Raising Loach in net Cage

In recent years, loach culture has developed rapidly and the culture models are diverse. The advantages of pond cage loach culture are fast growth, less disease, easy management, easy fishing, and it is a culture mode with better economic benefits and great development prospects.

I. Pond requirements

The pond has abundant water source, fresh water quality, convenient water intake and drainage, abundant natural bait, wide artificial bait source, and neutral or slightly acidic clay soil as substrate. The size of the area is not limited, generally about 3000 meters, water depth of 1.5~2 meters is appropriate. Cage with loach in soil, water level slightly shallow. A small boat is provided for the management of baiting.

II. Net cage setting

1. Net cage area.

The net cage area depends on the water level of the pond. For large water surface, it is appropriate to be 20 m 2, 5 m long, 4 m wide and 1.8 m high; for small water surface, the net cage area should be 2~8 m 2, and the length, width and height should be determined according to actual needs.

2. Nets mesh.

Cage made of polyethylene mesh, mesh size to loach species can not escape and conducive to the exchange of water inside and outside the box subject, generally used 0.5~1 cm.

3. Cage placement.

The net cages are long from east to west and wide from north to south. Box to box spacing of about 2 meters, row spacing of 3 meters. The spacing of small cages is 0.4 m and the row spacing is 1 m. No matter the size of the net cage, it is 0.4 m above the water surface and 0.5~1 m below the water surface. Cage setting should not exceed 50% of pond area. Cage has floating and fixed, floating cage box with the water level changes and natural rise and fall, in order to prevent loach escape, cage always keep 0.4 meters above the water surface.

Floating cage is suitable for large ponds or ponds with large water level changes. The four corners of the fixed net cage are fixed by bamboo poles or battens. The bottom of the cage is 0.5m from the bottom of the pond. The bottom of the cage with soil loach is muddy, and the bottom layer is first spread with manure 10 cm, and then spread with soil 10 cm. 15 days before stocking loach fry, put them in net cage to make algae adhere to the wall of net cage, and transplant some water peanut or water hyacinth into the box, the plant growth area accounts for 1/3 of the net cage area.

If the growth of water peanut or water hyacinth in the box is excessive during the cultivation process, it should be taken out in time, and the growth area of aquatic plants should always be controlled not to exceed 2/3 of the net cage area.

4. Set up a food table. Each net cage is provided with 1~2 boxes with a length of 40 cm and a width of 10 cm as a feeding platform, and the feeding platform is about 20 cm away from the water surface under water.

3. Loach breeding

1. Clean the pool and disinfect it. 20 days before the loach seeds are put in, selecting a sunny day to disinfect the loach seeds with quicklime in a clear pool, wherein the quicklime dosage is 50 - 70 kg/mu. After the medicinal properties disappear, loach seeds can be bred.

2. Loach seed release time. Loach species are generally bred at the end of March or early April, and 250~300 loach species with a body length of 4~5 cm are bred per square meter. The loach seeds were raised according to their sizes, disinfected with 3% saline solution before being put into the box, and soaked for 5~10 minutes at 10~20℃.

IV. Loach feeding management

1. Baiting methods.

After the loach seeds are put into the box, they have an adaptation process to the environment and are fed after 2~3 days. The bait can choose loach artificial compound feed or own processing feed. If you process it yourself, you can mix wheat flour, silkworm chrysalis powder, rapeseed meal, small miscellaneous fish, snail meat, etc. and make them into lumps or strips, and put them on the food table regularly. Baiting time, at first every evening, the whole box spread, then gradually reduce the scope, finally concentrated in the feeding platform. After domestication, the loach was fed once at 8:00 a.m. and 18:00 p.m. respectively. The feeding amount at night was large, so the feeding amount in the afternoon accounted for about 70% of the daily feeding amount.

The feeding amount is 2%~5% of the total weight of loach species in the early stage, 5%~6% in the middle stage and 8%~10% in the late stage. Food intake varies with growth conditions, water temperature, water quality, weather and other conditions. In principle, the food on the food table should be eaten up in about 2 hours.

2. Water quality regulation.

Loach likes fat water, the water for raising loach should be "fat, live, tender and cool", the color of the water should be yellow-green, too clear to affect the growth of loach, the transparency should be controlled at about 20 cm, and the pH should be neutral or weakly alkaline. When the water quality is too fertile, it should be changed in time to increase the dissolved oxygen in the pool water. Generally, the water is changed once every 7~10 days, and the water is changed 20~30 cm each time.

When the water temperature exceeds 30 ° C in high temperature season, change the water twice a week. Wash the net clothes frequently, keep the exchange of water inside and outside the cage, improve the dissolved oxygen of the water in the box, and facilitate the entry of bait organisms into the box. In order to improve the water quality and improve the utilization rate of the pond, other fish can be cultured outside the box, such as crucian carp, silver carp, bighead carp, grass, bream, etc.

3. Disease control.

Periodically use quicklime or other harmless disinfection drugs to sterilize the cage, disinfection time depends on the tolerance of loach flexible control. Feed processing can add 0.5% oxytetracycline or allicin, etc. To prevent pesticides, fertilizers and other pollution and the invasion of harmful organisms, often check the cage, if there are loopholes immediately fill.

V. Starting from arrest and listing

In the cage of soilless loach culture, the adult loach reaching the market specification in autumn should be caught in time, and the small loach not reaching the market specification should also be taken out of the box before frost falls and moved to the small loach pond for winter, otherwise it will freeze to death. Because of the soil at the bottom of the cage, after the adult loach comes out of the box, the juvenile loach that does not reach the market standard is concentrated and moved to the cage with thick soil layer at the bottom of the box for safe winter.