Mandarin Fish Farming: How Many Can Be Raised in 5 Mu of Water?

The delicious mandarin fish on the dining table must go through a series of processes such as farming, harvesting, transportation and cooking before it can be presented before our eyes. In mandarin fish farming, even a slight mistake can lead to death. So how should mandarin fish be raised? How many mandarin fish can be raised in 5 mu of water?

I. What Is the Mandarin Fish

The mandarin fish, also known as the Chinese perch or huajiyu, belongs to the family Serranidae and the genus Siniperca, and is a specialty fish of Guangxi. There are two common types of mandarin fish, namely the bighead mandarin fish (Siniperca chuatsi) and the bigeye mandarin fish (Siniperca kneri), and the difference in appearance between the two varieties is not great. The mandarin fish generally inhabits still or slow-flowing water bodies, and especially likes lakes with lush aquatic plants. In winter it is not very active and often overwinters in deep water, generally not completely stopping feeding. In spring it swims to the shore to feed, and when it is warm it will even lie on its side in depressions on the lake bottom.

The mandarin fish is widely distributed in China in the Jialing River basin and in the rivers and lakes of the eastern China plains, and has been one of China's precious fish species since ancient times. China began eating mandarin fish very early; when the Mawangdui Han tomb was excavated in 1972, there were burial goods related to the Chinese perch among them. Today, coastal provinces such as Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong have begun artificial farming of mandarin fish, but the problem of fry supply has never been solved.

The mandarin fish has delicious, tender flesh with no small bones, making it very convenient to eat, and its meat is rich in various trace elements needed by the human body. In ancient Chinese medicine formulas, the mandarin fish has the effect of “tonifying the five internal organs, benefiting the spleen and stomach, replenishing qi and blood, and treating deficiency damage; it is suitable for constitutions with weak qi and blood, and can treat conditions such as consumptive weakness and intestinal wind with blood in the stool”, making it a fish with both edible and medicinal value.

II. How to Farm Mandarin Fish

There are two farming methods for mandarin fish: one is polyculture in fish ponds, and the other is monoculture. When polyculturing mandarin fish, generally around May, Chinese perch fry about 3 cm long are stocked; in ponds with many wild trash fish, 30 to 50 fish per mu are stocked; in adult fish ponds with many stocked tilapia and crucian carp, more can be stocked, at 50 to 70 fish per mu; in ponds where tilapia reproduce excessively, about 100 fish per mu are stocked. Depending on the situation, the number of mandarin fish raised in 5 mu of water also differs. When polyculturing mandarin fish, ponds used for polyculturing Chinese perch should no longer be stocked with summer fry such as silver carp and bighead carp, because the mandarin fish is a typical fierce carnivorous fish, and as long as the body height of the prey fish is smaller than the height of the Chinese perch's mouth gap, it can generally be swallowed.

When monoculturing mandarin fish, generally about 1,000 summer-fry Chinese perch about 3 cm long are stocked per mu, and according to the fish stock, wild trash fish such as tilapia, topmouth gudgeon and shrimp, or minced meat of snails and mussels, are reasonably added to feed the Chinese perch. In Chinese perch farming, attention must also be paid to preventing escape and theft; the inlet and outlet openings must be tightly wrapped with sieve silk mesh cloth to prevent fry from escaping with the water. At the adult fish stage and when about to be harvested, staff must be assigned to duty to prevent fish theft.

The above are the simple farming methods for mandarin fish. Do friends now know how many mandarin fish can be raised in 5 mu of water? In mandarin fish farming, there are still more details to pay attention to; friends who want to engage in farming must fully understand them before starting.