Tilapia

The White Amur or grass carp are stocked in all ponds on Meadowlark Ranch. Pictured here is a typical 10-inch stocking size. Recommended stocking rates of from 15 to 20 per acre have been found to be excessive and my rate is generally 2 per acre. This has been found to be very effective for controlling and preventing weed build-up.

Grass Carp prefer certain varieties of soft-stemmed plants and branched algae.Proper plant identification is essential for effective aquatic plant control.Selective and preferential feeding behavior complicates determining which varieties of plants and algae grass carp will effectively consume. Grass carp may eat the soft new growth of more fibrous plants and not consume the more mature portions of a similar plant. As more preferred food becomes scarce, grass carp will eat less preferred types of vegetation. The common names of plants and algae which grass carp are considered to prefer and control are given in table 1. Notice that filamentous algae is NOT a preferred food item. In fact, grass carp will eat it only if there is nothing else to eat.

TABLE 1

Plants & algae which grass carp are considered to control:
Bladderwort:	Naiaids
Chara	Hydrilla
Elodea	Spikerush
Fanwort:	Widgongrass
Parrotfeather (Myriophyllum)	Coon Tail (Ceratophyllum)
Pond weeds (Potamogeton)

The common names of plants and algae which grass carp are considered to be ineffective in controlling are given in Table 2.

TABLE 2

Plants & algae which grass carp will not effectively control:
Alder:	Rushes:
Alligatorweed	Sedges:
American lotus	Smartweed
Arrowhead	Spatterdock
Buttonbush	Southern watergrass
Cattails	Torpedograss
Duckweeds	Water hyacinth
Filamentous algae	Watermeal
Fragrant water lily	Water pennywort
Frogbit	Water primrose
Maidencain	Water shield
Pickerelweed	Willows
Planktonic algae	White water lily

Grass Carp are most efficient at consuming unwanted vegetation when they are young. As they get older, they have a tendency to eat less weeds and consume more artificial feed if it is available. As a result, all grass carp are replaced after three years when they become large and begin frequenting the feeders where available.

Shown below is the typical size at which the Grass Carp seem to become less efficient in my ponds and warrant replacement. This one is just over 10 pounds and was caught on a regular worm while fishing for Tilapia.

June 22, 2008:

Personal best Grass Carp caught on 3wt fly rod and a #10 Prince nymph. 20 pounds on Boga grip.

PACU

Many aquarium aficionados are very familiar with the Pacu. It is a very interesting fish to observe, very attractive, and a likely looking candidate for the aquarium. However, the unsuspecting aquarium owner is quickly surprised at the rapid growth rates of these fish and unless housed in large tank > 300 gallons, they quickly outgrow their surroundings. Hence, a good source for these fish are those well intentioned, but surprised aquarium owners trying to find a home for their pet Pacu.

Pictured below is a Colossoma macropomum (red-bellied) aka Pacu.

As a pond meister, the Pacu offers some very interesting characteristics such as

� Pacus grow very fast and to very large sizes

� Pacus are mainly vegetarians that will adapt to eat almost anything.

� Pacus are being raised in huge fish farms throughout the world as a food fish.

� Pacus are relatives of the Piranha and Pacus look like Piranhas.

� Pacus can not survive water temps under 60 degrees

On Meadowlark Ranch, the red-bellied Pacu is being evaluated as a potential Grass Carp replacement. Just like Tialpia, the Pacu will not survive the East Texas winters. Hence, they offer minimal risk of adverse stocking consequences. On the plus side, their ability to eat copious vegetation, grow rapidly, and offer fishing excitement makes them an interesting pond fish to study. The approach to utilizing this fish on Meadowlark Ranch will be just like Tilapia�i.e. grow them over the winter to a suitable stocking size and release them in ponds when the weather warms. The first trials will begin summer of �07. The fish to be stocked are currently being grown-out in the REDAS described on the fish page. Starting size is about 3 inches in January '07 as shown below. .

UPDATE APRIL 07

The PACU pictured above are now about 10 inches in length and weigh 1 pound. They are ready to move from the initial phase of this experiment in the indoor grow-out tank to the next phase which is residence in a weed infested small pond. Careful monitoring of this pond will be exercised over the next few months to assess the PACU's ability to consume the weeds and determine any adverse impacts, if any, to the other elements of the pond.

The target vegetation is pictured below....the small dark lines you see along the weed edge are thousands of Gambusia minnows.

The PACU pictured below is the one from above only three months later. It along with some of its friends will now get the opportunity to see what they can do in a real Texas pond.

UPDATE MAY '07:

The Pacu have made interesting progress in just one month in the ponds. Of the four that were stocked in the Kid's pond(1/4 acre), two now have been caught on flies. Of the two that were stocked in Nova pond ( 4 acres) one has been caught on a fly. Considering that Nova pond has over 8 million gallons of water and thousands of fish, it seems to me to be pretty remarkable to catch one of the two Pacu stocked there. The vegetation control, however, has not shown any meaningful progress in the Kid's pond. One of the caught Pacu is shown below:

Update June 07:

The Pacu continue to amaze. The fish shown below has now been caught three times since being stocked in April. This fish is now 2.5 pounds and about 14 inches in length. Incredible growth!!

Update June 20 '07:

The tally is now caught 4 times since April stocking. This incredible fish is now 2.7 pounds and 14.5 inches. Most interesting is that this time the fish was caught on a live 4 inch CNBG while trying to catch a trophy LMB.

Update July 14 '07:

What a fish! The two original stockers in Nova pond are now 3.2 pounds and 3.75 pounds respectively as shown below. The growth rate continues to amaze. They are now larger than 4 year old HSB in the same pond.

UPDATE Sept. 23, '07:

Time to begin moving the Pacu back into their winter home. The first attempt resulted in the death of a 4 pound Pacu shown below. Water temp differences between the pond and the transport water were the cause of fish's death. This will be remedied on the next fish. However, different catching methods will have to be employed because the larger fish, estimated to be in excess of 6 pounds are breaking every line strength tried so far.

SUCCESS!! Using a Tarpon type bite tippet, a 7 pound and a 5 pound Pacu were successfully caught and transferred to the hot tub to join a 3 pound Pacu which was also moved today. The 7 pound Pacu was about 18 inches in length and a truly magnificent fish.

April 9, 2008:

Pablo Pacu, pictured above and below was moved to his summer home today, along with several of his friends. Pablo lost about 1/2 pound over the winter months confined to the hot tub, but I expect him to once again resume his fantastic growth rates. Good luck Pablo, enjoy your summer!!!