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#43912 04/20/03 06:38 PM
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My perch spawned last week. Just for the fun of it I would like to take one of the egg deposits and raise those perch to 4-5 inches. I would then release them into the pond. I would like some help on what to do.
My pond is 1/3 ac, has aeration, and is stocked with 25 hy-bred stripers and 75+perch along with fathead minnows. If I have to build something or do something special in the pond it would not be a problem.
Any and all ideas are welcome.
Thank You

#43913 04/20/03 09:22 PM
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You better want to do this for fun because it will be very labor intensive (6 to 7day/wk job, abt 15min to 1hr/day)and much more expensive in the long run compared to buying 4"to6" perch for restocking.

Hatching the egg ribbon or a section and stocking the fry is one thing but raising those fry to 4" fingerlings is a whole different ball game.

I think you are better off buying some fingerling perch and feeding them in a cage during the summer for release in the fall. This alone will probably consume more time than you are willing to spend daily. Cheaper, less work, and about the same amount of fun.

How many perch do you want to produce for restocking? As many as possible out of one egg ribbon?


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#43914 04/21/03 07:34 AM
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Thanks for the warning Bill, HOWEVER, I am still willing to go forward on this project. Ever since I retired I've recognized two things; I have a little free time now and being "a poor white boy on a fixed income" isn't so bad especally when you plan for it years in advance. Besides, I have some great neighbor kids to take up the slack when I travel.
I built a floating cage out of 2 by 4's and fly screen. In that I put the fish eggs and a rock to keep it low in the water. I have it adrift in the pond and it goes wherever the wind takes it. That is as far as I got so far.
What's next?
Thanks,
Tom

#43915 04/21/03 09:49 PM
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Opps. You made your first mistake. Fly screen will not contain freshly hatched yellow perch fry. Maximum mesh size should be 500 micrometers if you want to contain them in a net or pen. I just measured window screen and it is 1100 x 1400 micrometers.

I think you need to get the eggs into a 5 gal bucket or better a 10 to 20 gallon aquarium or cylindrical drum. Aerate the water with an aquarium air pump and fine bubble diffuser and do water 25% exchanges daily esp once the eggs get "eyed". It is okay to gently roll the eggs in the water column or have moving water from the aeration boil gently undulating the egg mass. At this stage the hatcing strand requires more oxygen. Eggs are likely to develop fungus near hatching time. Eggs with fungus have high mortality. At hatching it is best to violently or stronly aerate the eggs to facilitate hatching.

Once you have the eggs hatched (newly hatched fry 5to6mm) and fry are about 30 to 48 hours old, you need to collect zooplankton to feed them. Use a 64u mesh plankton net to collect the zooplankton. Zooplankton quantity needed is based on how many fry you want to feed. I am currently feeding zooplankton to some newly hatched perch fry. Zooplankton composed of lots of rotifers and copepod nauplii are best for the late stage yolk sac fry. As the fry grow to 13 to 16 mm long they could now be transferred to the window screen cage. Larvae at 14-16 mm long start developing dorsal fin spines and the mouth enlarges. The fry are typically fed zooplankton until about 1" long when they can be reliably trained to eat dry feed. The dry feed should be fry sized or often called powder and about 55% protein. Young perch can continue to eat larger zooplankton such as Cladocera and insect larvae until the are 2" long. AT 2" I can get them to eat 1 mm sized trout feed (abt 51% protein).

Fish at 1" to 2" should be fed two or three times a day, at least 6 days week or preferrably daily. Above 2" you can cut back to once daily feeding, but growth will be faster if fingerlings are fed twice a day.


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#43916 04/22/03 07:19 PM
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OK Bill they are in a large cooler (10 Gal+) and they have a bubbler. I walk my pond daily and noticed this new egg ribon last week Thursday. How much time do I have before they hatch? Would it be a good idea to set up a pump and exchange the water enough to get the right quanity of zooplankton? How deep should the intake be? I havent found a 64u net yet but would I need one if the water exchange idea works?
If it is possible, could I see your perch raising operation?
Thank You

#43917 04/22/03 09:43 PM
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Perch egg hatching time will depend on the temperature you are incubating the eggs. Move the cooler into the gfarage or house and they will hatch faster. Hatching will take about 7 to 8 days at 55 to 60 degrees. AT 70 degrees it will take about 4 to 5 days. Shorter time at 75 deg.

Unless I am missing something, I don't see how you can do water exchanges by pumping water and not pump the fry out of the container. Fry have very limited if any swimming ability against current of any type. Pump intake will gather most zooplankton in shallow water at night or real cloudy days. Many zooplankton tend to be negative photo sensitive. Deep during day shallow at night. Also many zooplktn (&fish fry)are attrached to light at night.

PLankton nets are fairly expensive; depending on style $50 to $90.

Sure you can see my "perch raising operation". Real high tech operation over here in Malinta. Fry in a 1.5 gal bucket w/bubbler. I hatched a 4" section of perch eggs as a demonstration for a 11 year old. Not much to see, but you are welcome. I can show you just how small perch fry are. Mine are 4 days old on Apr 23.
Bring along a 1" or 2" section of Thursdays egg strand and I will show you what perch embryos look like at 12X to 40X magnificaton.


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#43918 04/23/03 12:15 AM
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Can you do this easily with other types of fish? bass, bluegills, or Walleye? What pond fish would be the easiest? Is it better to use a floating cage or a large aquarium (or stock tank) for the grow out? Sorry about all the questions this is something that has always interested me. Thank You!

#43919 04/23/03 08:56 PM
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Yellow perch eggs are unique and easy to collect and hatch. Other fish eggs would be more difficult to collect. With many of the other fish it is easiest to let mother nature hatch them and then work with the fry or larvae. With any fish eggs you can obtain (such as stripping & fertilizing, nest robbing or mat spawning etc.) then hatching with circulating oxygenated water is a possibility. Once hatched basically all fish eat similar items while in the fry/larval stage. When all finage, rays, & spines are developed then food item preferences can change.


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#43920 04/30/03 01:14 PM
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Thanks for your help Bill.
Well my perch eggs hatched yesterday and are doing fine. Right now they look like a bunch of black dots with a translucent body wiggling behind it. I think there are only about 50 to 75 of those perch fry. I made a zooplankton catcher useing a 1 gallon plastic bottle and zooplankton screen. I pump pond water into the gallon bottle and the screen lets the water out but keeps the plankton in. It works pretty good. I put the fry into a 2gal bucket with airation. My thought there was to keep the fry and the zooplankton in closer proximity to each other. That cooler seemed a bit too large for the amount of fry I have.
Again, Thanks for your help.


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