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Thanks Essup I will break out the treble hooks next Fall. smile How do you see the tan ones?

sean

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Polarized glasses! wink grin


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3/4 to 1 1/4 ac pond LMB, SMB, PS, BG, RES, CC, YP, Bardello BG, (RBT & Blue Tilapia - seasonal).
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FYI for J.Calvin and maybe a few others. Water is heaviest at 39.2F (4C). Water gets lighter as it gets colder and warmer than 39F. On cold nights water next to the surface gets colder than 39F and tends to stay on top until it freezes. Thus pond or lake water a few feet below the ice is 39F all the way to the pond bottom. Rarely does the deep water get colder than 39F. Although there are some exceptions to this rule.

Back to tilapia. All tilapia depending on the species or subspecies will die when water gets below 50 to 45F. No species of tilapia are known to survive very long in water below 44-45F.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 01/09/13 08:15 PM.

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Essup your'e funny! Even with my polarized glasses I have problems seeing them! Lol! I will see if I can do better next fall! smile

Bill I actually have a BS in Chemistry and I do not recall that factoid! I know it has been a long time since I was in college. I guess I must of killed those brain cells! Lol! Thanks for the knowledge. smile

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Someone would be a Pond Boss hero if they developed a dependable and fairly easy way to remove tilapia before they die. The method could even be a money maker.


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If you had a well or or any source of flowing water that is warmer or slightly warmer than the pond water. As the pond chills they will seek out the warm watrer source and congigate around it making for easy cast netting. During our cold spells I have seen them piled around a outflow pipe of the artisian well flowing warmer water.


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Got it - thanks for the clarity and all the great posts!


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I have laid down black plastic under a hoist net set up on a tripod...on sunny, cool days, Tilapia will hover densely ove the warm area...



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Originally Posted By: Jeff Calvin
SeantOH - how large is your pond and what part of the state are you in? I am in NE Ohio and looking for some resolution on FA, etc.

Also, what did you experience this Fall when the temps fell below 45F? What it an ugly and smelly crime scene? LOL.

Appreciate your input here - JCal


Jeff, if the pond has predators in it, virtually every tilapia is eaten, passing all the nutrient up into the food chain...Death is what makes tilapia such an amazing management tool!! What few tilapia not eaten before death are quickly consumed by turtles and other scavengers, both aquatic and terrestrial. There has been no reported smell issues in any pond stocked due to the fact the fish die when it's cool and slowing decomp, along with scavenging...



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Thanks Rainman....

If I stock 3"-4" fish in Mid-May, any idea how large they will be at the end of September when they begin to die off?

I have new and very fertile 1-1/2 acre pond. Plenty of predators including LMB, CC, and Walleye (+ turtles, etc.)

Jeff


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Jeff If you stock 3"-4" tilapia consider that a good number of them will be fish food for the larger LMB, CC and maybe WE. If your predators are still small (less than 13"-15") in your new pond then 3"-4" tilapia stockers should have good survivability.


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Originally Posted By: Jeff Calvin
Thanks Rainman....

If I stock 3"-4" fish in Mid-May, any idea how large they will be at the end of September when they begin to die off?

I have new and very fertile 1-1/2 acre pond. Plenty of predators including LMB, CC, and Walleye (+ turtles, etc.)

Jeff


Jeff, the fish I deliver to Ohio in spring are a wide range of sizes (6-11") to ensure minimal predation...3-4" tilapia would get annihilated upon stocking with only 10-12" LMB



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Originally Posted By: Bill Cody
Jeff If you stock 3"-4" tilapia consider that a good number of them will be fish food for the larger LMB, CC and maybe WE. If your predators are still small (less than 13"-15") in your new pond then 3"-4" tilapia stockers should have good survivability.



I think water temperature plays in to this equation too. If your tilapia are slugish, yes, larger predators can be an issue. If the pond temp is warm enough, tilapia can escape many preditors pretty easily.

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2track, lethargy is only a minor factor in a fresh stocking of tilapia. The small tilapia, freshly stocked in a new enviornment and after a haul are EASY prey for anything that can open it's mouth wide enough. LMB can eat a tilapia close to half it's own body length in size.

In Bill's scenario with 3-4" tilapia and 13-15" predators, I'd expect 80% or more loss to predation at any temp inside of 30 minutes of stocking...just an educated estimate....



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Maybe after a long haul that could be the case.

I put 50 tilapia in one of my ponds last year and those suckers were lightning fast! I caught 27 with the rod in September, and found 11 in Octomber and November. I’m not sure what happened to the remaining 12 but I wrote it off to predators and/or raccoons when they died.

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Rainman has good information about lethargy of freshly stocked fish. Those fish are disoriented and almost always very stressed and vulnerable to predation when released into a unfamiliar pond. If they survive they can quickly adjust to surroundings and then have a much better chance of surviving. This was verified in a study summarized by ewest in his article about walleye stocking in the Jan-Feb PondBoss magazine pg 58. The study found that when walleye fingerlings are stocked, predation on them by largemout bass was greatest in the first 24 hrs and no predation of the fingerlings was observed after 14 days.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 01/25/13 10:47 AM.

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I have always wondered if a holding pen to let them stabilize would help. Maybe have a removable a panel or door and let them swim out naturally, maybe facing some sort of structure for them to run too.


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Bobby...it may help reduce some, butthe fish will still spread throughout the pond, and I believe many will still get hammered while trying, until some reach safe havens.



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Originally Posted By: 2trackin
Maybe after a long haul that could be the case.

I put 50 tilapia in one of my ponds last year and those suckers were lightning fast! I caught 27 with the rod in September, and found 11 in Octomber and November. I’m not sure what happened to the remaining 12 but I wrote it off to predators and/or raccoons when they died.


What sizes caught? What sizes when stocked? What times of the year? In a fertile pond, 50 mixed sex tilapia will have a small percentage of their 1000's of offspring that will survive and could grow to 2 pounds+ in just 4-6 months. My educated guess if T were stocked in a small, 2-6" size, the majority were eaten and what you caught were mostly offspring. The tilapia in northern ponds are highly prolific, yet those reaching adult size remains limited. Also, in the 4 years of widespread pond stocking, I have yet to get a single report of a die-off that that was more than "a few" large fish being seen.



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The blue tilapia are African cichlids (Oreocromis aureus). This means that typically they are a very aggressive family of fish. If you have ever raised African cichlids in an aquarium you will understand what I mean. I used to raise many different varieties. I have not raised the Blue Tilapia in an aquarium so that limits my first hand observations of this species however I can draw some conclusions. If you confine a lot of them in a small space (i.e. a truck) and then haul them several hours... they will fight... ALOT! They will be stressed when they arrive to your pond and will be disoriented. Add to this the stress of different water temps and pH and you should expect to lose a few fish to predation as well as simple stress. If they are half the size or less of your predators then most of them will become expensive sushi for your predators. Holding them in a pen will save them from predators but they will still be trying to kill each other. JMHO. smile My advice is to buy them larger than your predators can eat, release them into your pond and let them eat your FA after they recover.

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As far as aggression goes...in a pond/aquarium, the larger the male tilapia gets, the larger the nesting area it defends. When hauling, aggression is not an issue as the fish are held in darkness and they are so densely stocked, they do no fighting at all...the strssors are the constant motion, tight, confining, darkness with water qualities that can become horrible rapidly....but those are a live-haulers issues to deal with and still stock fish that will have a very low mortality rate. The rest of the reasons small, freshly stocked fish become sushi applies to any fish and is spot on....



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Rainman,

Thanks for the info!

sean

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