Originally posted by david lee:
i notice a pair coming to eat my purina game fish chow, hope they don't change their taste for algae. [email protected] david lee,
I have observed significant reductions in the Tilapia's consumption of algae when the pond is artificially fed. I've estimated about a 50% reduction in Tilapia effectiveness at algae control with artificial feeding. I compensate by higher initial stocking rates(up to double) in a pond with artificial feeding to get the same algae control. These observations are substantiated by
SRAC publication as shown below:
http://srac.tamu.edu/tmppdfs/11435110-283fs.pdf It is kind of a "double whammy", i.e. artificial feeding adds nutrients to the water, which promotes algae growth and the other whammy is that artificial feeding reduces the effectiveness of the Tilapia at algae control because the Tilapia eat the pellets instead of natural food, i.e. algae.
You can compensate for this by increasing stocking rates of Tilapia or reducing feeding.
Of course, the other side of this question involves eating Tilapia. My Tilapia that have been fed exclusively on natural food are not palatible whereas those fed or supplemented with artificial feed are great eating. It's all about choices.
