Growing pike in ponds

Pike - Esox lucius - is a predatory fish - one of the valuable breeding objects for overgrown reservoirs, especially when organizing amateur commercial fishing. Pike is an indispensable bioreclamator of water bodies, especially in central Russia and Belarus. In aquaculture, pike are a valuable addition to carp ponds. Therefore, in this article we will look at why pike are bred in ponds, what are the features of pike breeding on farms and whether it is possible to breed pike at home and a lot of other information about breeding and growing pike.

Content

 

• Common pike general characteristics of the aquaculture object
• Why are pike bred in a pond?
• Pike growth by year
• Pike reproduction methods
• Breeding pike at home
• How pike are bred on farms
• There is another way to breed pike on farms
• Growing pike in the Amur apparatus
• Growing pike at the prelarval stage
• Stocking density of pike in the pond
• Approximate standards for breeding and rearing pike in pond fish farms
• Diseases of pike when growing in a pond

 

Common pike general characteristics of the aquaculture object

Pike is a typical predator that prefers to remain motionless, waiting for its prey among the aquatic thickets. Seeing its prey, the pike rushes with lightning speed and swallows it, often whole. As a rule, pike eat various low-value fish, such as crucian carp, roach, bream, whitefish, ide, carp, perch, and ruff. Pike inhabits almost all rivers and lakes, while it colonizes desalinated sea waters in the Caspian, Azov and Baltic seas.
Pike is a very valuable fish species that plays the role of a regulator in the wild, preventing low-value fish species from spreading very widely.
The pike has a slender body and a large head and mouth. The color of pike changes depending on the habitat conditions and vegetation of the reservoir. The color of pike can vary from grayish-yellow to grayish-brown. On the sides of the pike’s body there are spots of olive or brown color; the pike has paired fins and has a characteristic orange tint. In some reservoirs, the color of pike may vary.

Pike is a very valuable species in aquaculture, for growing pike in a pond in polyculture with carp or pasture aquaculture in lakes. Also recently, growing pike in RAS has become popular, both for obtaining juvenile pike for stocking reservoirs, breeding pike in RAS for caviar, and growing commercial pike in RAS. There is also a direction for breeding pike in cages.

 

 

Why are pike bred in a pond?

Why is it necessary to breed pike in ponds? There may be several reasons, let's look at the most important ones.

• Pike are raised in feeding ponds as a reclamation agent; the pike eats small trash fish: bleak, gudgeon, rudd, roach, small crucian carp, and pike also eat a large number of frogs, beetle larvae, dragonflies and other aquatic insects.
• Raising pike in a pond with other valuable fish allows the pike to eat the smallest and slowest-growing individuals of valuable fish, which allows the other fish to more fully utilize the food.
• Growing pike in lakes allows you to remove from the lake a large number of small perch and ruffe, which are not valuable for fish farming, but eat a lot of valuable fish eggs and food and greatly harm valuable fish species.
• Growing pike in a pond allows you to more fully use the food resources of the reservoir and obtain additional fish products.
• Pike has very tasty lean meat, which is why pike is in demand among the population.
• Amateur anglers love to catch pike, which makes pike an interesting object in reservoirs with paid fishing.
• Raising pike in a pond can also have an indirect effect, for example, silver crucian carp in the pond actively eats planktonic crustaceans, which in turn consume phytoplankton, as a result, a large number of small crucian carp in the pond can lead to algal blooms. The introduction of pike into the pond regulates the number of crucian carp and prevents water from blooming.
• Pike can withstand oxygen levels reduced to a level of 0.8 mg per liter for 2 months, this is important in order to breed pike in non-drainage ponds and lakes, as well as in small ponds at home.

Of course, introducing pike into a pond with other fish must be observed in accordance with the recommended stocking densities and other recommendations for the technology of growing common pike.

Therefore, the question of why pikes, perches and some other fish are caught from ponds before growing valuable fish in them can be answered if this is not done, then the pikes will eat all the fry of the puppies of the fish species.

