Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations 2 years tilapia experience

I have stocked tilapia in my 3/4 acre pond for the last 2 years. each year was from a different supplier. the first year my pond was in its first year with lots of young bg and bass.each time i fed the fish the tilapia would eat pellets like crazy, probably more than the bg. i was hesitant about stocking them this year just because they were such pellet hogs. this year when i stocked them i actually saw some eat pellets the very first day. after that i doubt i have seen no more than 6 eat all summer long. i can throw pellets to them by hand and they will swim off.i put a sweeeney feeder on the pond several months ago and i have had it feeding up to 6 times per day. the bg are doing super. also last year we would fish with cane poles from the dock and catch tilapia, and sometimes we would catch them on small jigs. i have only caught one tilapia all summer from this second stocking.

only thing i can think of is that the bg are larger, more numerous, and more aggressive. maybe the tilapia dont like to compete. any thoughts or similiar observations.
one other observation, they havent cleaned my pond of fa. i dont have a large problem, but each time the water starts clearing the fa appears. pond kept a good bloom all summer.

Scott, most of your algae starts growing from the bottom of the pond....that's where the tilapia like to be. Your first year you may not have had as much plant growth so the tilapia ate more pellets.

I have seen that tilapia will consume the least competed for foods first....even in my aquariums.

Do you happen to remember what each type of Tilapia you received from each supplier?

the majority of them are white, with a an occasional greyish colored one. i dont know the species name

White with occasional grey suggest a commom blue/nile hybrid. Very common in the Alabama area suppliers. It may be better suited for your longer growing season also.

update!!! caught 2 today on stubby steves, finally..wind blew some feed to upper end of pond and i was showing one of my employess the size of the bg. caught 2 tilapia and lost another one..already cooked them, tasted kindy "pondy" to me..

Now this is just me. I purg them in a bucket of sail water just before I clean them.

what is sail water?

I think it has something to do with the "kindy pondy" taste

I think sail was a "salt" typo.

Ya a little salt but mainly tap water I guess the clorine. The tub thier in get mighty nasty. lol