Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Do Tilapia eat Muskgrass? (Chara)

With our pond level down due to rain shortages this spring, the concentration of lime in our pond is up and it seems to cause more muskgrass (Chara). I put Tilapia in earlier this season and they promptly cleaned up most of the FA, but now I see the muskgrass popping up all throughout the pond. Will Tilapia eat muskgrass?

Tilapia, at least pure blue tilapia will eat Chara - aka muskgrass - some have witnessed them actually eating it. If you had enough tilapia they would clean out the pond of chara. Variables amount of Chara, number of tilapia, and water temperature.

Bill:

Does it matter whether the Chara is newly grown or old? Here in the hard water lakes, the Chara gets a pretty hard covering on it, almost brittle.

scott, what I have seen is the Blue Tilapia eat the chara from the top down and after FA is relatively scarce.

The hard covering on Chara is precipitated calcium carbonate a common occurrence in high hardness water - high concentrations of lime in the water.