What Is the Price of Silver Carp Fry? A Detailed Guide to Farming Methods
Silver carp is a large freshwater fish raised in captivity and one of the main freshwater farmed fish in China, also known as white carp, water carp, jumping carp and so on. It is distributed across all major river systems nationwide and has farming characteristics such as fast growth, few diseases and high yield, but in actual production it is mostly polycultured with grass carp and common carp. Let us take a look at silver carp fry prices and farming methods together below!
How much is one silver carp fry?
The market price of silver carp fry is mainly determined by variety, size and purchase quantity, generally around 0.02 to 0.5 yuan per fry. Silver carp is a typical filter-feeding fish. At the fry stage it mainly eats zooplankton, and when it grows to more than 1.5 cm it gradually switches to eating phytoplankton. It also eats soybean milk, okara powder, wheat bran and rice bran, and prefers artificial micro-pellet compound feed. It is suitable for farming in fertile water. In farming, silver carp is a secondary species, stocked in ponds where common carp, crucian carp, grass carp or blunt snout bream are the main species, and it occupies a subordinate position.
Living Habits of Silver Carp
1. Feeding habits: Silver carp is a mid-upper layer fish and feeds on plankton throughout its life. At the fry stage it mainly eats zooplankton, and when it grows to more than 1.5 cm it gradually switches to eating phytoplankton, and it likes to eat the feces of grass carp and the chicken and cow manure that is applied. It is very interested in sour foods and also has a good appetite for distillers' grains feed. Its diet has obvious seasonality; in spring and autumn, besides plankton, it also eats large amounts of detritus-type feed. In summer, the lower the water level, the greater its food intake; in winter it overwinters, eating little and moving little.
2. Water temperature: Silver carp likes high temperatures, and the most suitable water temperature is 23 to 32°C. In hot summer, silver carp has the strongest appetite. It has a lively temperament and likes to jump, and has the habit of swimming upstream, but its movements are not very agile and rather clumsy. Silver carp likes fertile water, and individuals of similar size often gather and swim in schools to the middle and upper layers of the water, especially in clear open water areas with relatively fertile water quality. It is timid and afraid of disturbance, and its tolerance to low oxygen is extremely poor. When oxygen in the water is insufficient it immediately surfaces to gasp, and some die quickly.
3. Reproduction: Silver carp grows fast and has high yield. Its sexual maturity age is 1 to 2 years earlier than that of grass carp, and mature individuals are also smaller. Generally, female fish of more than 3 kg can reach maturity. A female fish of about 5 kg has a relative fecundity of about 40,000 to 50,000 eggs per kg of body weight. It spawns from April to May each year, and the eggs are pelagic. Under pond culture conditions, if feed is sufficient, the fish of the year can grow to 500 to 800 grams, three-year-old fish can reach 3 to 4 kg in body weight, and in natural rivers it can weigh 30 to 40 kg.
Farming Techniques for Silver Carp
1. Selection and retention of broodstock: Select natural original stock for broodstock, requiring good health and well-developed gonads. For individual weight, silver carp should be more than 6 kg, bighead carp more than 10 kg, black carp more than 15 kg, and grass carp more than 8 kg. The annual renewal rate of broodstock should reach about 10%.
2. Clearing and preparing the fish pond: The broodstock pond should have convenient irrigation and drainage. For silver carp and bighead carp ponds, a bottom silt depth of 20 cm is sufficient, while black carp and grass carp ponds should contain little or no silt. The area is 1 to 5 mu, the water depth is about 1.5 m, and the pond should be cleared before stocking.
3. Matching and stocking: The female-to-male ratio of silver carp, bighead carp, black carp and grass carp broodstock is generally suitable at 1:1 to 1:1.5. At the same time, stock 8 to 10 mandarin fish and about 150 bighead carp per mu to control the breeding of wild trash fish and large zooplankton.
4. Feeding management: Before stocking, 500 to 700 kg of decomposed organic fertilizer should be applied per mu to the silver carp and bighead carp broodstock ponds to cultivate plankton, and appropriate fertilization should continue afterward. In addition, on clear and warm days, soybean cake slurry should be fed to promote gonad development.
5. Early and timely induced spawning: When the female fish's abdomen is swollen and the genital pore is relaxed, induced spawning can be carried out. Generally, female fish are injected with 1000 international units of chorionic gonadotropin per kg of body weight, or 40 to 50 micrograms of LRH-A, and the dose for male fish is halved.
6. Hatching management: The hatching water should be filtered with a filter screen to prevent floating matter and wild trash fish from entering. Before each hatching, clean the hatching jars and hatching troughs, provide a suitable water flow rate during hatching, and frequently turn over the water body to check whether eggs or fry have accumulated in the bottom corners, so as to maintain water quality.