Vegetable fishes: names, features of growing and nutrition. Fish farm

Growing herbivorous fish or keeping ponds is the main source of fish on the country's trade counters. Technologies of pond fish breeding are developing and changing in connection with the change in the historical, political and economic situation in Russia.

The cycle of cultivation in ponds of carp and other herbivorous fish traditionally takes two to three years. Nutrition of herbivorous fish in ponds is carried out through the cultivation of polyculture and fertilizer ponds. Refusal to use artificial feeds with mineral fertilizers allows to receive an annual increase in all types of ponds (growing and feeding).

Species of herbivorous fish

Which fish are herbivorous? The list of herbivorous fish in Russia includes:

• Silver carp white and mottled.
• Carp.
• White amur.

These fish, thanks to their natural characteristics, easily take root in many countries, while maintaining the taste indicators.

White amur

This commercial fish belongs to the family of carp and is characterized by rapid growth. We know cases of gaining weight by a white cupid up to 50 kg. For the Cupid feeding, any vegetation of water bodies, meadow grasses, and also feed-concentrate is suitable. The diet of white cupid is determined by its age.

Age of fish	Menu
1-14 day of life	zooplankton
15-30 day of life	Small algae
Month and more	Duckweed and other vegetation of the pond

The amount of food consumed by white cupid often exceeds its body weight.

Cupids are called a natural filter of a pond. Eaten them, the algae pass through the intestines of the fish and again find themselves in a pond, creating comfortable conditions for living and breeding to other fish. The number of fish reclamation depends on how much the pond has become overgrown with algae and is from one hundred to five hundred units of white cupid per hectare.

To increase the productivity it is recommended to introduce into the diet of fish the feeding from perennial grasses. Suitable for alfalfa or sainfoin. With low vegetation in the pond, the white cupid can feed for a while. But you should not abuse it. This can lead to the development of serious pathologies of the population.

Willingness to reproduce in white cupids depends on the region of residence. So, in the southern regions of the country the white cupid reaches puberty at five years old, and in the northern regions - at eight.

With the help of replanting the white cupid in a population of up to 600 pieces per hectare, it is possible to clean slightly overgrown ponds. For moderately and heavily overgrown ponds, the number of cupids should be increased to a thousand individuals per hectare. Introducing young white amur helps during one vegetative period to clean unprofitable reservoirs with watery reeds and prepare them for growing carp of fry.

But that the white Cupid showed himself as an ameliorator of the water area, he needs to create special conditions. So, the depth of the pond should not be less than half a meter. This condition is necessary for the fishes for a successful wintering. And ensure the warming up of water in the summer months to 18 ° C.

The technology of growing planting material of herbivorous fish in complex ponds is based on polyculture. Excellent reside with the white Cupid such representatives of the fish world, as a silver carp (white and motley), carp, pike and pike perch. Why the number of herbivorous fish can dramatically decrease? The presence in the pike pike, guarantees eating it young amur. Therefore, for the successful cleaning of the reservoir from seaweed, two-year-old Cupid is planted, weighing over two hundred grams.

This technology has been successfully used for a long time by the Saratov fish hatchery of herbivorous fish. After replanting two-year-olds and three-year old white cupids, the company managed to get rid of algae and reeds over an area of more than a thousand hectares, which, in turn, led to improved production and financial performance.

Carp

Carp - the first name that comes to mind when answering the question, which of the bony fishes is herbivorous. In fact, carp is a tamed carp. A characteristic feature of its digestive system is the absence of the stomach. Therefore the carp devotes all his life to finding food. Fortunately, in food he is unpretentious - with equal pleasure carp absorbs algae and other aquatic vegetation, insect larvae, midges and small plankton.

Carp - a long-living fish, he is able to live about half a century. Of course, to engage in the cultivation of carps for such a long period of time makes no sense.

Carp is the most popular species on fish farms. Carp breeding accounts for up to 70% of all herbivorous fish.

Popularization of the breeding of these fish is caused not only by the diversity of what the carp feeds, but also by its undemanding care and maintenance. This fish easily suffers difficulties and adversity - cold temperature and lack of oxygen.

There are three main subspecies of carp:

1. Mirror.
2. Scaly.
3. Naked.

These subspecies branch out into many breeds. There are decorative carp species (for example, Koi carp), which are bred for aesthetic purpose.

Habitat

Mostly bred carp in private ponds or stakes. Carp Malek is as unpretentious as adults. In the pond with standing or weakly flowing water, the sheds are lowered, the frames on which the net is stretched. And in them lives and multiplies fish.

The optimum depth of the pond for carp maintenance is one and a half to two meters. A small depth contributes to a good warming of the water. It is recommended to install an oxygen generator to saturate the reservoir with oxygen and backlight for the dark time of the day. Night lighting will attract insects than carp feeds.

With a balanced menu and proper care carp male, weighing 30 grams per season adds weight three times. And by October, his weight is up to a kilogram.

Silver carp white

Best of all, the white carp is suitable for habitation in the southern regions. In a day this fish eats the amount of food equal to half its mass. Thanks to such an inherent gluttony, the weight of a white silver carp can reach twenty kilograms.

