OK! First 5 days down, off to a REALLY slow start but without fail, once photo period reaches 12 hrs 15 min., it's game-on.. 39 degs or 50 degs it's very consistent every year with photo period.
Got some pics lined up here, will try to explain the process as it goes. There are many items I haven't got pics of that need to be a part of this but I'll be back at it in 2 days and try and get a completed, step-by-step shot of the entire process.
Pic #1 is water supply tank for continued flow inside of spawntoon. The reason for the elaborate filter systems is not for clear water but protection from Zebra mussels in this case.
A side shot of our fully enclosed 32ft Barge for stripping eggs in any weather conditions..
First 700 gal tank is Females from Trap nets..
This pic is of Females from gill nets-we use multi-filament nets with near 0% mortality.
Next pic here is 300 gal tank with males only
As we start the stripping process, the fish bellies are dried using towels to keep and potential mussel spores out of containers going to the hatchery. The bench is built with a fixture to hold one pan solid, filled near half with water so the second pan we strip eggs into "floats" so it can be spun to keep eggs uniform and evenly spread prior to fertilization.
Shaking those ovaries down!(also called "pillow talk"..
And finishing off a pan..
Next we start sorting out 3-5 males to assure good genetics as-in the strongest spermatozoa gets it done..
After fertilized, 1 qt of water is poured in and the eggs are stirred immediately with a turkey feather before handing off to the "egg stirrers". Each pan is stirred for 2 minutes and then 1 qt of fullers earth clay mix is poured in to remove adhesive membrane from eggs and stirred for 3 more minutes. At this point eggs are poured into fine screen vats where they set for 1 hour to water harden. During hardening, the cells begine to multiply at a rate that the egg is 5 times the size it was when stripped.
After 1 hr the eggs are lifted from the vats at a rate of 6qts of water hardened eggs (approx. 120,000/qt) into coolers containing 3 gal of water. Each is labeled and one of the guys loads and drives direct to 1 of 2 hatcheries, whichever has the room.
Last Thursday morn was the first day we had ripe females and took approx. 800,000 eggs. Yesterday we sent 2,280,000. within a few days we should be averaging 5-6 million a day for the next 2 weeks. I will get some other pics of all parts of the operation in a few days, it's hard to snap pics when every person has a specific job and really, there is little sit-still time until the last pan is fertilized. I hope by next Thursday I can get pics of fry hatching to add to the remainder of pics to come.
