From crucian carp to sterlet - how to breed fish in a summer pond

A pond in the country is a valuable resource, it is wasteful to use it only for bathing and watering. Many out-of-town residents successfully breed fish: both just "sit with a fishing rod" and for sale. For beginner fish farmers, we have prepared a guide: what kind of fish can be populated in summer cottages and how to care for it.

How big should a fish pond be?

For aquaculture, the area of the pond mirror is more important than the volume - fish farming gurus are advised to make a pond with an area of "at least 1-2 hundred square meters" and adhere to a ratio of 1:20, 20 cubic meters of water per ton of fish, but this is with an "appropriate flow", an oxygen content of 5-6 mg / l and a water temperature below +10 degrees. From one hectare of water, on average, 100-200 kg of fish comes out, if it is not fed additionally, that is, 1-2 kg of fish from a hundred of water. If feeding is supposed and it is possible to maintain the vital activity of the fish with aeration systems, then the area of the pond mirror can be 55 sq. m. But it is important to correctly calculate the amount of fish so that the pond does not look like a can of sprat.

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The depth of the pond should ideally be from 50 cm to 3 meters, with a third of the area allocated to shallow water: for fry and planting.

What kind of fish is suitable for breeding in a summer pond?

Our user with the nickname palych1961 has in a pond with an area of about two acres and a maximum depth of two meters: crucian carp, carp, rotan, verkhovka, perch, pike, grass carp, silver carp and crayfish.

Carp - easily adapts to new food and water chemistry, grows quickly in warm water, has a tasty place. Ideal conditions for carp are a shallow pond, which is always half in the sun, half in partial shade. Can independently feed on microorganisms living in the pond.
Crucian carp is the most unpretentious fish, practically does not get sick, can live in any green pond, up to 70% of the diet is natural food - algae and insects. For 3-4 years it grows up to 3 kg.
Silver carp - can grow up to 40 kg, therefore, small young individuals are kept in summer cottages. When relocating to a new reservoir, she experiences stress, it is better to involve professional ichthyologists for help.
The loach is a "vacuum cleaner" for cleaning ponds, picks up various fine organic matter and feed residues from the bottom of the pond.

Ponds are stocked with tench, bream, perch and pike, catfish and pike perch, trout - it all depends on the physical capabilities of the pond and the financial capabilities of the fish farmer.

How many fish should you stock your pond with?

For stocking reservoirs with a natural fodder base, the formula is used

A = GP x 100 (B-in) / p

A is the number of individuals for stocking, D is the area of the reservoir in hectares, P is the natural productivity of a hectare of pond (in the Moscow region and in general in the middle lane, it is equal to 1–2 centners), B - the mass of one fish, which, according to the plan, it should reach in the fall (in kg), c is the mass of one individual during spring replanting (in kg), and p is the percentage of fish output in autumn, usually in such calculations it is taken 80–90%.

The results of this formula are adjusted taking into account the species characteristics of the fish. You can adhere to the following parameters:

Silver carp - 5-12 pcs. for 1 sq.m;
Carp (one-year-old underyearling) - 5-10 pcs. 10 square meters;
Carp (2-3 years) - 2-5 pcs. 10 square meters;
White carp - up to 10 pcs. for 100 sq.m;
Catfish (one year old specimen weighing 25 grams) no more than 10 specimens per 100 sq. m.

What, how and when to feed pond fish?

The basis of the fish diet is cereals, best of all wheat (the most nutritious, protein is best absorbed). Experts recommend crushing wheat, the finer the fish, the finer it needs to be crushed; the second option is to germinate: put a bag of wheat in the water, take it out the next day and leave it on the shore, and feed it on the third day. 20-30% of the diet should be greens, usually there is enough pond vegetation, but the fish are delighted with very young and very soft grass, especially clover. The grass is pre-crushed.

They begin to feed pond fish in May, when the water warms up to 15–18 degrees, or, if there is little natural food supply, to 12–14 degrees. In the first days, they give 1-1.5% of the total food supply, and when the fish begins to eat almost all the food, they begin to gradually add. When feeding, you can adhere to the following schedule: May - 5-10% of the total seasonal amount of feed; June - 20-25%; July - 20-35%; August - 25-30%; September - 5-10%.

How to increase the feed base of the pond?

There are several working methods that can help increase the feed supply of the pond and save on feed.

Amateur fish breeders attract insects to the pond by installing solar-powered lamp-balls or fluorescent lamps above the water 20-30 cm in height, which do not require protection from rain. Insects are most active at 22-23 hours. One lamp is enough to attract 100 grams of insects per square meter of pond.
The second method is to loosen the bottom sediments with a special rake with long teeth. This loosening causes a frenzied development of plankton and helps the fish to reach the bottom inhabitants, which hide deep in the silt.
The third and most popular way is to grow maggots, which are an excellent source of protein.

What should be done for the fish to winter normally?

At enterprises that are engaged in fish farming on an industrial scale, special wintering ponds, deep, but with a small area: under the ice there should be a non-freezing layer of water of about 1.5 meters. Amateur fish breeders organize the wintering of fish in non-freezing wintering concrete wells, covered with a wooden cover, 70 cm in diameter and 2.5 meters deep, and in the spring they are transferred to the pond again.

But when “moving” to the well and back, the fish experience severe stress, so it is better to find wintering opportunities at the place of permanent fish residence, in the pond. For this, a deep wintering hole is made at the bottom of the pond even during the excavation of the foundation pit. Our user with the nickname autobyd hibernates perfectly in a pit measuring 1.5 * 1.5 m and a depth of 4 m. The pit should be below the freezing level of the soil and there should be enough oxygen in it. Crucians can bury themselves in silt at the bottom of a shallow pond and hibernate without any holes, but if concrete or membrane waterproofing is made in the pond, a hole is necessary. Aeration helps to winter, but the aerator must be installed before the pond is covered with ice and move it from place to place, because the fish will begin to move after the aerator and lose last strength.

Holes in the ice are also needed, but small - sometimes fish farmers remove too much ice, the water becomes so cold that this negatively affects the wintering conditions.

Why and how is pond liming done?

The liming of fish ponds is carried out for the prevention of a number of fish diseases, prevention of deaths, disinfection of the pond and increasing the level of oxygen in the water. For this event, it is recommended to use fluff lime, the amount of lime depends on the ph level of the pond soil. Lime ponds, which are dug in peat bog, sandy and sandy loam soils and loams with pH = 6.5 and below.

What do you think: is fish farming a profitable business? Write in the comments!

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