Have a friend who is trying to restore a watershed lake in Kansas. One of many things he was told to do by a fish farm mgr was to introduce Talapia, they would not make it through the winter but would spawn every 21 days and pump a bunch of young fish in to the lake over the summer.

Anyone know if this is correct?

Correct.. I have been in Mexico when a big cold front hit; about 2 days after it passed through the Talapia were dead everywhere. Some were barely alive. The Bass were eating a lot of dying fish. We fished hard from daylight to dark and never got bit. I don't know if the Bass were a little sick from the bacteria in the Talapia or if they were just too full to bite. Same thing the second day, so we went farther South to another lake. We had no problem there and no dead fish.
Anyway I would tell your friend to be perpaired to do some work dipping them out and discarding of them other than letting them decay in the water. It is not fun and doesn't smell as good as fresh Talapia cooking in hot grease.

Talapia are a very good forage fish. They also help control filamentous algae if that is a problem in the pond or lake. They start dying at around 50-55 degrees water temp.

Tilapia are as close as it gets to a "magic bullet" for pond management, especially in areas that get a good freeze in the winter to kill them off. When the water gets below 55-60 degrees, the tilapia slow WAY down and bass go on a binge. The binge helps fatten the bass up before the winter and the tilapia die off prevents them from taking over the lake/pond. The only downside is you have to stock them every spring.

We did this in our 8 acre lake in east Texas. Boy did it make a difference! We put them in they were about 4 to 6 inches. We fished a lot of them out just before it got cold and caught fish for 8 hours straight. Most were 3 to 4 pounds. They defiantly cleaned up a lot of the veg in the lake and great source of food for the bass. I would have someone survey the lake each year like we do and follow the suggestions of the servey. It has been about. 4 to 5 years since we stocked the talapia and it may be time to restock them angin within the next couple of years. We now mainly stock bluegill and golden shiners yearly to maintain forage food for the bass. We also have two fish feeders on the lake feeding the bluegill and what catfish are in the pond. Since we started managing the pond about 5 years ago I know of several dd bass and many in the 5 to 6 pound range. Also cull the bass under 10 inches. I hope this helps. Good luck!

I've tried them the past two years. Yes they make a great forage but, that was also a problem. I stocked them to manage the filamentous algae and the bass ate most of them. I still see some and hope they spawn because the algae is out of control. Those of you that have purchased them what are you paying per pound? Mine were $8/pound.

The market price for tilapia is $8 to $10 a lb depending on volume and where you buy them.

$8-$10 a pound? they are only 5-6$ in the grocery store, cleaned

Less than that! I saw fresh frozen filet in 4 lb bags for $2.75/lb at HEB this morning.

The difference is getting them alive to your private pond or lake. Your paying for not only the fish, but a knowledgable fish hauler who can drive them to your ranch and acclimate the fish to your waters.

There are dozens of private lake management companies who sell tilapia in Texas and virtually all of them sell tilapia for this price.

You can buy them live from most any hispanic market for $3.99 lb. But getting them alive in large quantities to a private lake in the country is the big difference in price.