Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose What now : Tilapia

Rex, I wouldn't be suprised if those tilapia stocked by Jones became LMB food the first week.

I did see at least two 3" Tilapia.So there must have been some breeding.Maybe my pond is to limited for spawning area for Talapia to do any good.I should have seen more young Tilapi by now.They are fun to watch ,but not worth the money for watermeal control...Joe

bowjo...I caution anyone calling me and wanting to use tilapia for watermeal and duckweed control. Tilapia can help gain control, but rarely in a predator pond, and WM/DW may be two things that are more prolific than tilapia...lol...the tilapia would become food while browsing and being vulnerable to attack.

Thank you,that may be my situation.I don't think the limited cover and spawning areas helped much either......Joe

As mouth-brooders, the tilapia can spawn just about anywhere amd in conditions that would shock you

At what time of the year should you start catching tilapia out? I guess I'm asking when they are no longer going to spawn and be useful to the pond for forage, and FA control?

Think it's all related to water temps. My Tilapia are still spawning right now, and usually October is about the time they really start slowing down for me.

Fire...tilapia spawn starting in temps around 70, but slow in mid-Fall due to the lessened photoperiod...they need sunlight!

So Sept. would be Ok? I want to be able to catch out as many as I can.

FIH are we talking usually late Oct/Halloween?

Zep, I really can't remember. I don't seem to think about it til I see the Tilapia slow swimming around the dam.

Never knew sunlight even came into play, thanks Rainman.

I'll try to pay attention this year, but I do know they're hitting the feeders hard and spawning right now. Things have really picked up since it cooled down around here.

My daughter caught the first one of ours yesterday and it was pretty neat to watch her land it. I wish I would have had the camera to take a pic as it looked different.

Of course being the first fish and only fish she ended up with it had to go in the bucket for dinner.

What makes me a little upset is it turned out to be a female.

But the odds of catching it again would probably have been slim.

At least this time I will be able to see how they taste out of the pond.

Caught these last night. Tilapia were stocked in May this year, and the CC were stocked in Sept. 2010. The CC are 23 inches and 5 3/4 lbs. in just 2 years!

NICE

How did you catch them?

What type of Tilapia do you have there?

From what I have read, you can have a tilapia pond with duckweed as the food source and you can really REALLY reduce the amount of feed you have to throw to grow some quality tilapia. This ofcourse is with no predators as you said. I just thought it was a cool idea for people looking to grow food for the table.

Spinnerbait,

Can you tell me what you used for bait to catch these fish? Or were they caught some other way?

Thanks

I throw out some AM pellets, and once they get to feeding good I put a worm on a hook about 6 inches below a float, and they nail it.

Is that for both the Tilapia and CC?

What type of Tilapia do you have and how many did you stock?

Thats for tilapia. The CC I wait until about dark and put a Aquamax LM pellet on a hook, throw out some LM pellets and put the one with the hook out there. They do get hook shy quick, as I have had them come up in daylight and see the hook and swim away. I noticed the CC love the AM LM pellets when I was throwing them out for bass. You need to set the hook quick because they will swallow them if you let them have it very long. I have also used live minnows at dark for CC.

They're hybrid TP. Some are solid white. I stocked 50 lbs. to control the FA in a 1.5 acre pond.

Hybrid? Do you know of what type? Were they able to spawn, or were they all male?

How much are these hybrids per pound?

I'm not sure what kind of hybrids they are. I ordered mixed sex TP from Greg Grimes. I thought he was reasonable on pricing and delivery, and I have not been disappointed. They did spawn( see pic).

That is cool. I am sure mine did as well I just never seen any of them.