Culture techniques of mackerel

Mackerel, also known as yellow cheek fish, water tiger, big mouth mackerel, etc., is widely distributed. Mackerel is found in many river systems in China from north to south. It has delicious meat, high protein and fat content, and has the effect of warming, benefiting the stomach and stopping vomiting. It mainly treats diseases such as weakness of spleen and stomach, nausea and vomiting, so it has high economic value for aquaculture. Let's take a look at the culture techniques of mackerel.

Growth habits of mackerel

Mackerel is a wide-temperature species of freshwater fish. The range of survival water temperature is wide, and the suitable growth water temperature is 16-30 degrees Celsius, which is suitable for breeding in most areas of our country. A ferocious fish that feeds on live fish in natural waters. However, in artificial culture, if the live bait is still fed, first, the culture cost is high, and second, it is necessary to be equipped with a special feed fish culture pond, which is time-consuming and laborious, and the cost is high. Practice shows that mackerel can grow normally after domestication and eating chilled fish pieces, and its domestication usually begins when the fish is about 5 centimeters long.

The growth and reproduction of mackerel

The mackerel grows fast and has a large body. If the food intake is normal, the body weight of one-year-old, two-year-old, three-year-old and four-year-old individuals are 1.0-1.5 kg, 3.5-5.5 kg, 7.5-11.0 kg and 15.0-20.0 kg respectively. After sexual maturity, the body length continues to increase, with the largest individual up to 2 meters long and weighing up to 60 kilograms. Usually, the male fish reach sexual maturity at the third age and the female fish reach sexual maturity at the fourth age. In the wild, the parent fish spawn from April to June, and artificial reproduction is usually carried out in May. The anchovy eggs are floating eggs, which need to drift and develop with the water after absorbing water. Mature females with a body length of one meter can carry up to 500000 eggs.

Culture preparation of mackerel

1. Pond conditions: the pond had better choose the place where the environment is quiet, the transportation is convenient, the water source is sufficient, and the access and drainage is convenient. There should be no tall trees around the pond so as not to block the sun and air circulation. The size of the aquaculture pond is generally 3 mu, with a water depth of about 1.5 mu. It is best to raise mackerel in soil ponds, where there are a lot of plankton, which can provide some live bait for silver carp and bighead carp.

2. Aquaculture equipment: mackerel culture should be equipped with necessary oxygen-boosting machinery, several pumps, and different nets for catching mackerel summer flowers, commercial fish and parent fish. The mackerel is impatient and will rush desperately when fishing, and a layer of net is easy to be broken. 2-year-old and over-2-year-old mackerel should be caught with double-layer nets. The inner layer is a net with a smaller mesh, which has a certain degree of elasticity, which can cushion the impact of the fish, and the outer layer is a nylon net with a larger mesh.

3. Clear the pond and disinfect: the mackerel should be disinfected before stocking, and the whole pond should be diluted with quicklime and sprinkled with quicklime. About 80 kilograms of quicklime per mu of pond can not only kill wild miscellaneous fish and pathogens, but also effectively improve the substrate and water quality. After disinfection, after 2-3 days of ventilation and exposure, you can inject water.

4. Water quality conditions: mackerel is a freshwater fish living in rivers and lakes and reservoirs. It is best to use water from rivers and lakes to raise mackerel. Such a body of water is rich in plankton and sufficient oxygen, which is conducive to the healthy growth of mackerel. The pH value of aquaculture water should be kept between 7.0 and 9.0, the content of ammonia nitrogen per liter should not be higher than 0.03 mg, the salinity should not be higher than 5 ‰, the content of dissolved oxygen in water should be above 5 mg per liter, and the transparency of water should be above 30 cm.

Parent fish culture of mackerel

1. parent fish choice: there are fewer and fewer wild mackerel, so it is time-consuming and laborious to catch parent fish in rivers and lakes, and most of the time they get nothing. Mackerel parent fish are generally introduced from regular mackerel farms, and if they have been cultured for many years, they can also choose parent fish from commercial fish. Parent fish should choose sexually mature individuals who are physically strong, injury-free and disease-free. The ratio of female to male was 1 ∶ 1.5.

2. Intensive cultivation: parent fish are generally cultivated in a special pond between 6 mu and 10 mu, with a water depth of 1.5 m ~ 2 m and keeping the dissolved oxygen in the water above 5 mg per liter. Oxygen is increased for 4 to 8 hours a day in cloudy, rainy or hot seasons, mainly between two and three o'clock in the afternoon, or between one and six o'clock in the morning.

3. Stocking density: the stocking density of parent fish is controlled at about 300 kg per mu, and about 100 silver carp with a weight of 250 g can be put into the pond per mu, which can help the parent fish to improve the water quality. If the parent fish is domesticated and can eat chilled fish nuggets, feed the fish nuggets that account for about 8% of the parent fish's body weight every day. If the parent fish has not been domesticated, there must be enough live bait fish in the pond and 5% of the parent fish body weight must be put into the pond at a regular time every day.

4. Maturity identification: the mature female parent fish had a dilated abdomen, a soft and flexible hand, and a swollen and reddish reproductive pore, while when the male was sexually mature, there was white semen flowing out of the abdomen under light pressure, which dispersed when it entered the water. After fishing for parent fish, use a special cloth clip to hold the parent fish, do not let it collide to avoid escape and injury. Put the right amount of water into the plastic bag and put the parent fish into the plastic bag. Then hold it with a cloth clip, carry it to the aerator for oxygen, and then transport it.