Detailed Explanation of Key Points for Golden Pompano Pond Culture Techniques
Golden pompano, also known as ovate pompano, yellow-fin pompano, golden pompano, etc., is one of the valuable marine economic fish species of the southern coast belonging to the genus Trachinotus in the family Carangidae. Artificial breeding has been successfully achieved in Taiwan, China and Hainan, with a considerable number of fry sold back to Guangdong and Fujian for cage culture. Artificial culture mainly includes two modes: cage culture and pond culture. Let us now take a look at golden pompano pond culture techniques!
Culture Conditions
The culture pond is rectangular, oriented north-south, open and facing the sun, with a depth of 2 m, a slope ratio of 1:2.5, sandy-mud bottom substrate, and 6-10 cm of silt at the pond bottom. The water source is the middle channel water of the Jiulong River, with convenient drainage and irrigation, and water can be taken in and discharged using tidal changes. The water quality is fresh and pollution-free, with a pH of 7.0-8.2, a salinity range of 5-12‰, an ammonia nitrogen content below 0.5 kg/L, and a nitrite content below 0.1 kg/L.
Pond Modification
After drying and sunning the pond during the winter fallow period, plow and level it, reinforce and raise the pond banks, repair leaking and collapsed areas of the inlet and outlet gates, and remove excess silt. The pond depth reaches 2.5 m, each pond has an independent water inlet and drainage system, and a 40-50 mesh sieve silk net is installed at the water inlet to prevent wild fish from entering. Each pond is equipped with 4 waterwheel aerators of 0.75 kW. A nursery pond with an area of 1-1.5 mu is built inside the pond. After modification, 100 kg of quicklime per mu is dissolved in water and splashed over the dry pond for disinfection.
Fry Stocking
1. Fill with water to 80 cm 15 days before stocking, soak 10-15 kg of tea seed cake per mu in warm water for 24 hours, then splash it over the whole pond to kill wild fish eggs. Apply 100-150 kg of fermented organic fertilizer per mu. When the pond water turns yellow-green or tea-brown, preparations can be made to stock the fry.
2. By mid-May, when the water temperature reaches 20°C, stock 2,500 desalinated golden pompano fry with a body length of 2.5-3 cm per mu. The fry are purchased from Xiamen and first placed in the nursery pond for rearing. Mix-culture 200 mullet fry with a body length of 5-6 cm and 4,000 desalinated black tiger shrimp fry with a body length of 1.5 cm per mu, directly stocked into the large pond. At the time of stocking, the pond water is tea-brown, contains abundant natural food organisms, has a transparency of 30 cm, and a salinity of 80‰.
3. The golden pompano fry are aerated and oxygenated for 24 hours in the nursery pond. Two days after stocking, begin feeding with zooplankton or newly hatched Artemia nauplii. After 1 week, use minced fish paste, add 30% powdered eel compound feed, mix evenly and knead into small balls, and place them in feeding frames. Place 6-8 feeding frames in each nursery pond, feed 2-3 times a day, with a daily feeding amount of 1,000-1,500 g per 10,000 fry, gradually acclimating them to feeding with golden pompano No. 0 complete compound feed. After 20 days of rearing, the golden pompano grow to 4-5 cm, and the nursery pond can be opened to let the fingerlings enter the large pond.
Culture Management
1. Feeding management: Golden pompano are fed with golden pompano-specific extruded pellet feed with a crude protein content of 43%. The mix-cultured mullet and black tiger shrimp are not fed separately. Select different feed sizes according to fish size: use No. 0 and No. 1 feed in the early stage, and No. 2 and No. 3 feed in the middle and late stages. Flexibly adjust the feeding amount according to climate and water quality conditions. Generally, feed less during low-temperature cloudy and rainy days, and feed more on sunny days with high temperatures. At a water temperature of around 20°C, feed twice a day, with a daily feeding amount of 8-10% of fish body weight. From June to September, when the water temperature is 25-35°C, golden pompano feed vigorously and grow quickly; feed 3-4 times a day, and increase the daily feeding amount to more than 15% of fish body weight. During hot and stuffy weather, moderately control the feeding amount to avoid overeating by golden pompano.
2. Water quality regulation: In the early stage of culture, gradually add water to the fish pond, adding 5-10 cm per day, and keep the pond water transparency at 30-40 cm. Only after the pond water depth reaches 1.5 m should gradual water exchange begin, exchanging 20-30 cm every 2-3 days. During the high-temperature period, maintain the water level above 2 m, and increase the water exchange volume and frequency as appropriate. In the middle and late stages of culture, as the feeding amount increases, a large amount of residue and excrement accumulates in the pond water, increasing the organic oxygen consumption of the pond, so the aerators should be turned on more.
3. Daily management: Daily management should include patrolling the pond at least three times in the morning, noon, and evening to observe the feeding situation of golden pompano. If abnormal feeding or dead fish are found, identify the cause and deal with it promptly. Frequently check the filter nets at the inlet and outlet, remove debris, and replace them promptly if damaged. Pay attention to changes in water quality, and if pond water deterioration is found, add new water promptly. In the early stage of culture, turn on the aerators twice a day for oxygen, running them for 1-2 hours at noon and 3-5 hours before dawn. In the middle and late stages, appropriately increase the operating time. During cloudy and rainy days and hot, stuffy weather, turn on the aerators promptly for oxygen to prevent golden pompano from oxygen deprivation and floating at the surface. Golden pompano have the habit of gathering to compete for water flow. When adding water, enclose the area near the water inlet with a surrounding net to prevent golden pompano from gathering too densely around the water inlet and dying from oxygen deprivation and suffocation.