Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding How much pellets for tilapia

I put 10 lbs of tilapia in my mini pond yesterday and would like to know how much and how often to feed them pellets. There's not much natural forage for them in this new pond so they will depend on my feeding schedule.

This may help.

https://srac.tamu.edu/fact-sheets/serve/8

Any idea how many tilapia were in the 10 lbs? Evidently Overtons sold you a smaller amount of pellets for your fish. Did the fish travel home well?
Basically Start feeding them gradually with a small amount such as 1/8 to 1/4 cup of pellets. Then whenever you see them surfacing and eating pellets start increasing the amount fed to at least 1 cup 8 oz. Once they know where the pellets are placed you could feed them twice a day. mid day and early evening 2-3 large handfuls each time. It is best to feed then in the beach or shallow area where you can see that they build a spawn nest depression about 12"-18" deep. Usually tilapia will hang out in a loose group. The tilapia may start eating some of the plants you showed that were growing in your pond.

I would guess about 10 to 12 fish. One was so big, it had to be 2 lbs. It was dark, cold, raining and muddy when I got home. By the time I got the tilapia water acclimated with the pond water, it was all I could do to slip and slosh in the mud to let the fish out. It was really quite comical to watch.

The shallowest area is also near where the plants are, so I will start feeding them there. The spot where I will do most of my fishing is on a different side of the pond so I should be able to toss the line over to that area without spooking them.

I'm going to fish tomorrow!

I have not seen any sign of the tilapia, so far. I've thrown pellets in the same location twice a day and the minnows are happy, but don't think I see tilapia. The water is still so muddy from the rains last week that there is no visibility (plenty of algae to munch on). I've watched YouTube tutorials on fishing for tilapia. I've fished with worms, bread, corn and even a pellet of my dog's Fresh Pet, (which would have been perfect). I'm waiting for Stubby Steve's to come in the mail. I can be as patient as need be. I think it's fun to try different times of the day and locations and bait. I'm retired, so I can do what I want! lol

Any suggestions? Do I just need to be patient? Are the fish alive?

Be patient with tilapia. They are very shy skittish fish; definitely not people friendly. As soon as I open the door 50 ft from them sunbathing in surface water, they aggressively head for the deep water. It could take a few weeks for them to become new pond adjusted and locate the pellet feeding area. These fish have been through rough handling and travel trauma and it may take some time for them to become adjusted to the new conditions - but it will happen after they become very hungry and more brave. Keep adding pellets but reduce the number to 1 or 2 tablespoons each feeding until you see them eating. The minnows will soon lead the tilapia to the pellet feeding area and pellets. The muddy water could very easily slow down their feeding response. One has to see the food to locate and eat it unless you are a catfish.

Success!

Those fish are adjusting to your pond quickly. Are they eating pellets yet? That fish will be at least 3" longer in mid November.

We caught 3 in a short timeframe!

I tossed some pellets out just now and I think the tilapia were feeding amid the aggressive minnows. It was hard to tell since I can't see in the water and I don't know what the water is supposed to look like when tilapia are feeding. CC are like vacuum cleaners across the surface of the water.

Should I run the aerator non-stop since the water is so muddy and has what looks like a pond bloom? Or in intervals?

Early on I bought some Cutrine-Plus Professional Strength Aquatic Algaecide and then decided to wait until I knew more about what I was doing. Would I ever use this?

I would love to have a more clear pond.

I would hold off on chemicals or trying to clear the water for now. Fall temps and tilapia will help with that.

Focus on getting your watershed vegetated and sedimentation problems fixed. Cloudy water can be a plus because it reduces the amount and depth of of water plants will grow in the pond. You should have green water problems not sediment filled brown water problems before the Cutrine-Plus will be a benefit. The more daily time you run the aerator the longer it will take to clear the water. Bottom aerators are big vertical water circulators.

You have channel catfish in the pond? When were CC put in??

I don't have any channel cat in this pond. Just FHM and Talipia. I had channel cat in a pond when I had another pond.

Are you suggesting I run the aerator only at night? For how many hours?

We are working on the watershed problems diligently.

Ok - you were just referring to how CC feed on pellets. Feeding of pellets by tilapia is usually a very quick surface grab, noticeable splash and fast retreat to deeper water. They are very shy fish so it may take a few days for them learn or adjust to feed on pellets when are close to shore, although your turbid water may impact this timing. Remember - some of their instincts tell them that predators come from above the surface.

Aerator run time. If you look back through my posts back on August 9 to you when the pond became cloudy, I think I mentioned to completely turn off the aerator in this shallow pond. Wind mixing and cooling night temperatures should help mix the water well enough to not harm fish especially tilapia and FHM who both are very low DO tolerant. Plus your pond is new so it has minimal oxygen consumption from decomposition so a chance of summer kill in its pond history is very low. I would try turning off the aerator for a week or two or three and see if this allows the sediment in the water to sink quicker than the current aerator mixing rate. The closer you get to a Texas winter the less you need to run the aerator or not even run it when the water is less than 60F.

The other thing you could do is the 'jar settling test'. Collect turbid water in a clear jar and set it in the shade. 4-5-7 days later collect a similar jar of water and compare the two water colors. If 1st one is clear, turning off the aerator will speed up the clearing process. New ponds need to develop a biofilm skin on the bottom to help reduce resuspension of the new colloidal clay layer. Dirty runoff muddy water caused your current turbidity problems. Aerator mixing it slows the sedimentation clarifying process. GET THAT WATER SHED VEGETATED.

We are laying a silt sock and silt fence. I've ordered grass seed and straw seeding mulch.

This is today!

You wouldn't be catching things that big if you had stocked bluegills. Plus inch for inch tilapia fight harder than BG.

Is this a normal pond bloom? The wind had blown it all to the west, but earlier it covered the whole pond.

From those pics it looks too fertile (Hypertrophic) - bloom and dead plankton to thick. Could be suspended clay as well.

Most likely it is algae growth due to nutrients leached from freshly exposed soil plus nutrients from the rain water runoff from the water shed. See the problem of ignoring the watershed and not getting it vegetated promptly?. While it is wind pushed close to one shore, I would dip as much of it out as possible with a fine meshed net; mesh similar to window screen size. The pond is small enough that manually removing problem vegetation is not a big problem labor-wise. Killing it in the pond just recycles the nutrients for the next algae crop.

Note - I think ewest means to say hypereutrophic not hypertrophic. .