dead bugs, along with the Redear Sunfish. The Triploid Grass Carp were put into the pond to control some APW that was starting to grow last year. The pond is 1 ac, and there were minimal weeds in it to start (maybe 3 clumps of APW showing). There is no FA in this pond either, and if I didn't know the history of the ponds I would say that the TGC were controlling the FA too.

In reality, there is no FA in this pond, and there never was, not like the 2nd pond that has 6 TGC and 40# of Tilapia, and still has some FA and Macrophytes. The other pond had gin clear water and it was fertilized with water soluble fertilizer ONCE, 4 years ago. It was fertilized with 5 pounds of water soluble 10-52-4, and that created a perfect bloom that year. After that, FA started showing up, as did submerged Macrophytes.

These two TGC were stocked last year as 12+" fish as were the TGC that were stocked in another one of his ponds, which had a MUCH higher weed population. These TGC are about 15" now, while the TGC in the other pond are pushing 24" now. More food = faster growth. The other pond is the same size, and 6 TGC were stocked in that one.

Both ponds are roughly 300 yards apart, and I believe this just goes to show that not every pond, even if they are close together, are exactly alike.

Last edited by esshup; 06/27/16 08:54 AM.

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