Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Lets talk more about Tilapia

I'm thinking about tilapia and was wondering about the pro's and con's of adding them to my Texas pond. I have quite a bit of under water vegetation. My brother and I noticed it is coming to the top around the edges of the pond. He took a rake and cleaned up a small pile of green stringy stuff that I assume is FA. It's been on the bottom, but for some reason it's coming to the top. Makes it hard for me to throw my feed out to my babies.

Pros of tilapia in Texas:
1) They'll control algae, if stocked in proper amounts. 20 pounds per acre is our recommended rate. Positively identify algae. If it's not algae, they won't control it.
2) They tend to cost about the same as two to three algaecide treatments.
3) They die at 52 degrees, so you aren't trading problems.
4) They reproduce prolifically, assisting with the food chain in bass ponds.

Cons of tilapia in Texas
1)They may not die in central Texas. If they don't, their density can become a small problem.
2) If not stocked in adequate numbers, it will take quite a while to control algae.

Thanks Bob. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge.

Ok let's talk a little more about tilapia.

My primary reason for adding them is FA

Secondary reason to have something to catch.

If I put 100 of the 8 to 12" in in May, do y'all think that I'd have enough to clean my tpond and provide some fishing opportunities this summer too?

Up here, we have found that the tipping point for algae control is 40# per surface acre, and the more mouths that you stock the better, providing they are of a size that won't get eaten. i.e. stocking 27 tilapia that are 1.5 pounds vs. stocking 160 fish at 4 oz each.

That is providing the stocked fish aren't eaten right away by the bass in the pond.......

Up here, Tilapia that were stocked at 10" in May were 17"-18" and between 4 and 5 pounds in September.

Esshup,

I don't have any bass. The only fish I have are the ones stocked almost 2 week ago.

I stocked 5 lbs in April my first spring at the 3.5 acre E Texas pond. I had no predators. I stocked fingerling lmb June 1st. The Tp spawned and spawned like crazy, and grew to a couple of pounds. I had Tp everywhere in the pond. They became feeder hogs where as many as 50 to 100 were at each feeder. They were easy to catch on rod and reel or on the fly. I will say the lmb fingerlings that survived were all way above they rw line. My second stocking was at 10 lbs per acre and I never saw a single fish after that stocking. suspect the lmb fed well on the Tp and their fry. I will do 20 lbs per acre this year.

Tracy,

What did you use for bait when catching them on rod and reel?

I use earthworms or a fish food pellet in the bend of a hook works on most all pellet eating fish

Tracy, what fly do you use for tilapia? I imagine a big parachute adams or wooly bugger but I could be wrong.

Looking forward to putting tilapia in again this year. I did not put enough in to control the FA last time but I can say that tilapia helped more of my YOY BG to survive and now there are more 2-3" BG in the food chain. So, to Bob's no. 4 point, it is a substantial and awesome boost to the food chain in that regard as well.

Guys, the Tp were so thick that first year when I had low lmb count. I don't think it mattered what fly I put in the water. But most of the time I used a beaded head type of fly.

How long would it take 40 pounds of 8-10" tilapia to clean up a 1/2 to 5/8 acre pond that has a lot of FA?

If no lmb in the pond then I would say that is a lot of Tp for a half acre pond. In my pond they did a good job cleaning up with the numbers I wound up with after just stocking 5 lbs of 6 to 8" Tp. I will say I found them to be good eating. I am not sure what size you are planning on stocking but a 4 to 6 " fish will spawn pretty quick when stocked in April.

Esshup,

I am in mid-Michigan, where do you get your TP? I am interested in trying a few, I have a half-acre pond.

I keep marking off days on the calendar until I can get Tilapia

famallsc, I am assuming you are getting your Tilapia from Overton's. When did they say they would be available? Let me know how many you get and how they do. I also have 1/2 acres and my algae problem isn't bad yet, but I am told it gets pretty thick with "moss" in the summer. I don't know since this will be my first summer managing the pond.

Yes Sir, I'm getting them from Overton's. I plan on stocking the 8-10" size. I'm going with however many it takes to make 40 pounds. At least that's my plan. It's way more than I need, but will give me something to catch and eat as well. I haven't discussed my overstocking plan with Todd yet, so my plan may change. Todd did tell me to wait on stocking them until lApril at the earliest. I figure I would do so around Easter after winter was over with.

Before this last flood, I had floating FA covering 80% of my pond, now it's just in a few spots. The rain helped tremendously, but I still want to see what kind of difference they can make.


I'll keep you updated.

Pretty expensive experiment. I wouldn't be able to do that many. Let me know regardless. If not this year I will definitely want to try it out next year. Can they be stocked in the summer as well? If it turns out I do have an FA problem I might get desperate and put some in this summer if that's possible.

I'm not sure how much I'm looking at. That in itself may limit what I can do.

Overton's website shows them to be $12/lb for 6-12" pond stockers. Fingerlings are much cheaper but not sure if they will be as effective. The price is also grayed out for the fingerlings which makes me think they may not be available.

That's gonna be a tway bit out of budget. May have to drop down to about 20 lbs. and that's still going to be steep. Sure can't do it every year, that I know for sure. I might try to keep a couple of pair in an aquarium over the winter.