Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Tilapia in small ponds?

Well, we ran a �scientific� experiment tonight on the merits of Tilapia as table fare.
My Lady purchased 1lb of tilapia filets at the local market today and prepared them for our evening meal, saut�ed with a dusting of flour, accented with a dash of Tony Chachere�s Cajun spice.

With a side dish of rice pilaf with onion, peppers, and portabella mushrooms, accompanied with a glass of chardonnay, my scientific conclusion is that they equal or exceed any fish that we have ever eaten.

So my �male only Tilapia�/RES/CNBG/HSB pond will proceed as planned.

They will be raised in an algae free pond on a diet of AQMX 500.

Now if I can only come up with a �cabbage leaf� fly��

George Glazener

If anyone can come up with a Tilapia fly, I'd bet my money on you George. By the way, they will hit a hopper fly if presented right in front of them. I use one tied with flex hooks and it does work.

When I kept marine and freshwater fish in aquariums, the only green leaf we could get them to eat was romaine lettuce from the supermarket. These were true herbivores, ciclid freshwater or tangs in saltwater. They would aggressively attack small pieces when they were dropped in the water. This took them some time getting used to the lettuce before they were aggressive. I wonder if these tilapia ciclids could be trained to take romaine lettuce and caught with a small hook?

I have fed all sorts of vegetables to them for the past year, plus fruits. Based on my experience if you feed them veggies on a regular basis they will readily take a piece with a hook. Tilapia will cruise the pond and take in almost anything that is floating and if it is not to their liking they spit it out and move on. Bread is another biggie in my pond. I mostly use it when they are stubborn about biting. I have never fed it to them except during those times, so it is not something they are used to. My best success has come from cabbage, probably because I can use a size large enough to cast and still float. I read about a bread fly, I believe a small bit of foam, worked with carp.