How Do Loaches Reproduce? What Conditions Are Needed to Raise Loaches

I'm sure everyone is familiar with the loach. Many people like it mainly because of its food value! At present, there are also a great many people in our country who raise loaches, and many people have the idea of preparing to raise them. But before raising them, everyone should still have a comprehensive understanding of its breeding techniques and the prerequisites for raising it.

How Do Loaches Reproduce

1. Completely natural reproduction. Completely natural reproduction is also called attraction reproduction. It is a method that uses the natural resources of loaches to artificially attract their spawning population and obtain fertilized eggs.

2. Semi-natural reproduction. Semi-natural reproduction is a method of letting mature loaches mate and spawn on their own under artificial conditions.

What Conditions Are Needed to Raise Loaches

1. Construction of the rearing pond: Choose a site with good light, warmth and ventilation, convenient transportation, sufficient water sources, convenient water inlet and drainage, and no pollution sources within 3 kilometers to build the rearing pond. The soil of the loach pond should be neutral or slightly acidic clay soil. The area is 100-300 sq m, the pond depth is 80-100 cm, and the water depth is 30-50 cm. Disinfect the pond with quicklime 15 days before stocking the loach fry.

2. Raising loaches in a dedicated pond. Because loaches have strong vitality, even when the rice field is drained to dry the field, they can burrow into the wet mud and rely on breathing through the intestines and skin to maintain their lives. Fish-blocking facilities must be installed at both the water inlet and outlet to prevent escape.

3. Cost: The breeding cost of loaches is relatively low. Usually the rental fee for one mu of breeding site is generally 400-600 yuan/year, the feed cost is 6000-7000 yuan, 100,000 fry are stocked per mu, 800 yuan per 10,000 fry, totaling 8000 yuan, nets 400 yuan, fishery drugs and disinfectants 100 yuan, water and electricity 200 yuan, and reserve funds 1000 yuan. Therefore, raising one mu of loaches requires an investment of about 16000-17000 yuan, and the breeding profit is about 13000-14000 yuan, and 2-3 batches of fry can be stocked each year.

Methods of Semi-natural Reproduction of Loaches

1. Build a spawning pond and hatching facilities. Before breeding, both the spawning pond and the hatching equipment must be disinfected and kept ready for use.

2. Female-to-male ratio of parent loaches: if the male loaches are relatively large, use 1:1.5 or 1:2; if the male loaches are only about 10 cm in body length, then the female-to-male ratio can be adjusted to 1:3-4, increasing the number of male loaches. 7-10 groups can be placed per sq m.

3. To ensure normal reproduction, the water temperature should be stably above 18°C. In the north, it is roughly mid-May each year; in the waters on both sides of the Yangtze River, it is late April each year; in the south, it can be done at the end of March and early April each year.

4. Tie the fish nest to a bamboo pole and hang it in the middle or at the four corners of the spawning pond so that it is submerged below the water surface. In addition, because loach eggs have poor stickiness, pay attention to checking and cleaning the dirt deposited on the fish nest so as not to affect the adhesion effect of the fertilized eggs.

5. Loaches generally spawn in the morning on sunny days, and spawning ends around 10 a.m. When spawning is basically over, immediately move the fish nest with adhered eggs to the hatching pond or other hatching facilities for hatching, and replace and supplement new fish nests in the spawning pond to collect the eggs of parent loaches that have not yet spawned.

6. After the last batch of loaches spawns, hatching can be carried out right in the spawning pond, but all the parent loaches in the spawning pond must be caught out to prevent the parent loaches from swallowing the eggs on the fish nest and affecting the emergence rate.

What Advantages Does Loach Farming Have

1. Tolerant of low oxygen: loaches can use their skin and intestines to breathe, are very tolerant of low oxygen, and can achieve a high-density farming model without the phenomenon of general fish dying from lack of oxygen in the pond.

2. Varied diet: loaches have a varied diet, and their feed is relatively easy to obtain. Grains such as corn, wheat, and rice, as well as by-products such as rice bran and soybean dregs, can all be used as loach feed.

3. Strong reproduction: loaches have very strong reproductive capacity. Under normal circumstances, one female loach can lay about 3000 eggs a year, and reproduction can be carried out in all three seasons of spring, summer, and autumn.

4. Fast growth: loaches grow relatively fast. Generally, loach fry produced by breeding in spring can reach a relatively large market size by winter, so capital recovery is very fast.

The conditions for raising loaches mainly involve building ponds, plus investing money and other aspects. The breeding methods of loaches are nothing more than natural reproduction and artificial reproduction. During artificial reproduction, the methods also require some techniques. Be sure to ensure the water temperature, and after spawning, the parent fish must be taken out.