Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain Anyone stocked tilapia in their ponds and observed

John,

When I learned about using tilapia from this forum a few years ago, I didn't really expect anything, but gave it a try. We have a family run golf course in Franklin,Tn and I knew we were spending huge amounts of money on chemicals to fight algae problems in the ponds.

I was lucky enough to have an International Market in Nashville, which sells live tilapia for 3.49 LB. I bought 10 lbs the first year. In less than 90 days we took an acre pond that you could walk across because of FA to a fishable and pleasant to look at body of water.

Fast forward to last year. My brother contracts out to scuba divers to salvage golf balls. One day last summer my brother relayed this conversation he had with the diver. He said the diver came up after a short while underwater and asked what we were using on the pond. My brother had no clue what he was talking about and said what do you mean. The diver said he had never seen a pond stripped clean of FA like this and thought we had to be using some new powerful chemical.

I got such a kick out of that story because it cost less than 40 bucks for the whole year.

We have a couple of small ponds(1/4 acre or less) on the course also. As an experiment this past year I put in 5 fish (not lbs..fish) in each small pond. Now these are muck filled nasty bodies of water. The Only fish to survive each year are green sunfish (a staggering number)

By the time October rolled around, we had at least 4 identifiable generations of tilapia in the small pond. The most incredible part of our experience was the fact that the tilapia displaced the green sunfish in 1 season. From 5 fish to catching up to 3 lb tilapia in an overcrowded GS pond to me is unbelivable..but that is what happened.

In reference to fishing...Our 1-acre pond is somewhat unique. It sits less than 200 ft from the Harpeth River. We usually get a flood or two a year. I have logged 17 species of fish on rod and reel. I understand from this forum that this is not an ideal setup for good Bass fishing. I think the tilapia have helped. After a few years of 5 lb Bass or smaller, I finally cracked the 6 lb barrier last fall. It might have nothing to do with the Tilapia, however I believe it did.

I was worried the first few years about the die off in the fall and winter. Not anymore. In October-November I told my brother to look for dying tilapia. We have yet to see 1 dead tilapia in four years of use. The thing that got my attention last fall was the animal droppings around the pond. I am talking MOUNDS with fish scales stacked as much as 10" deep. We are fortunate to live in an area with great wildlife variety and believe me..they ate better than I did last fall.