Pike growth by year

The growth rate of pike is quite high, largely depending on the region. The growth of pike in 1 year can reach a mass of 150-300 g and a length of 24-30 cm; in the 2nd year the weight of the pike is 0.8-1.0 kg, in the 3rd year -1.0-1.4, in the 4th year -1.3-2.2 kg. The average weight of pike fingerlings depends on diet and region. If there is a lot of food in the pond, pike fingerlings can grow to an average of 450 g, and in some cases up to 800 g. In zone 5 of fish farming, pike in a pond can grow and in winter adding 150 grams of weight over the winter. For a pike to grow by 1 kg, the pike eats 2-3 kg of fish. As a rule, when pike are raised in carp ponds, pike fingerlings have enough trash fish and the carp does not suffer. But with age, the feed ratio of pike increases to 7, and after 7 years of age, the feed ratio increases to 16.

Pike actively feeds at temperatures ranging from 10 to 18 degrees Celsius and can withstand temperatures up to 33 degrees Celsius.

The height and weight of pike by year is indicated in the table of height and weight of pike.

Table Growth of pike by year in Russia.

Age years	Weight g	Size cm
1	150-300	24-30
2	800-1000	50-54
3	1000-1400	54-66
4	1300-2200	64-78

 

Pike reproduction methods

Breeding pike at home

Pike reproduction is carried out in several ways.
How are pike bred on farms? It is not difficult to obtain pike larvae for breeding pike at home. To do this, it is enough to catch several females and males of pike measuring 45-55 cm in any river or lake in the fall or spring.

What is the spawning temperature for pike? Pike spawns at a temperature of 6-10°C in an ordinary spawning pond with an area of 0.01 hectares and a depth of 0.5-1.0 m, where there is last year’s vegetation; it is important that the bottom is not muddy, otherwise the pike eggs will die.

When does pike spawning begin? Pike spawning occurs on the 2-3rd day and is very rapid. From one female you can get 5-10 thousand viable fry.
The absolute fertility of a pike 30-35 cm long and weighing 250 g is 7 thousand eggs; 80 cm long and weighing 5.5 kg - 18-20 thousand eggs (Lower Dnieper); 40-50 cm long and weighing 1.5-2.0 kg - 6 thousand eggs (in the Ob); 50-60 cm long and weighing 1.5-2.0 kg - 23-35 thousand eggs (in the Volga delta).

When breeding pike at home, you should remember that male pike mature in the 2-3rd year, female pike mature in the 3-4th year of life. When breeding pike in ponds, the ratio of females to males should be 1:3, the reserve of producers should be 50%, the working fertility of pike should be 35 thousand eggs, the diameter of the eggs should be 2.5-3 mm. 3 minutes after fertilization in water, the eggs become sticky, but after 1-1.5 hours they peel off from the substrate. The duration of incubation of eggs at a water temperature of 10°C is 12 days. When pike spawn, the dissolved oxygen content should be at least 2.5-3.5 mg/l.

In nature, pre-larvae feed on the yolk sac for 8-10 days after hatching, and then on the 12-14th day on small zooplankton; from 20 days of age they begin to actively eat fish fry. It is important to remember that, according to a number of authors, at the VI stage of development, cannibalism can begin in pike even if there is plenty of food.

If pike spawning took place in a spawning pond, then pike fry for stocking feeding carp ponds or other reservoirs are caught at 13-14 days of age, 2-3 days after the start of their active swimming. If left longer, they can become food for spawners and larger fry.

 

 

How pike are bred on farms

 

Pike spawning usually takes place at the end of March, for this reason it is possible to incubate pike eggs in a carp nursery. Pike eggs are incubated at a temperature of 5-12 degrees Celsius, so the incubation period lasts 10-12 days. The fertility of a female pike can reach from 100,000 to 1,000,000 eggs.

