It's often stated that turtles and wildlife will clean up the dead and dying Tilapia, but do we really know to what degree this actually occurs? I'm thinking as the water cools to the point where Tilapia succumb, the turtles have also slowed down and may not feed as much as they do in warmer water. And while raccoons will feast on the shallow carcasses, what about all those lying on the bottom in deeper water?

If the tilapia have tied up the nutrients by consuming FA, and they are not removed from the pond when they expire then the nutrients are recycled right back into the pond. Do you count the adult tilapia when they are initially stocked, and re-count as you find and/or remove carcasses, to try and account for all of them? And then there's the matter of offspring....in a trophy BG pond, chock full of 10-12" LMB utilized as management tools, there will probably be a size class or two of tilapia too large to act as forage for those smaller bass. Wouldn't those nutrients also be recycled, rather than removed?


"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"

If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1)
And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1)
Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT?
PB answer: It depends.