Shawn,
I put probably only about 1/2 dozen Tilapia in a 1/4 acre pond on April 1 ...in addition to stocking 7 or 8 pounds of Tilapia in two larger ponds which I've written about. This 1/4 acre pond was constantly covered over with aglae because it is a cattle hang-out with lots of nuturients provided. Now, it is completely algae free and has been for the last couple of months. It also has large numbers of small Tilapia. They reproduce like rabbits, literally.
In your area the growing/reproducing season would be shorter and thus less worry about the die-off.
An interesting thought on these fish is that old saying that nature always finds a way...meaning that it may be in the future that these fish will adapt to the relatively mild winters here in East Texas by selective evolution. All it would take would be for a couple of genetic freaks to make it. That would indeed be an interesting development.
