Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Hybrid Striped Bass in 2 acre pond?

I'm still in the planning stages for renovating my 2 acre pond in SE Pennsylvania. Currently has largemouth and bluegill in it. After renovation (which may include draining and dozing the bottom) I was thinking of adding hybrid striped bass. A few questions:
- will they survive the winters in southeast PA?
- should I feed them pelleted food?
- is it too expensive to try to keep them and the largemouth fed with forage fish?

Also, I realize Tilapia won't survive my winters but is there any benefit to putting them in for food (for me or the bass) in the spring?

Rob A,

Yes!, hybrid striped bass will survive your winters. Actually New Jersey has had a hybrid striped bass program in several water bodies that has been quite successful.

Yes!, you should strongly consider supplemental feeding. Your striped bass hybrids will thrive and may eventually consider you to be their best friend.

Your third question is a little ambiguous. If you mean would it be expensive to supply them with live forage, then yes it would be expensive. Hence, the artificial feed. If your striped bass hybrid has a feed conversion ratio of 2:1 then it would take 3 pounds of artificial feed annually to provide for good growth. If you can acquire feed for 40 cents/pound then each fish will cost you $1.20/year for feed. You do the math...if this is a reasonable cost then you should consider doing it.

Got any other questions?

I'll chime in with Bruce. I concur with his thoughts, and want to add these. Check with Pennsylania DNR and make sure you can legally possess and stock these fish. Some states won't allow them.
Secondly, feeding is not an option...it is mandatory, if you intend to stock more than 5-10 per surface acre. Feeding is inexpensive and worthwhile to be sure an adequate food chain is always available.
Regarding tilapia, these fish are supplemental, temporary help for a permanent problem. See next issue for a real life tilapia experience from Larry Hartley, Pond Boss subscriber and lurker of this site. He provided solid information for the story.

RobA - A little more advice regarding HSBass. Feeding them will also allow you to monitor their current size (growth) and to better keep track of their numbers since they are a schooling fish. Feeding HSB is one of the most exciting fish to feed by hand due to their enthusiastic feeding behavior. As Bob sugggested check the PA DNR fish regulations as homework before stocking.
HSB seem to "get along" well with LM bass esp if the HSB are fed pellets.

If you stock tilapia you will probably have to stock fairly large individuals to get harvestable fish before 60F to 55F temps in the fall.

RobA,

As Bob mentioned I've had a full growing season's experience with Tilapia and HSB in the same pond. Both performed spectacularly. However, that is in very temperate East Texas. Your growing season would be much shorter and the Tilapia would not be expected to grow out as large. However you should still get the benefits of forage and pond clean-up from the Tilapia.

If you are interested in Tilapia as food....remember they are very difficult to catch. I found HSB and Tilapia to be very compatible. The HSB really feasted on the stunned cold Tilapia at the end of the season.

Sounds like the HSB should be relatively easy to do. Not sure if the tilapia are worth it. Are they inexpensive?

In Texas my cost is $10 per pound..and they are worth every penny of that and more...but your situation is different.

did you go with the reccomended 10# per acre with the tilapia

No, not in all cases. In one pond with really bad algae, I stocked heavier, 15 to 20 pounds per acre, in other ponds with less algae, I stocked 5 pounds per acre. They reproduce so fast that you will have the forage almost regardless, but for more effective algae control, I just feel more of the larger fish are better...also to get maximum algae control don't feed artificially until the Tilapia consume the algae.

ML,

What's the lethal temp for tilapia? Probably been talked about before but I couldn't access it.

Bruce

Bruce,

They start the dieing process at 55 degrees...they begin by going into a funny "rain dance"...and by 50 degrees water temp they are all expired....that's for Mozambique. The Nile or others may be different.

have you ever considered trying to save some adults over the winter to restock in the spring?

Does Pond Boss have a hatcheries resource so that those of us who are searching for HSB and or Tilapia may be able to find them anywhere in the country?

James,

Recent discussion on over wintering Tilapia:

http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=000312

RobA,

In may of this year I stocked 120 HSB in a 2 acre pond in Western Ohio. The fish averaged 4 to 5 inches when I put them in. Supplemental feeding with a 42% protein feed is all I do for them and they are growing like crazy.

I stocked them to reduce the sunfish and smaller bluegill in hopes of getting the BG sizes up where they should be.

I think they'll do well for you and they are a blast to watch and catch-they already pull harder than most of my BG-LOL

RobA, even more than with HSB, check on the legality of having Tilapia in PA. For good reasons your DNR may not allow them. You could end up in more trouble than you ever wanted to think about.

Norm,

Just curious...what would be the good reasons not to allow Tilapia in private ponds?

I forgot I even posted this topic way back in February. I am way behind in fixing the pond and have not even addressed all of the problems yet: watermeal, beavers, leaks, 18 inches of muck, old drainpipe. I'm still thinking of draining the pond and having someone bulldoze it out and hopefully fix the problems. While I haven't put a lot of effort into it I still haven't found someone to do the work yet.