Tony, if you're talking about trophy BG as opposed to trophy LMB, here are my thoughts.
So you stock your BG, and you need to feed them correctly to maximize their growth. Bruce Condello told me that his best BG results were when he diversified their diet. So just for round numbers sake, let's say tilapia spawn once a month, and have 1,000 eggs per spawn. With our 8 month growing period, that's 8,000 eggs per female tilapia per season. A mating set of 4 males and 20 females could then potentially lay 160,000 eggs in a year. My experience here is that at the end of the growing season, there will be zero tilapia except for the original breeders. The BG gorge on the tilapia fry, and coupled with correct fish food, the growth rate is pretty impressive.
We've decided to breed our own CNBG this year in our 1/4 acre pond. We'll hand pick the CNBG based on size and physical traits from our big pond when caught, and breed those as our next generation of CNBG. After 2016, I'm very comfortable saying that a stocking mix of BG, FHM, and breeding sets of tilapia will really push BG growth. Add fish food to that, and the growth rate should really improve. I would think it's a healthier option for the BG as well.
I can't verify this, but I would think the presence of LMB might change the above scenario.
In a pond where LMB are the alpha predator, I think the BG thrive because the tilapia occupy the same pond space as BG, and they're more fusiform. Here at least, LMB always go for GSF and tilapia before BG.
No science here, just my personal observations.
Last edited by FireIsHot; 01/29/17 12:17 PM.
