Bill,
thanks for your story about good success in the past. I wonder if the floating puddles of matted algae I had may have been the lyngbya variety. Either way, the lack of predators in my 1/3 acre pond means that I might get away with a starting dose of 25 tilapia rather than 100... The other consideration is initial size. Economics say I will be better off shipping small fish and let them grow over the summer. Reproduction is not too important if they will all die in the fall anyway.
I plan to experiment and report back my success.. If they all die in the fall then I shouldn't expect a big difference in success if i get mozambique vs blue variety?
Canyon, Mozambique die at 55 degrees, Blues die at 45, Moz can be safely stocked at 72 degrees, Blues at 62....Given that it is the offspring that do all the real grunt work (stockers SHOULD be too big to be preyed upon) you will be able to get benefits from Blues, at least 2 months longer....that is also up to 3 extra spawns.
Dying each year is exactly what is wanted so all that nutrient that was in the form of FA, becomes an edible form of nutrient, Tilapia, for the bass, bluegill, catfish, coons, fox, etc...
I'm not so sure about your "economics". Getting fingerlings, say 1-2" long, it will be a minimum of 8 weeks till you see a spawn, in a 1/3 acre pond, you would need about 15 pounds of large stocker fish, which will begin spawning immediately and repeatedly when first stocked, so you will not lose that 2 months of algae consumption. Prices would be very similar as fry/fingerlings shipped for Aquaponics use are very pricey.
Small fish are similar to paying for 2 months of weekly fill ups in your car, yet it isn't driven.
