Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Tilapia or blue gill help

Hello all.

We need help identifying these fish in the pond. These are acting like tilapia young, but water was 50 at then surface, 44 at 4 foot and colder at the bottom. Are they blue gill or tilapia?

Thanks,
Zach

They are BG.

Not tilapia .

They sure look like bluegill, or some close version in the sunfish family. The fins are definitely not those of tilapia.

Key is the location of the alimentary canal. Also the fins and bars on the larger fish.

Not as robust as they should be either. Perhaps too abundant?

We have them everywhere. But bass are fat though. We have a one acre pond, 18 foot is the deepest part.

We had stopped feeding aquamax until it warmed up.

The green pond these guys are in stays green year round. Little more clear now at the end of winter but it is still very green. This picture was taken mid summer. We have high alkalinity 516 ppm, hardness 31 ppm Calcium 11 ppm and Mg 1 Carbonate 4 ppm Bicarbonate 621 ppm. Sodium 456 ppm TDS 1580 ppm. We had Texas A and M run a water test on the pond and the well water. Pond stays green, the pond is a year old.

Thank you fro helping on the identification of our baby fish.