Lake Ontario Tilapia

[John Bacon]

Someone on Facebook claims to have caught three tilapia from Lake Ontario in the Burlington area.  I doubt that they will make it through the winter.  But if they do, we may have another species in the Lake



  

[captpierre]

Wow. Not sure about their biology but I hope you’re right. 

[jimmer]

They won't survive.  They go belly up down in Florida when the temps drop to around zero from what I have seen.

[G.mech]

According to my son who is a resident biologist on a large commercial tilapia farm, tilapia are intolerant to cold and start to die off when the water temps drop to below 55oF.   Although some could survive, it is highly unlikely they could reproduce in the temperatures found in Lake O.  

I suppose he should know and I can assure you that these little tidbits of relatively useless information cost me dearly so I'm going to have to go along with his answer I guess.

[OhioFisherman]

46 minutes ago, G.mech said:

According to my son who is a resident biologist on a large commercial tilapia farm, tilapia are intolerant to cold and start to die off when the water temps drop to below 55oF.   Although some could survive, it is highly unlikely they could reproduce in the temperatures found in Lake O.  

I suppose he should know and I can assure you that these little tidbits of relatively useless information cost me dearly so I'm going to have to go along with his answer I guess.

LOL, I feel your pain! It cost me a lot of money for my daughter to learn how to castrate a hog!

Ya the book says the cold will kill them.

[dave524]

14 hours ago, John Bacon said:

Someone on Facebook claims to have caught three tilapia from Lake Ontario in the Burlington area.  I doubt that they will make it through the winter.  But if they do, we may have another species in the Lake



  

Probably a WGSF ?

[jimmer]

They might have been crappie that were miss identified as Tilapia.

[Snidley]

Or White Perch. The look similar to a Tilapia

[John Bacon]

35 minutes ago, jimmer said:

They might have been crappie that were miss identified as Tilapia.

 

5 minutes ago, Snidley said:

Or White Perch. The look similar to a Tilapia

No, there were pictures and biologist on the thread.  They were tilapia.  Probably a hybrid of a nile tilapia.

[jimmer]

Actually this is terrible news. Obviously someone is trying to stock the fish in the lake, on purpose or ignorantly.  Tilapia are not your normal aquarium fish that someone wants to get rid of.  They won't survive, but the next species someone tries just might take hold.

[Dubz905]

hey that guy who said he caught them was me. There are alot of them out there

[Dubz905]

On 6/28/2018 at 9:56 PM, John Bacon said:

  

 

Edited September 10, 2018 by Dubz905

[grimsbylander]

Calico bass 

[Dubz905]

Ministry already took them and said otherwise 

[Dubz905]

12 minutes ago, grimsbylander said:

Calico bass 

And I have caught those down in california alittle different 

[grimsbylander]

3 minutes ago, Dubz905 said:

Ministry already took them and said otherwise 

If you stick around long enough, you'll see the humour is that 

 

[Dubz905]

48 minutes ago, grimsbylander said:

If you stick around long enough, you'll see the humour is that 

 

Ya but i have physically caught calico bass before and that's no where even close. The ones I got were farmed tilapia. Even had all the top fin cut off

[Terry]

There was humour  in his post most people here knows lately there have been posts about Calico bass and what they are  and the smiley face beside means joke was intended

 

[Dubz905]

9 minutes ago, Terry said:

There was humour  in his post most people here knows lately there have been posts about Calico bass and what they are  and the smiley face beside means joke was intended

 

I'm a group virgin ok. Haven't popped my cherry yet lololol

[David Chong]

WOW ? Crazy stuff! Any word back from the Ministry?

[Dubz905]

40 minutes ago, David Chong said:

WOW ? Crazy stuff! Any word back from the Ministry?

It's the ministry they just say they will look into it. I even volunteered to take them out and show them.

[grimsbylander]

1 hour ago, Terry said:

There was humour  in his post most people here knows lately there have been posts about Calico bass and what they are  and the smiley face beside means joke was intended

 

Thanks Terry! Should have went with pickerel  dang.

[jimmer]

3 hours ago, Dubz905 said:

hey that guy who said he caught them was me. There are alot of them out there

Oh no......

 

[G.mech]

I asked my son who is a biologist & currently babysitting about 600,000 tilapia on a fish farm if he thought that's what this was.  His reply:

 

Quote

It sure looks like it to me, most likely released by someone who got it at a fish market. Some religions release fish because all lives are equal and they believe it brings good karma. It looks extremely unhealthy though, notice the deterioration of the dorsal fin and tail. Also notice the extremely pale colour, they are usually much darker with vertical stripes. If it is a tilapia, I wouldn’t count on it surviving very long and certainly not through winter, let alone being healthy enough to breed. 

Cheers,

George Costanza

Hopefully he's right in the fact that they won't be able to reproduce.....

Edited September 10, 2018 by G.mech

[grimsbylander]

40 minutes ago, G.mech said:

I asked my son who is a biologist & currently babysitting about 600,000 tilapia on a fish farm if he thought that's what this was.  His reply:

 

Hopefully he's right in the fact that they won't be able to reproduce.....

Does your son happen to sleep under his desk all day?? Oops wrong episode lol

Good information, thanks!

Edited September 10, 2018 by grimsbylander