How to Farm Freshwater Bass? A Complete Guide to Breeding Techniques

From the living habits of the bass, we can learn that bass can live in both seawater and freshwater, which is why they are called freshwater bass. The key to freshwater bass farming also lies in breeding techniques, so mastering breeding techniques is crucial.

Freshwater Bass Breeding Techniques

1. Pond Construction

1. Choose a site with abundant water sources and clean, pollution-free water for building the pond.

2. Each pond should be 5-8 mu, rectangular in shape, with a north-south orientation being preferable.

3. The pond bottom should be flat with a sandy-mud substrate, firm banks, and a depth of 2 m.

4. Inlet and drainage pipes should be laid at the pond bottom. At the same time, equip 1-2 aerators of 1.5 kilowatts, and the farm should have a backup generator set.

5. Before stocking, the pond should be desilted and disinfected. One week before releasing the fry, spread 50 kg of quicklime or 5-10 kg of bleaching powder per mu over the dry pond for disinfection.

6. Before releasing the fry, fertilize the pond water to cultivate the base feed, so that the pond water is preferably oil-green or tea-brown.

2. Feeding Management

1. After sieving the bass fry, divide them by size and raise them in separate ponds.

2. The stocking density is generally 2500-3500 fish per mu. With a water depth of more than 1.5 m, maintain suitable water fertility, with a transparency of 30 cm and an oil-green water color being preferable.

3. Feed twice a day, mainly with minced fish paste and floating pellet feed. Vitamin B and C should be added to the feed, with a daily feeding amount of 6% of the fish body weight.

4. Each month, also mix oxytetracycline, erythromycin, and vitamin drugs into the bait and feed twice, each time for 3 consecutive days.

5. At the same time, regularly splash the entire pond with 0.4 ppm strong chlorine or 20 ppm formalin for disinfection.

6. Carry out pond patrol management every day, turn on the aerator at night or when the weather is stuffy and the air pressure is low, and drain and replace the water promptly when the pond water deteriorates, keeping the pond water fresh.

Living Habits of Freshwater Bass

Bass are omnivorous fish that like to eat small paste-leaf fish, small yellow croaker, small squid, cuttlefish, sea shrimp, squid, sandworms, saury, earthworms, sea cockroaches, rock worms, grass worms, silkworms, and so on. The bass has an elongated, silver-gray body, a large and laterally compressed mouth, a protruding lower jaw, and small black spots on both sides of the dorsal fin. It inhabits offshore waters, is ferocious by nature, and likes to chase and pounce on small fish, sea shrimp, and fallen insects. This fish can reach up to twenty or thirty kilograms; its egg-bearing capacity reaches about one hundred million eggs; the bass meat is tender and plump, with few bones and plenty of meat and no fishy smell, making it a valuable food fish.

Bass are pelagic marine fish, ferocious and fast, able to prey on various small sea fish and sea shrimp. Fishing waters can be chosen in offshore bay waters. Among these, the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea have quite a lot, and from May to October each year is a good season for sea fishing for bass, while autumn is the golden season for catching bass; when the weather warms up in spring, bass leave the deep-sea waters and come to estuaries and bays to feed; after the start of summer, bass like to go to the sea areas near estuaries to spawn, feed, and fatten up.

Fry Rearing of Freshwater Bass

1. Temporary rearing of fry: Bass fry caught from the sea area (body length 1.5-2 cm) should be desalinated to a salinity of 4-7‰ and then put into a temporary rearing pond (salinity 1‰). Natural bass fry from northern sea areas are best for stocking, because due to different physical and chemical factors, the fry grow quickly and are large in size, which can shorten the breeding cycle and increase economic benefits.

2. Feeding management: The stocking density in the temporary rearing pond should be controlled at 10,000-20,000 fish per mu. The pond should be frequently flushed with water to increase oxygen. Starting from the second day after entering the pond, feed live bait such as zooplankton and bloodworms, then slowly mix fish paste and floating pellet compound feed with live bait for feeding, and gradually domesticate them to feed on minced fish paste and floating pellet feed. The daily feeding amount is 15% of the fish body weight, fed in 3 portions.

3. Fry disinfection: During the temporary rearing period, splash 0.3 ppm strong chlorine or 15 ppm formalin for disinfection once a week. Three days before starting to feed, give each 50 kg of fish 0.5 g furazolidone, 3 g oxytetracycline, and 1 g vitamin C orally, mixed into the feed once a day for 3 consecutive days. After more than 20 days of rearing, when the fish grow to 4-6 cm, they can be transferred to large ponds for separate rearing.

Prevention and Treatment of Common Diseases in Freshwater Bass

1. Eye white candle disease

Symptoms: Eye white candle disease is mostly seen in the fry and fingerling stage in spring and summer. White spots appear on the eyeball and gradually expand to cover the entire eyeball. In severe cases, the eyeball protrudes and falls off. It can be caused by stale bait and vitamin deficiency.

Prevention and treatment: Renew the aquaculture water body, feed fresh bait, and add vitamins to the bait (especially vitamin B).

2. Saprolegniasis

Symptoms: Flocculent bacteria appear on the fish body. Sick fish float to the water surface and swim slowly, lose appetite, become emaciated, and die. Most cases are caused by infection after injury to the fish body.

Prevention and treatment: Replace with new water, maintain good water quality, and bathe with 6×10-6 malachite green for 5-10 minutes.

3. Skin ulcer disease

Symptoms: It is mostly seen in high-temperature seasons. Local scale loss, congestion, and ulceration occur on the fish body, mostly caused by bacterial infection due to injury to the fish body. Sick fish lose appetite, float up and swim slowly, become emaciated, and die.

Prevention and treatment: Bathe with 20×10-6 chloramphenicol (or furacilin) for 4-5 hours.

4. Enteritis

Symptoms: Sick fish have abdominal distension, red and swollen anus, and yellow mucus flowing out. The fish become emaciated, lose appetite, and in severe cases die. It is caused by spoiled bait and high fat content in the bait.

Prevention and treatment: Prepare medicated bait with furazolidone at an addition amount of 0.1%, and feed continuously for 5-7 days.

5. Fish louse disease

Symptoms: Fish lice parasitize on the fish body. Sick fish swim restlessly and rub against the pond walls. In severe cases, the fish become emaciated and die.

Prevention and treatment: Splash crystalline trichlorfon over the entire pond so that the pond water contains 0.25×10-6-0.3×10-6 of the drug. Apply the drug again after 3 days. Generally, two treatments can cure it. Pure freshwater immersion for 2-3 minutes can also be used, and the fish lice can also fall off on their own.

6. Black body disease

Symptoms: Sick fish are black and thin, do not feed, respond slowly, and often float on the water surface. The disease occurs from April to June, and fry and fingerlings with a body length of less than 10 cm are susceptible to this disease.

Prevention and treatment: There is no effective prevention and treatment method yet. Fry quarantine should be strengthened, and sick fish should be isolated and destroyed promptly.

After learning about the techniques for freshwater bass farming from the above, farmers should begin to select high-quality fry and then start rearing the fry. When rearing the fry, special attention should be paid to the feeding situation of the fry. Inadequate feeding will lead to slow growth of the fry. Of course, when farming freshwater bass, bass will inevitably become sick, so farmers need to carefully observe the condition of the bass and take timely measures.