When breeding pike on farms, pike eggs are taken by straining, and only from living females. The milk is strained directly onto the caviar and then mixed thoroughly using a bird's feather, after which a little water or saline is added. Pike eggs are deglued. After 3-4 hours of soaking the caviar, it is transferred to a Weiss apparatus; 1.2 - 2 liters of pike caviar are placed in 1 Weiss apparatus. Incubation of pike eggs takes 10-14 days. The resting stage of pike larvae lasts 13-15 days.
For normal development of pike eggs, the water must contain 10-12 mg per liter of oxygen, more than 0.2 mg per liter of iron oxide, the pH must be in the range from 6 to 8, the water temperature must be in the range of 8-18 degrees Celsius. Mass hatching of larvae begins when the water temperature rises by 3-5 degrees Celsius. Pike are reared in trays and silos, with a stocking density of 50 - 150 and 200 thousand pieces per m3 for up to 18 - 23 days. The length of the pike fry is 2-2.5 cm, departure at 50%.

There is another way to breed pike on farms

 

To obtain offspring and reproduce pike in a factory way, large producers keep pike in small earthen, wooden or concrete cages. Due to portioned ripening, milk is taken from males several times and stored in the cold. To stimulate maturation, the pike pituitary gland is injected at the rate of 1 kg of body weight for females - 3-4, for males 1.5-2.0 mg. The resulting eggs are fertilized in basins. Destick with an emulsion of starch in water -1:20.
Embryos that have begun to develop are placed in Weiss devices at the rate of 120-220 thousand per 8-liter device. During the incubation period, embryos are treated with a solution of malachite green -1:100000. On the 8-10th day, from to When the eyes become intensely pigmented, the embryos are placed in the fry trough, where the embryos hatch from the membranes. If you leave them in the Weiss apparatus, the Prelarvae stick to its walls and may die.
Plates made of organic glass or galvanized iron with holes are inserted into the gutter for better water exchange. After gluing the prelarvae to these scutes, they are transferred to the apparatus and given a stream of water. Prelarvae are kept in gutters or wooden and concrete cages; the larvae are fed with zooplankton for the first two days. The yield of larvae from prelarvae is 50%.

Growing pike in the Amur apparatus

 

The experience of Belarusian fish farmers, who used “Amur” incubation devices with an ascending water flow to raise young pike, is interesting. The use of "Amur" devices was caused by the biological peculiarity of pike, which hunts only for moving food.

They were used at the age of 12 days from the moment of hatching, the duration of rearing lasted 7 days. The water temperature in the apparatus is within 15.5–17.0°C. The content of oxygen dissolved in water was at a level from 8.8 to 10.7 mg/l, pH – 7.0–8.0.

The starter feed contained 50% crude protein, 10% fat and 2% crude fiber.

With a pike diet of 50% live food + 50% starter compound feed and a pike stocking density of 20,000 pcs/m3, it helps to increase the survival rate of juvenile pike to 65.0%, and also reduces the feed ratio to 5.5 units . The average weight gain of juvenile pike during the growing period increases by 39.0%, the average daily increase in the length of juveniles - by 68.0%, and the average daily relative increase in body weight increases by 2.1% and the average daily relative increase in body length of pike larvae - by 2 .1% compared to traditional growing in trays.

 

Growing pike at the prelarval stage

According to the traditional factory method of rearing common pike, pike pre-larvae after hatching fall to the bottom of the tray or remain on the frame. At this stage of pike development, it is necessary to remember that when pike larvae transition to an active lifestyle, they must rise to the surface of the water and fill their swim bladder with air. For this reason, the water level in the tray should not be more than 25 cm. For keeping pike larvae, the most optimal temperature is considered to be 12 – 15 °C.

It is considered acceptable to raise pike larvae for approximately another seven days in the same containers in which they were initially kept. In this case, zooplankton from a reservoir or specially grown on the farm must be used as food for pike. Pike larvae are fed twice a day - morning and evening. Artificial feeding of pike is necessary if one part of the pike larvae has already switched to a mixed diet and has begun to lead an active lifestyle, and the other part of the pike larvae has not yet switched to active feeding. When raising young pike, it is necessary to remember that during the transition to active feeding, the basis of food for pike larvae is small cyclops.

