Key Points for Loach Farming: What They Eat and How to Raise Them for Safe Overwintering

Loach, also known as pond loach, is both a food and a medicinal ingredient. Because of its high nutritional value, ease of farming and low investment cost, it is widely farmed. But to raise loach well, you must master the basic management points. So what do loach eat to grow? How can you farm them so they overwinter safely?

1. What do loach eat to grow?

1. What do loach fry eat to grow?

(1) Loach fry less than 1 cm in body length: wild-cultured loach fry feed on small phytoplankton or rotifers. Artificially cultured loach fry feed mainly on fish meal, milk powder and the like. When feeding, try to feed along the pond edge, and never scatter the feed.

(2) Loach fry 1 cm in body length: wild-cultured loach fry feed on insect larvae, rotifers, tubifex worms and the like. Artificially cultured loach fry feed mainly on minced fish meat, shrimp meat, and snail and mussel meat, and can also be fed cooked corn flour, wheat flour and other plant foods. When feeding, try to feed along the pond edge, and feed about 4 times a day to ensure sufficient food.

(3) Loach 3-4 cm in body length: wild-cultured loach feed on mosquito larvae, rotifers and tubifex worms. Artificially cultured loach feed mainly on small earthworms, small trash fish, minced snail meat and other foods. When feeding, try to place the food on a stone platform so the loach can eat it easily. On the first feeding, try to control the amount at about 5% of the total weight of the fry, and when they reach a later stage, controlling the amount at about 10% is enough.

2. What do adult loach eat to grow?

(1) Wild-cultured adult loach: they feed mostly on earthworms, small shrimp, insects, tadpoles, small trash fish and the like.

(2) Artificially cultured adult loach: the food for artificially cultured adult loach is relatively broad; generally you can feed grain, animal protein feed or manually mixed feed, as follows:

(2.1) Grains: mainly energy feeds such as rice, corn, wheat and sorghum.

(2.2) Animal protein feed: mainly foods rich in high protein such as fish meal, fly pupae and river snails.

(2.3) Oilseed cakes and meals: mainly plant protein feeds such as sesame cake and peanut cake.

(2.4) Manually mixed feed: fish meal, wheat flour, bone meal, soybean cake meal and the like can be stirred together evenly and fed. When feeding, try not to feed directly, and on the first feeding, try to use special feed mixed with river mussel meat paste, stir it into a dough, break it into small pieces and feed; after a period of time, gradually increase the amount so they slowly adapt.

2. How can you farm loach so they overwinter safely?

1. Site selection: try to choose a place with thick mud at the bottom of the pond, good water retention and shelter from the wind and facing the sun, so the loach can overwinter safely. It is worth noting that when building the pond, you must disinfect the feeding platform inside the pond and the surrounding part to prevent toxic substances from harming the loach.

2. Choose high-quality bottom fertilizer: before the loach enter the pond, try to spread a small amount of organic fertilizer such as cow dung, pig dung and sheep dung on the bottom of the pond to increase the thickness of the mud, and let the organic fertilizer ferment to raise the pond temperature, so the loach can overwinter safely.

3. Choose loach fry of a good variety: when selecting loach fry, try to choose fry with strong disease resistance and strong drought resistance to improve the survival rate and overwinter safely.

4. Take good insulation measures: loach have relatively high water temperature requirements; generally groundwater can be used for farming, and it is best to control the water temperature at 2-10 degrees. In addition, the water level should also be higher than the usual growth height, so they can move freely and overwinter safely.

3. What is the latest market price of loach per jin?

In summary, to raise loach well, you must master the growth characteristics of loach and feed specific feed at different growth stages to promote their rapid growth. In addition, while choosing a good site, you must also consider basic management work such as fertilizer and water temperature, so as to better help the loach overwinter safely.