Hello.

With the Corona-virus (Covid-19).

I don't know if it's the same in U.S.A but here we see a change in the consumption, more and more people want to do their food, what sells the most in the nurseries this spring are the fruit trees, vegetable plans, fruit shrubs, I even have neighbors who bought chickens.

This spring my kids ask me if I would like to do a flattening pond.

Wow, lots of questions, it is not like a pleasure pond.

For 1000 perch, which size, water change, oxygen, which fish is best for flattening, a friend told me that Yellow-perch is good for flattening because he is less cannibalism than other.

What do you think of that.

A+

azteca, do you intend to feed the perch, or just let nature take its course?

azteca focuses on hatching and feed training his perch fry, thus he plans on pellet feeding them.
Here is an example of what he is doing - creative use of utilizing small ponds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKa_iM64ip8&feature=youtu.be&t=1

Before stocking the fry into the fattening pond, I think for the best results for the fattening pond he should first try and grow the fry to 1.7"-2.5" long or at least 1.5". Then sort, hand pick or net grade grade the larger perch of that year class until you reach the target stocking number (1000?). This number should be around 40% of the total crop. This is because the female perch grow faster than most of the male perch. A few male perch do grow a fast as the females. Stock primarily female or largest males of the crop. Feed the perch a premium high protein food at least once a day maybe twice a day for fastest growth. These fish will grow the fastest to harvestable sizes. In year one in Quebec one should be able to get these 1st year perch to be 5"-6" and some to 7". Second year 7.5-9.5".

Azteca, YP are a focus of research for aquaculture. Though you probably have it already, the link below might be useful. As with any forage species, attainment of desired size in a single growing season is the biggest challenge to overcome.

NRAC Manual



On page 35 of the above manual they discuss the commercial grow out of YP in ponds. I will scale the results in numbers suitable a small project. The culture consisted of a two stage process where fingerling were raised to a mean length of just under 5" in year 0 at densities of 1.07 fingerlings per ft^2. 1000 stage one fingerlings would require ~ 1000 sq ft at that density. If you wanted only females for the subsequent growout, double that size and stock fry to yield 2000 fingerlings (based on the historical fry mortality). At this stocking rate, the yield is between 1100 - 1200 lbs per acre. So this is manageable with no aeration or water exchange.

The grow out stage was with densities of .3256 fingerlings per ft^2. So the grow out space required for 1000 fingerlings would be ~3100 ft^2. At this density, the biomass of will attain => 4200 lbs/acre. So at this stocking rate aeration/water exchange may be required. I won't be able help with what is required but aeration has the potential of being sufficient. One approach may be to begin harvesting fish midway through the grow out so that the standing weight remains manageable through the season (you might achieve >2000 lbs/acre with this approach). In whatever water you have overwintered, you should probably let them spawn before stocking for grow out. The second stage will produce fish in excess of 9".