 

Cannibalism of pike during rearing

Pike is an active predator, so pike willingly eats its fellows that are smaller in size. When growing pike in a pond, larger pike larvae begin to eat smaller ones. Experiments conducted by scientists show that cannibalism in pike occurs even if the stocking density is very small and regardless of feeding.
Therefore, in order to avoid cannibalism of pike larvae, it is necessary that they be approximately the same size. Also, in order to avoid cannibalism, it is necessary that feeding be regular. Remember, being late with feeding can lead to complete death of pike larvae of the same size, and cannibalism begins in pike larvae of different sizes. Therefore, it is important to obtain larvae of approximately the same size and adequate nutrition, an extremely important element in growing pike in which cannibalism does not occur.

Raising pike larvae

 

Early introduction of live food provokes a more amicable transition of the pike larvae to the consumption of external food. This is all the more important because during the further rearing of young pike, since a more friendly transition to external nutrition will make it possible to unify the pike larvae, and therefore eliminate mass cannibalism during the further rearing of pike.

 

Stocking density of pike in the pond

The density of pike stocking in ponds depends on the region and other factors. Young pike are placed in feeding ponds at a rate of 100-200, and sometimes up to 400 pieces/ha. At the same time, the yield of fish products increases by 30-50 kg/ha. In the 1st year, a pike eats 5 kg of fish to gain 1 kg, and in the 2nd year - 7-8 kg.

In the conditions of the North Caucasus, pike fry 2-3 cm long are added to yearlings of carp and herbivorous fish. The norm for planting pike in ponds is 250-350 pcs./ha. As a result, an additional 100-150 kg/ha of marketable pike can be obtained without additional costs.

 

 

Approximate standards for breeding and rearing pike in pond fish farms

Spawning method

Proportion of producers in spawning nests  <1:2; 1:3

Age manufacturers, years 3-6

Average weight of producers, kg 2-5

Working fertility, thousand pieces 35

Yield of fry from embryos at the age of 13-14 days, % 60

The emergence of fry from one nest during spawning, thousand pieces. 

nesting  12-15

group 8-10

Area of the spawning pond, ha per nest 0.02-0.03

for three nests (for group spawning) 0.1

 

Factory method

Amount of pituitary gland per 1 kg of body weight, mg

females 3-4

males 1.5-2

Number of embryos in an 8-liter Weiss apparatus, thousand pcs. 120-220

Water consumption, l/min 1.5

Yield of prelarvae from embryos, % 70

Density of planting of larvae (thousand pieces) in cages of size, m 

2x1.2x0.2  150

0.9x0.45x0.4  60

Yield of larvae before switching to active feeding, % 50

Average weight of fingerlings, g 200-300

Yield of commercial fingerlings from larvae, % 20

Stocking density of fry per 300 liters of water during transportation lasting up to 3 hours, thousand pcs. 10-12

Number of fry for planting in carp ponds, pcs/ha 

when planting tench and crucian carp  250-400

without planting additional fish 100-200

Increasing the fish productivity of ponds by planting pike fingerlings, kg/ha

channel 30-40

dammed 10-35

Feed ratio

in summer 3-4

winter for producers 6-6.5

Weight loss of pike in winter without feeding, % 10-12

Weight gain in winter with feeding, % 10-15

Size of concrete cages, m 3x1.3

Water consumption per 1 quintal of fish, l/s 1.4

Water layer thickness, m 1

Planting density of manufacturers, pcs/m2 10

Size of wooden cages, m 2x1.2

Water consumption for keeping 1 million larvae, l/min 25

Diseases of pike when growing in a pond

When raising pike in a pond, there may be diseases, the most common diseases of pike are as follows.

Rhabdovirus disease of pike fry - fish diseases
Plague of pikes
Eustrogilosis of pikes