My co-op just got the tilapia in. How do I need to prepare the tilapia before I release them in my pond? Should I allow the bag of tilapia to float in the pond for a while so the water in the bag is stable with the pond temp? Add some of my pond water to the water they are in? Any info is greatly appreciated.

I like to get the bag and pour them into a five gallon bucket then I take a large cup and pour pond water into the bucket. Once the pond water and the bucket are similar temperature you can release them. Shouldn't take more than 10 minutes.

As long as the water temperature is less than a 5 degree difference you should not have a problem in putting the fish directly into the pond/lake. We added tilapia to 17 of our lakes last week and never had to acclimate the fish. We had 2 floaters out of thousands of tilapia. Right now is a great time to add forage fish; with much less risk than adding them in the summer.

Anyone selling Tilapia near Mexia for pond stocking?

Texashelms pm sent

Overton Fisheries - right in your backyard - between Buffalo and Centerville.
http://www.overtonfisheries.com/DesktopDefault.aspx

Stratos,

Either way you described works fine for me...just one thing I would add that is important to consider when stocking them....and that's to be sure your water temps are and will remain safely in the high 60's at least. Lower temps = less active Tilapia = far more predation loss.

So way are you all stocking Tilapia? For bait? Dont you have to net them or use a fly?

I'm stocking them to feed my bass and cats. The pond is old too with a lot of algae so it needs a good cleaning.

Well I added 3 pounds to my pond and all have lived as far as I can tell. My water is around 64-65 degrees in the mornings and around 68-69 in the evenings. So far everything is good.

The reason I am adding them is to eat the moss I have floating around and to help out on the weights of my bass.

Meadowlark has done a lot of studies and his relative weights have gone up in the ponds he stocks with tilapia. So I am hoping that i get the same results.

Thanks for the info. I thought they were going to be bait(food).
Are they saying they are better than bluegill?

I wouldn't say better. But the thing I really like about them is that they spawn about evey month, so there is plenty of small bait for the small bass that are in the pond. Also, I have heard that they are higher in protein that bluegill, but I don't know for sure. They swim a lot slower in the water that bluegill do so they are easier for bass to catch. Plus once the water gets down to around 55 degrees they start to die and then the bass pick up the easy meal. So yes I put them in to help out me bass but at the same time they will help control the moss in my pond because that is their main diet. So its a win-win for me......I hope. This is my first year to put them in the pond.

My first year too, came in last Friday.

Excited to see the results.

So where did you get them. Did a fish truck come by the co-op? The one that came ared here didnt have them.

I had a bad algae problem early on this year and took the risk of early Tilapia stocking March 13th.
Yesterday not a speck of algae to be found.

True Mozmbique Tilapia from Overton Fisheries.
Twenty pounds stocked in the 2-acre pond and 6 pounds all male tilapia in the � acre pond.







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