Perfectly get along with other herbivorous fish, as its diet does not compete with their menu.

The white carp of silver carp is presented in the table below:

Age of fish	Ration
From birth to 9 days	Nauplii, small plankton
From 9 days to a month	Phytoplankton
Adult specimen	Rotifers, small crustaceans, detritus

Melioratorial abilities of white carp are irreplaceable for eftropic ponds. Sexual maturity in white carobs depends on climatic conditions: in the southern regions they are ready for reproduction at the age of 5 years, and in the northern at 8.

Silver carpenter motley

It differs from its white counterpart with a truncated body and a huge head and a well-developed gill filter apparatus.

Like the white, motley carp a day eats up to half its own weight. For the first two weeks, the young man feeds on one small plankton, eventually passes to larger algae. Adult variegated carp fungus prefers blue-green phytoplankton.

This species of carver grows faster than all, the weight of adult fish can reach up to 40 kilograms. However, when the population increases, the variegated carnivores compete with carps. The sexual maturity of these fish does not depend on the habitat and falls on average for a five-year age.

Fish polyculture

At the moment, most fish farms have switched to intensive cultivation technology, which is called pasture fisheries. A characteristic feature of such fish farming is the use of several fish polycultures. The calculation of the density of planting material of different species of herbivorous fish in this case depends on:

• The natural productivity of fish.
• Mineralization of the reservoir.
• Diet of feeding.
• Age of fish.
• The size of the fish.

Ideal conditions for the productive breeding of herbivorous fish species, as well as for small marine fish, is the rapid warming of the reservoir. This allows you to raise the temperature of the pond water to the optimum values - over 20 ° Celsius - for feeding fish. Given the natural temperature regime of three summer months - the most suitable time for reproduction of fish.

Place for growing young fry

Carp larvae and fry of other herbivorous fish are all their "childhood" in closed water supply systems (UZV) for growing fish - incubators that promote the growth of young animals (VNIIPRKh). The density of the number of fry in the USV for growing fish is directly proportional to their weight, and on average it is about two hundred and fifty thousand larvae per one cubic meter. Then the juvenile fry are moved to specially equipped containers - pools or trays.

Features of carp feeding and herbivorous fish

What to feed the fish? This is the main question of a caring owner who is interested in the growth of young animals. That is why it is so important to devote time to studying the distinctive features of feeding various species of herbivorous fish, their food relationships, and also the time to transfer the fry to specialized feed.

The starting feed of larvae and fry of herbivorous fish is the mixed feed of RK0SZM or its analogue - EQUISO. The composition of such mixed feeds includes:

• Products of microbiosynthesis, which have a high concentration of protein.
• Fishmeal of low fat content.
• Lean oil.
• Mixture of multivitamins.
• Flour from wheat.
• Sodium caseinate.

After the weight of the young reaches 100mg, they are transferred to feeding with the mixed feed STRAS - 1. The percentage composition of STRAS -1:

• Proteins - 55%.
• Fats - 7%.
• Carbohydrates - 16%.
• Water is 10%.

For better digestibility, about 50% of the protein compounds that make up the feed are destructured. The use of feed for fry of herbivorous fish is allowed after switching to external feeding. The periodicity of feeding in incubators is from 20 minutes to half an hour. One portion is distributed evenly in the area of the fry accumulation. Feed larvae is recommended only in the daytime.

Combined feed RK-SMZ, EQUISO and STRAS-1 are designed for feeding fry in the absence of natural food. To adapt the fry to the natural habitat, it is necessary to add small forms of phytoplankton to incubators with fish. The presence of even small amounts of live phytoplankton in the ration of young animals ensures rapid growth of fry and an improvement in their vital signs.

The diet of carp larvae weighing up to fifty grams consists of a special feedstuff AK-1KE. It includes:

• Meat-and-bone meal.
• Yeast.
• Soybeans.
• Lean oil.
• Mixture of multivitamins.
• Dicalcium phosphate.

When the carp weight reaches fifty grams or more, it is transferred to the feedstuff of AK-2KE. And when recruiting mass from two hundred grams - mixed feed RGM - 2KE. The composition of all mixed fodders for carp fry includes dry mixtures of natural origin.

The daily norm for carp fry, weighing up to twenty grams, is distributed evenly and is given out every hour during the bright time of the day. When typing a few carp weight from twenty grams or more, the number of feedings per day is reduced to nine to ten times.

Weight of young carp (g)	Degree of heating water (° C)	ЄС
Until 3	25	thirty
3 to 5	15	20
5 to 10	eleven	17th
10 to 20	8	14

In winter, if the water temperature is kept at 6 ° C or higher, the fish continue to be fed, distributing the daily intake for three meals. In winter, feeding is carried out only in the daytime and in an amount sufficient to support metabolic processes. So:

• If the water temperature is 6-8 ° C - the rate of food per day is 0.5% of the weight of the fish.
• If 9-10 ° C is the norm to 1%.
• If 10-12 ° C is the norm to 2%.

It is best to feed herbivorous fish in winter suitable vegetable feed with a reduced content of protein.

