Those 54 fish came to about 40 pounds and worth $400 at the going rates. That is the perfect number for stocking a 4 acre southern LMB performance pond which also has artificial feeding. I can easily get by with 5 pounds per acre, even 3 pounds per acre in non-artificially fed ponds after a couple of years of Tilapia presence.
One additional comment to you, after several years of experience with Tilapia now, I'm convinced that to get full effectiveness from them, it helps greatly to stock 8 to 10 inch fish. If you stock the 3 to 4 or 5 inch fish in an open pond with predators, you should wait until water temps are at least 75 degrees and preferably even higher. Otherwise, the Tilapia will simply be forage for your predators. Not only that, but the Tilapia isn't worth much of anything in your pond at water temps below 70 degrees....they survive, yes, but they don't eat much of anything and they do not reproduce. This is a key factor one should consider, especially in northern ponds....how many days do you have in which the water temps are in the positive range(above 70 degrees) for making good use of Tilapia? Consider that when contemplating stocking Tilapia north of the MD line... south of that line, if you don't use Tilapia, then you are missing out on the greatest pond management tool available.
