Definitely not a pro here but I'll chime in with my thoughts on why we moved forward with Tilapia at our place. Right, wrong or indifferent they are in the pond now and we'll see how it plays out for the year. The good news is that there's nearly a 100% chance that the Tilapia will die this fall as our temps for this area will likely have some amount of ice on the pond taking the water temps below critical for the Tilapia we stocked. I was hoping for Blues but settled for a Nile/Moz cross (availability).
Pros
1. The Tilapia will graze the FA we started to see on the riprap around the pond and provide an unplanned additional forage base for YP and LMB as I wasn't planning to have Tilapia until 2025.
2. My understanding is that the Tilapia in many cases take some of the pressure off of the BG/RES populations due to their prolific breeding which, in a bass overcrowded scenario, allows the BG/RES to repopulate balancing the pond population.
3. I have read that Tilapia become sluggish at lower water temps and in one article the swim in circles like a fish in distress. Predators gorge themselves on these fish which can only lead to potential weight gains.
Larry Harley - Texas TilapiaCons
1. The Tilapia may eat some of the pond plants we are trying to get established thus slowing down some of our work. Hopeful that our 1/4" wire mesh will help to prevent this.
2. Some of the Tilapia will likely outgrow the gape of our predators (LMB, and YP).
For my personal situation I looked at the pond as Quazi bass overcrowded as the forage base is new. We are seeing small fry in the 1,000's between 1/4 -1/2" in multiple areas of the pond. Assuming the BG will spawn this year as we stocked 3-5" - Hopeful we see 2-3 spawns but that's in Mother Nature's hands. Stocking the Tilapia was hedging our bets to hopefully allow full establishment of the BG/RES/YP/Shiner population with some or more limited predation on them over the winter by the LMB.
Would be a complete bonus if the LMB were able to gorge on some of the Tilapia going into the winter.
To your question on forage fish (BG and Golden Shiners) eating some of the Tilapia. My guess is that they won't have an impact overall. Both of them have mouth gapes that are small enough that the Tilapia will outgrow it. YP may be able to put a dent in them but that would likely help the BG/RES populations to get established. LMB will likely be the biggest player here as they can take the biggest bite but if the stocking quantities are right.....there's a buffet for them at the end of the year as water temps drop.
Looking forward to some other comments. Hopefully I didn't shoot myself in the foot.