Planting of carp fry, whose weight does not exceed twenty grams, is carried out with density:

• For swimming pools 650 units per cubic meter.
• In the cages - up to 500 units per cubic meter.

For young animals of large breeds of fish, this number does not exceed 250 individuals per one cubic meter.

Fish farm: business plan

Breeding fish is a business idea is not new, but its relevance today only increases. The option of keeping your own rate or pond is a profitable business. But at the initial stage requires a solid investment and a competent organization of the process.

To begin with, it is worthwhile to find a land suitable for installing a pool with cages. An obligatory condition for the successful production of fish is the availability of a special filter and equipment necessary for a particular breed of fish.

Procurement of young animals will also require significant financial costs. Note that the price of the larva is higher than that of the pods. Calculate the natural loss of fry in the growing process. On average, this amount is up to 10%. Grow a full grown adult from the fry will be only after two - two and a half years.

Any business project begins with the preparation of a business plan. Evaluation of the fish market makes it possible to conclude that carp is the most popular product on fish stalls.

Estimated estimates for the organization of a fish farm for growing carp:

• Purchase of fry carp for replanting in cages - about ten thousand rubles;
• The salary of the farm staff is thirty thousand rubles;
• Fodder for carp larvae and vitamin mixture - seven to eight thousand rubles;
• Other expenses (payment of water, light, gas for heating the pool) - twenty-twenty-five thousand rubles.

In total, the approximate amount you need to have to start a fish farm is about seventy thousand in the national currency. Therefore, the fish farm refers to a business with a category of investments of up to one hundred thousand rubles. For the northern regions of Russia this amount increases by several times, and amounts to about five hundred thousand.

As for profits, then without deduction of taxes and fees, it fluctuates within a hundred and thirty-one hundred and fifty rubles. However, the profit can be expected not earlier than in two or two and a half years. By this time, the carp is transformed into an adult and its mass is one or two kilograms.

Carp, like no other species, is suitable for organizing a business for growing fish. This is due to its unpretentiousness in food and maintenance. And fast growing fry of carp will help to pay back expenses and receive the income faster. However, it is not worth neglecting the quality of the conditions of keeping fish and mixed fodder. The consumer attitude can lead to the development of pathologies in the fry and its death, as well as the inadequacy of the meat of adult carp to sanitary standards.

Pros and cons of the fish business

If we analyze the successful experience of fishing, we can single out such advantages in favor of this area of agriculture:

• A small starting capital makes it easier to create a fish farm.
• The unpretentiousness of herbivorous fish in maintenance and care reduces the owner's costs of paying labor to hired workers.
• Rapid growth of fish of the Cyprinidae family (already in one year, the carp larva gains the commercial weight of an adult), allows faster recovery of costs and profit.
• Uncomplicated carp in the diet. In addition to feeding on their own, these fish provide a good weight gain and growth when using any compound feed (as special, for fish, for birds or cattle).
• The possibility of complementary feeding of carp with natural products - grain or potatoes (the only thing, for better digestibility, you need to pre-weld them).

Of course, in every barrel of honey there is a fly in the ointment. Doing business to grow herbivorous fish has its own "pitfalls":

• Seasonality of product sales. In general, the young man is gaining marketable weight by the autumn, and the mass arrival of fish on commodity counters, respectively, leads to a price drop.
• In summer, the transport and storage of fish is a very costly and complex exercise.
• The growth of fish is also directly dependent on the season: in the warm season, carp actively feeds and grows rapidly, in cold weather these indicators decrease;
• Not every outlet can afford to buy equipment to keep the fish sold.
• A separate item of expenditure falls on the maintenance of sanitary standards, the treatment of fish and their protection (we have many people who wish to go for "free fishing").

To get additional profit on the fish farm, it is necessary to take into account the natural symbiosis of the cultivated polyculture. There is a variant of breeding crayfish in one area with carp. Go other species of herbivorous fish. Lake crayfish not only perfectly clean the bottom of the pond (pond, cages), but they are also a competing commodity. In addition, you do not need to feed crayfish. They eat the remains of fish food and eat phytoplankton. During moult, crayfish become weak, some of them die, becoming food for fish.

It is possible to breed carp larvae for sale. To keep such fry, a separate water area will be required. However, this additional income is not immediately possible: male carp reach puberty by the third year of life, and the female only to the fifth.

The Israeli experience

In the middle of the sands of the Negev desert , a fish farm appeared on the territory of Israel. The distance to the nearest pond is about three hundred kilometers, while the density of fish grown per cubic meter of water is about one hundred kilograms.

To create a water space farm needed a well depth of about a kilometer, from where water comes, whose chemical composition corresponds to the sea or ocean. This allowed the owners to start and successfully reproduce small marine fish.

Of course, the life-support of fish desert farm is in the hands of employees of a special laboratory. They monitor the composition of the water, the operation of the fans, cleaning and distilling water and saturating it with oxygen. In addition, the life of fish also depends on uninterrupted electricity.

The creation of such a fish farm is not just a breakthrough in the development of the desert territory. Such a fishing enterprise creates jobs and an alternative to catching fish in the sea.