What are the methods for farming freshwater mussels? How can pearl production be high when cultivating pearls?

Did you know? Pearls can be divided into seawater and freshwater types, and whether seawater or freshwater, they can all be divided into naturally grown and artificially cultivated. Cultivating pearls by farming freshwater mussels is a common way to artificially cultivate pearls, so what are the methods for farming freshwater mussels? How can pearl production be high?

I. What are the methods for farming freshwater mussels?

1. Pond farming

This method generally involves placing relatively young freshwater mussels at the bottom of a pond for farming. It usually requires the pond to maintain a water depth of about 1.5 m, with a slight flow of water running through the pond.

About 50,000 freshwater mussels can be stocked per mu of pond, and they can also be polycultured with relatively gentle freshwater fish such as grass carp and bream, but the number of fish must not be too large; keeping about 200 fish per mu is sufficient.

2. Cage farming

You can choose to weave cages from plastic wire, ethylene wire, iron wire, etc. for freshwater mussel farming, hanging the cages in water about 40 cm deep and keeping the cage spacing at about 1 m. For the specific water body, you can choose ponds, dried-up water bodies, rivers, lakes, streams and other waters with relatively good water quality.

3. Daily farming management

(1) Fertilizing

That's right, farming freshwater mussels also requires fertilizing. At the beginning, mainly use fermented organic fertilizer; about 90 kg can be applied per mu of water area, once every week. In summer, no fertilizing is needed, and the water quality must be kept fresh. Just fertilize again in winter.

(2) Feeding

Put some soybean milk, corn flour, soybean powder, etc. into the water, and in autumn the amount of bait fed should be increased.

II. How can freshwater mussels produce pearls with high yield?

1. Choose the freshwater mussel varieties for pearl cultivation

When farming freshwater mussels, it generally takes about 3 years to grow from juvenile mussels into pearl-cultivating mussels. However, it should be noted that freshwater mussels also come in many varieties, and not all varieties can be used for pearl cultivation. Common pearl-cultivating freshwater mussel varieties include the triangle sail mussel (Hyriopsis cumingii) and the wrinkled comb mussel (Cristaria plicata), which have high pearl yields and relatively good quality.

2. Surgical treatment for pearl cultivation

The best times for pearl cultivation surgery are March to June and September to October. The specific operation method is as follows:

Cut the mantle epithelial tissue of the same kind of freshwater mussel into small pieces 5 mm square and 0.8 mm thick, disinfect them with chlortetracycline or physiological saline, and then transplant them into the mantle connective tissue of another freshwater mussel. After about 2-3 years, artificially cultured non-nucleated pearls can be cultivated. If you want to cultivate nucleated pearls, you can transplant pearl shell or other artificial pearl nuclei together during surgery.

3. Daily rearing

After surgery, cage farming is more suitable. Be sure to ensure the water quality is clean and sufficiently fertile, and replace the pieces for freshwater mussels that have expelled their pieces. At the same time, do a good job of preventing gill rot disease, water swelling disease, and mussel temperature disease.