Culture and reproduction of map fish

Map fish, also known as black pig fish, starfish, tail fish, pig larvae, belongs to the family Sparidae, beautiful fish genus, the origin of South America's Amazon basin. Not only its lovely appearance, its meat taste is also very delicious (comparable to grouper), both ornamental value and edible value, but also strong adaptability to water quality, short culture cycle, feed is easy to solve, high economic value, the market is very popular.

1. Morphological characteristics of map fish

Map fish is a larger species of ornamental fish, and its body length can be more than 35 cm in captivity. Its body color is not very bright, but its shape is chic and lovely. The map fish has a stout body, a flat oval body, a fan-shaped tail, a large head and a small mouth, a long dorsal fin that extends to the caudal stalk, and the fins are long and soft. White map and safflower map are the two most common map fish. The color tone of the white map is light yellow, with eye-catching red patches and stripes on the body surface. The tone of the safflower map is olive or brown, with some irregular orange and red stripes, just like a map, so it is called map fish. The tail handle has a black spot with golden edges, which shines like a star, so it is also called the tail star fish. Map fish looks clumsy, but as soon as they see the food, they immediately jump on it, and they are very gluttonous, and when they are full, they will lie lazily on their side to rest at the bottom of the aquarium, so they are also called black pig fish and pig larvae.

2. Breeding of map fish

Map fish have a strong ability to adapt to the environment and can live well in weakly acidic, neutral or weakly alkaline water, so it is easier to raise them. Because it is a tropical fish, it requires a high water temperature, and it is best to keep the water temperature at 22-28 ℃, so the aquarium tank should be equipped with a heating rod with temperature control.

1. The aquarium tank with equipment conditions should be larger, and the specification should be 80 cm × 45 cm × 50 cm. The tank is equipped with oxygen pump, filter, heating rod, lighting and so on. Tap water can be used after drying for 2-3 days.

two。 The map fish are fed with polygamous animal food, and like to eat live bait such as small fish, shrimp, water and so on. Artificial feeding is easy to use with pellet feed. Map fish is very gluttonous, eat as much as you feed, and eat as much as you feed, so you must be fed regularly and quantitatively. The daily feeding should be controlled at about 10% of the fish's body weight, divided into two times, one in the morning and one in the evening. Map fish grow faster, can be sexually mature in 8 or 12 months, and can reach 20 to 30 centimeters in length.

3. The daily pH of the water body was kept at 6.5 ~ 7.5, the dissolved oxygen was about 6 mg / L, and the fecal waste was removed in time. Although map fish are easy to breed, it is not easy to raise them well. Daily observation should be careful, pay attention to whether the temperature and water quality are normal, fish activity, feeding is normal, fish fins, surface injuries, and so on, found that abnormal situations should be resolved in time.

III. Reproduction of map fish

1. The difference between male and female is not obvious. The head of male fish is higher and thicker, the dorsal fin and anal fin are longer, and the plaques and stripes on the body are more and more colorful. The female fish has a stout body, small anal fins and darker body color than the male fish. The reproductive foramen of male fish is slightly thin and pointed, while that of female fish is thicker and oval-shaped.

two。 Parent fish choose self-paired parent fish combination. When the female is alone in a corner of the aquarium tank, gnawing or fanning rocks or rubble with her body from time to time, it is the female cleaning the spawning ground, indicating that the female is about to lay eggs. There will be a male nearby to protect the female from other males, and sometimes it will set up a spawning ground with the female. At this time, the parent fish can be fished out and hatched separately, or other fish can be fished out and the parent fish can be left in the tank. You can also choose male and female fish with suitable body color and shape according to their own needs, fish them out and match them into a pair.

3. Breeding method: the size of the breeding cylinder is 60 cm × 45 cm × 45 cm, and some tiles or stones are placed at the bottom of the cylinder. The water temperature should be properly higher, keeping it at 26-28 ℃, pH at 6.5-7.5, and do not less than 6 mg / L. The female puts a row of eggs or a row of property on the surface of tiles or stones, and the male goes to inseminate. The process takes about three hours. The number of eggs laid by female fish is 800-2000 eggs, and the eggs are larger.

4. Hatching method the fertilized eggs emerge from the membrane in the parent fish tank for 2-3 days, and after 6-7 days, the larvae will be free to swim and look for food. In the meantime, the female fish has been waiting beside the larvae to take care of the larvae, while the males have been guarding the vicinity of the females from foreign enemies. In order to prevent the parent fish from swallowing the fish eggs and improve the hatching rate of the fertilized eggs, the fertilized eggs can be hatched separately, that is, the tiles and stones glued to the fertilized eggs can be placed in an aquarium tank with the same water quality as the parent fish tank, or the parent fish can be fished out and put into another aquarium tank. During the incubation period, the environment should be kept quiet. Try not to walk around the breeding ground. The cylinder wall and cylinder mouth should be covered to reduce external interference.

5. Feeding method the larvae can be fed as soon as they can swim outside. At this time, they can be fed with harvest worms or small water fleas four times a day, red worms can be fed half a month later, and artificial formula feed can be fed after a month. It is best to choose a feed with high protein content.

IV. matters needing attention

1. Map fish body color is greatly affected by feed quality and environmental light intensity, if you want to make its body color bright, it is best to often feed live bait such as fish, shrimp and so on, and to maintain sufficient light.

two。 If the nutrition of the bait is not balanced, the tail of the adult fish will sag, affecting the appearance. In order to enhance the disease resistance of map fish, multivitamins or other drugs can be added to the diet regularly.

3. If the map fish are fed too well and the water temperature is high (for example, around 28 ℃), the female will spawn many times. The method of reducing the water temperature (decreasing the water temperature by 2 / 3 ℃ at a time) can be taken to reduce the number of spawning, so as to ensure the physique of parent fish and offspring.