Originally posted by Theo Gallus:
Have we seen any Tilapia results from anywhere in the US (or any LMB-BG type ecology) that was warm enough for them to over-Winter?
Theo, if you are asking about posts on this Forum, the only person I know of that has reported Tilapia overwintering is Texas715...and he has not mentioned any negatives, that I recall. Casca believes his Tilapia may overwinter this year, but outside of them I'm not aware of any other Forum reports of overwintering Tilapia.
Three years ago, when considering Tilapia, I did fairly extensive research on them. Other than the occasional ad hoc negative from someone who had never stocked them, the only hint of a negative I found were reports regarding overwintering Tilapia on LMB lakes in Mexico. These reports agreed, anecdotally, that lakes that had extensive commercial netting of Tilapia experienced higher recruitment of LMB. The causal theory was not related to overpopulation of Tilapia, rather it was that larger, more mature Tilapia may feed on eggs and/or small fish fry. Presumably, commercial netting removed these larger, more mature Tilapia.
