Technical requirements for achieving high yield and water saving in cage culture of common carp

    1. Cage placement site: The water area where cages are placed should have fertile water quality, be sheltered from wind and facing the sun, have a flat bottom, moderate depth (4-7 m year-round), be free of pollution, have suitable water temperature, be free from floods, and be close to villages or farmland; a relatively large reservoir bay water area.

Cage culture of common carp

    2. Cage structure and installation:

    (1) Cage structure: Cages are usually made by sewing 6 pieces of netting into a closed or open-topped box body, rectangular (square) in shape, fixed onto a frame tied together with metal or square wooden strips. For cages used to raise fingerlings, the mesh size is 1 cm, and the size is 20—30 sq m. For cages used to grow out adult fish, the mesh size is 2-3 cm, about 60 sq m.

    (2) Cage installation: Cage types are divided into closed floating type, open-topped floating type, open-topped fixed type, etc. For the open-topped floating type, an escape-prevention net must be added around the perimeter. For the open-topped fixed type, it must stand about 0.8 m above the water surface, and all cages must be installed firmly.

    3. Cage culture

    (1) Screening and disinfection of fingerlings: Large-size fingerlings that have been cultivated must first be conditioned, then gathered in nets and counted, and raised in separate cages according to size, with the full number stocked at one time.

    (2) Putting fingerlings into cages: Before being put into cages, the fingerlings must be disinfected by soaking in 3-4% salt water for 5 minutes, or by soaking in a solution of 5% salt water and 0.5% baking soda water, with the time determined according to the fish's tolerance. The size of stocked common carp is 4-5 cm, weighing about 3-5 g. The stocking density is 800-900 fish/sq m.

    (3) Growing adult fish in cages: For cage culture of adult common carp, the ideal size of stocked fingerlings is 50-70 g per fish, generally 30-100 g per fish, and the stocking density is 5-10 kg/sq m.