I live in Kentucky and right now my pond temp. is 60 degrees. Being that it is mid April should I wait till the first of May to put my tilapia in my pond? I do not want kill my fish due to cold water. I have nile tilapia.

Remind me of the lowest safe temperature for Nile Tilapia. For discussion purposes below, I am assuming 60 is okay, and slightly less than that is bad.

I know you're a state South of me, but the way Ohio weather jumps around each Spring (this year no different - 76 deg one day last week, down to 31 tonight) I would want to be real sure that water temps had hit 60 deg to stay.

For my pond, that would mean waiting until the end of April before putting Tilapia in. Since you are farther South, I would take a hard look at your own water temp history (if available - this is one of the things it is very useful for) and the 10 day forecast for your weather and temperatures. If the pond is warm enough now and the 10 day outlook is for warmer weather, I'd probably put them in. If the same cold front that is threatening snow here tonight is gonna hit you, I'd wait.

I would wait until high 60s or 70s. That is when their metabolism gets active and spawning will follow soon thereafter.

http://srac.tamu.edu/tmppdfs/144249-280f...dddd2f05577e352

Geographic range for culturing

tilapia in ponds is dependent upon

temperature. The preferred temperature

range for optimum tilapia

growth is 82° to 86° F. Growth

diminishes significantly at temperatures

below 68° F and death will

occur below 50° F. At temperatures

below 54° F, tilapia lose their resistance

to disease and are subject to infections

by bacteria, fungi and

parasites.

Tilapia generally stop feeding when

water temperature falls below 63o F.

Disease-induced mortality after handling

seriously constrains sampling,

harvest and transport below 65o F.

Reproduction is best at water temperatures

higher than 80o F and does

not occur below 68o F. In subtropical

regions with a cool season, the number

of fry produced will decrease

when daily water temperature averages

less than 75o F.

I live south of Houston (25 miles from Gulf), and put my Mozambique Tilapia in 3/5/08. I got 10 lbs, which yielded 124 fish (87 2-4", 31 5-6", and 6 7-8"). The temps had been upper 50's @ night and mid 70's during day, water temp was 68F most of the time. We had a 4-day cold spell with night temps dropping to 36F, daytime only 56F. My water temp dropped to 52F by 3rd morning, and I found one floating Tilapia (7"). Since then the lowest water temp has been 67F. When we had a streak of 86-87F days, the Tilapia were running over each other in the 1-2ft water. I have 8-11" LMB in with them, so I am sure some of the 2-3" Tilapia got eaten, but the others looked too big to swallow. The Tilapia also tear up the AQMX 500/600 mix I feed, especially when the water is above 70F.

Archer where did you get your Tilapia? Thanks!

From Todd Overton http://www.overtonfisheries.com