Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose tilapia

I didnt know tilapia were used in lakes here in the states, but I had read that they do just as good of a job as grass carp do of cleaning ponds. and plus they are very good tasting fish i hear. So why doesnt every pond owner stock there lake with tilapia? It seems like it would be a super fish that is nutritionaly good, taste great and helps your pond am i missing something?

They are not cold tolerant. Meaning once you get above Central Florida, you will have them die off in the winter. For those who wouldn't mind stocking them each spring, that might be an option.

Fish eat, breathe, and poop. There is a limit to how many pounds of fish a given bow can support, so the decision has to be made as to what species and how many the pond can handle. It's not nearly as simple as just dumping in fish.

I am in north Florida and almost every BOW near me has tilapia including the intercostal waterway and the St. Johns river. They can have a place in a pond but also can have their own set of issues. The Blue tilapia we have around here can push five ponds. they breed very fast and can become a heavy load in a pond that they over winter in with out proper and or heavy predation.

Taste is relative, Any tilapia I have eaten right from a natural/wild setting taste just like dirt to me. Ones that have been "purged" for awhile do tend to taste a little better.

What you read is incorrect. Grass Carp eat underwater weeds, Tilapia eat Algae. Plus what the others have said. They have their place in ponds, but not all ponds need Tilapia.

Tilapia food items FishBase

http://fishbase.org/TrophicEco/FoodItems...ies=mossambicus

Tony, while I have no doubt there is an upper limit to how many ponds of tilapia can be too much, but 100's of trophy bass ponds get stocked annually with as many as 200# per acre of brood stock.

As for the comment of "Tilapia doing as good a job as grass carp", tilapia and white amur do not prefer eating many of the same foods...grass carp will starve eating filamentous algae, where tilapia thrive on as their favorite food.

When it comes to tilapia dying in cooler areas and "if you want to stock them each spring"...Like anything ponds, we do things based on our goals. If a person does not want chemical control of many plants and algae, does not want to or can't regularly feed expensive, high quality food, wants overall water quality improvements, and all at the lowest possible price and no manual labor other than writing a check, stocking tilapia where legal is a total no brainer.

For me, it comes down to math. If my pond will support 400 lbs of fish total, and I need 200 lbs of tilapia to control FA, how many pounds of available "space" are left for my target species?

IMO tilapia absolutely have a place in some management strategies. Just not all management strategies.

It is all about goals and they are vastly different between regions , cultures and person to person. To accomplish any pond goal you have to know your environment (waters) and the available tools and then match the goal to the environment. There is no single right or wrong answer only the application of available tools to the goal at hand. There are however some biological (chemical) principles you have to account for. You can only fool mother nature a little before there are consequences. Water quality and one of its functions carrying capacity are at the top of the list. Push that to far and you will have problems. Its like an engine - you run it at to many rpms for to long and it will break. It is always a good idea to leave some leeway (space , buffer etc.) available to protect against unforeseen events like weather and human mistake.

I stocked tilapia first time this year. very pleased.

I have 1/2ac pond, stocked 8lbs of TP last yr and didn't seem to make a dent in the FA. This yr I stocked 20lbs in April, 4-6". At the time I had maybe 5% or less coverage of floating FA. As of today I've got 35-40% coverage. Granted I have a problem maintaining water levels and have lots of shallow areas 2-3 feet so I know that contributes to FA growth, just thought the TP would be able to manage it. Not the case. Not sure what I'll do for next yr.

L. I am also located in E Texas, N of Marshall w of Shreveport @ 3.5 acres. last year I added 5 lbs of Tp because I had no predators and they spawned like crazy had them everywhere some in maybe the two pound range and had no Fa. This yr I have lmb (Overton's Lone Star legacy's) and because of two many Tp last yr, I went with lower than recommended stocking numbers this year, I think it was around 30 lbs of 6" or bigger sized and I now see Fa around the pond. it is the only vegetation I have in the pond, so I am ok with it. My point from what I have seen the Tp numbers need to be high if u want to control Fa. And predators (if u have any) could be making a difference in your Tp numbers. And the Tp loved the shallow areas where they would spawn and they liked the hotter water in the summer near or in the shallows.

Tracy