Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - Adding TFS to new unfertilized pond

My 2 acre pond has a good BG population and some mosquito fish but no other foarage sp. I have access to TFS from my work and a way to safely transport them a short distance. Is it a waste of time to bring some over to an unfertilized pond? My water quality has improved greatly after the addition of lime.

The lake they come from is 12 acres with water clarity of 18 inches and great algae blooms throughout the year. There are so many shad in it the relative weights of the bass typically run 100 -130, I’m having to cull bass with relative weights of 95+ that look great to allow the others to grow to maximum potential.

For algae control we have found that in this area we have to stock a mixture of 50/50 male/female Blue Tilapia at the rate of 40# per surface acre to control the algae. FA HAS TO be treated (killed) within about 5 days of stocking them, either pre or post stocking. If the existing FA is not killed, we have stocked up to 100# per surface acre with absolutely ZERO results - it looked like they weren't even in the pond. The fish that we stock are 6"-9" in length, and they start spawning within a month of stocking when the water temp warms up.

We have stocked food grade Tilapia (90% male) and have not seen anywhere near the amount of FA control that stocking 50/50 males/females have given us. It's all the babies that do a tremendous amount of FA consumption, like teenagers raiding a refrigerator.

For a number of years I have tried different stocking rates in my personal pond. 15, 20, 30, 40, 60 and 100 pounds per acre. Both killing the FA at the time of stocking and not killing the FA. Not killing the FA isn't an option for me any more. it HAS TO be killed for the Tilapia to work the way they are supposed to.

15 and 20 pounds per surface acre didn't do squat. 30#/acre required treating FA about every 4 weeks during the growing season. We have settled on stocking 40#/surface acre and having the pond owner spray Cutrine Plus liquid on any FA that is seen growing. We do a pond assessment when the Tilapia are stocked if the homeowner hasn't killed the FA and tell them how much they need to apply.

If you wet your hands before pouring it into the pond it won't stay on your skin for long. I have a customer that said she can get blue on her just by walking past the bottle sitting on the shelf in her pole barn.

A friend wanted some to play with. O kay......... He used a needle and syringe to fill up ping pong balls so his grand kids could shoot them with a .22 LR and they'd explode. He did it at the private range that they belong to. A week later he got a phone call from the guy that was running cattle on it. He asked why the cattle all of a sudden had blue noses and blue tongues? Another time he did the same thing except the grass was a wee bit tall and wet at his farm where he used it. His daughter chewed him a new one. It seems the kids came home with blue shoes, socks and feet, plus the white goats weren't so white any more...... ROFL.

Another buddy wanted some to play a practical joke on a co-worker. I asked him what he was going to do. He said he was going to put some on his co-workers sweat band he put on his head/fore head. I told him that he could buy some from the store, but I wasn't going to get involved with that. After he found out how long it would last, he didn't do it.