Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Blue Tilapia into my Farm Pond

I have a 1/4 acre pond loaded with algae. Its growing from the bottom and on the surface. I have an aerator pumping in the deep end at around 10 feet. I have 6 or so larger catfish and I haven't seen many large mouth bass lately. Maybe 3 or 4. Tons of bluegill. Would releasing about 9 lbs of tilapia help clean up the pond and maybe clean up some of the muck? Will they be a detriment to the other fish in the pond? I live in NW Ohio, if that info is needed.

9 lbs of Tilapia would definitely help clean up 1/4 acre. I don't see any detriment; assuming they would be both sexes, the Tilapia will also be a boon as a forage fish.

Obtaining them now (rather than earlier in the year) could be a problem, but if you've got that licked, go ahead.

I stock tilapia in nearly every pond on my property. Given you have large amounts of algae, and possibly low numbers of predator fish. I would suspect a large number of baby tilapia recruitment.

The only two problems I have ever dealt with tilapia is if there are not enough scavengers or predators to clean up the dying tilapia late in fall or early winter the pond may stink for a few days of the floating or sinking dead fish. The other issue I had run into is ponds that do not have enough algae or plant food material for the tilapia, they may result to become pellet thieves. Which in large amounts of tilapia would have a negative impact of bluegill or catfish if it`s a pellet fed pond.

If you have lmb in the pond you may need some of the larger sized Tp to stock. If you don't have any predator's, the Tp can become the largest numbers of fish in the pond. Kind of like Bg numbers can grow out of hand, Tp can do the same without predator's.