Pond Boss
Posted By: Snipe Large Tilapia displacing BG from nests - 06/28/22 08:53 AM
I've been watching my BG and RES as the spawning season progresses and the last 2 days I noticed a couple of large Tilapia have taken up residence in the BG/RES spawning dishes.
I talked to Cody briefly about this and am going to try and get some pics tomorrow (today) and post.
I've set and watched a large male fight with male BG on the nest and quickly fan out the nest after pushing the BG out. These are not small BG, I'd say 10-13" males.
I see several Tilapia now slowly cruising over the beds and it looks to me as though the TP have pushed all but about 4-5 out. Not sure that I am happy with this..
I'll do my best to get some good pics of these.
Posted By: jpsdad Re: Large Tilapia displacing BG from nests - 06/28/22 12:13 PM
Not sure if I'd be happy about it either. A 13" BG is my holy grail. Hope you catch one of them.
Fascinating. I'll be following this for sure.
Posted By: jludwig Re: Large Tilapia displacing BG from nests - 06/28/22 04:40 PM
Do you have any thoughts about how you may prevent this in the future?

This is an interesting development in the BG/Tilapia forage fish saga.
Posted By: FishinRod Re: Large Tilapia displacing BG from nests - 06/28/22 04:56 PM
Originally Posted by jludwig
Do you have any thoughts about how you may prevent this in the future?

Surely highflyer has an armed drone that Snipe's BG can hire for overwatch duties.




I agree that this is an interesting development.

I assume that tilapia eat BG fry and therefore want the BG to spawn.

I also assume that larger BG compete for some of the same forage as the tilapia. Therefore, the tilapia DO NOT want the BG to spawn.

I assume that at least one of my assumptions above is incorrect. But I don't know which one!
Posted By: Snipe Re: Large Tilapia displacing BG from nests - 06/28/22 10:03 PM
Best I can do.. Can only find 2 BG remaining and Tilapia almost in a timely fashion, cruise through to make sure nothing is around..

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
Posted By: Bill Cody Re: Large Tilapia displacing BG from nests - 06/29/22 01:47 AM
I am thinking the male BG with the spawning urges will move to a different area and build another nest for egg laying. They should be able to find a nest site somewhere in the next 6 weeks.
Posted By: Snipe Re: Large Tilapia displacing BG from nests - 06/29/22 05:57 AM
I hope you are correct Bill.. I've only found 1 other place there is visible activity and it's quite small, but that may be a good thing.
Posted By: anthropic Re: Large Tilapia displacing BG from nests - 06/29/22 01:46 PM
I wonder if TP become more aggressive when they guard nesting area, thus more vulnerable to angling.

By the way, Bob Lusk said that the one thing he sees when TP are stocked is increased survival of YOY BG.
Posted By: jludwig Re: Large Tilapia displacing BG from nests - 06/30/22 04:39 PM
I asked Bob about this in Facebook Live last night. He said while tilapia may take over some BG nests, tilapia do not seem to limit BG spawning.
Posted By: tim k Re: Large Tilapia displacing BG from nests - 07/01/22 12:44 AM
I would not put Tilapia in my pond - problem solved
Posted By: Snipe Re: Large Tilapia displacing BG from nests - 07/01/22 04:30 AM
This is the 3rd year I've had them Tim, and every batch acts different. Normally, I catch some advanced fry in the fall and keep them in aquarium over winter, generally 3-5" by the time I can get them out. This year I ran across some adults I went and picked up, these are quite a bit bigger than what I normally grow-probably 8-14" so I may have started the problem without even realizing what I had done.
Posted By: FishinRod Re: Large Tilapia displacing BG from nests - 07/01/22 03:03 PM
Originally Posted by Snipe
This year I ran across some adults I went and picked up, these are quite a bit bigger than what I normally grow-probably 8-14" so I may have started the problem without even realizing what I had done.

I certainly enjoy reading about your "experiments".

The good thing about having a bad outcome from your tilapia experiment this year, is that the problem will solve itself this winter.

I wish many of our OTHER pond problems could be solved just by waiting for the inevitable change in the seasons!
Posted By: FireIsHot Re: Large Tilapia displacing BG from nests - 07/01/22 11:18 PM
The RW of my LMB was always higher after electroshocking/tilapia years. The CNBG fingerlings the next spring were more abundant also. I stocked tilapia once, and told T Overton that my only requirement was that the tilapia couldn't be eaten. He met that, but the number of tilapia was very low because of their size. I don't think they would be enough to damage the CNBG beds.
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