I have been doing a good deal of additional reading up on Tilapia, and I just cannot find a single negative for ponds which cool enough in winter to kill them and where they are legal. I even found information which suggested that they are perfect for removing the sludge formed by vegetable debris. The following is a quote from one site: "the Aswan dam in Egypt was found to be losing 3 to 4 inches per year due to deposition of debris. Tilapia nilotica were stocked in the dam, and the amount of build-up actually began to go the other way. Up to 2-3 inches a year were being removed by the Tilapia."
That's pretty impressive to my eye. I suppose that if the stocked population were high enough, they might stir up enough bottom silt to make the water muddy, but I don't plan on stocking more than 7-8 lb/acre. I do wonder if the species makes any difference. Almost everything I can find either concerns commercial operations with all-male fish, something which would be next to useless in sport pond management, or with sport-fishing in natural or large reservoir waters. I have discussed stocking them with two of my neighbors and they plan on putting them in their 10 and 1.5 acre ponds.
Lou
Shelby county, Alabama, 13 acres, max depth 21 ft, constructed 1959
