VPP 322: Aquatic Animal Diseases, Health Care and Management (1+1)

HATCHERY SYSTEMS FOR INDIAN AND CHINESE CARPS 

• At present an integrated system is developed wherein breeding and hatching eggs and rearing of hatchlings for a few days are taken up as a part of single system.

Components of a carp hatchery

• The various essential components of a carp hatchery are
  • Brood fish pond to hold adult fish for spawning and serve as donors of pituitary glands and to accommodate spent females and males.
  • Storage tank (or) Ante tank to hold adult fish for spawning and serve as donors of pituitary glands and to accommodate spent females and males.
  • A hatchery proper comprising a complex of facilities with breeding tank, tanks for hatching and care of hatchlings to raise the upto postlarval stage.
  • Nursery ponds for growing fry to fingerlings.
• The essential components of a modern hatchery proper are ante tanks (or) storage tanks; breeding tanks; incubators (or) hatching jars and larval rearing tanks.
• Broodfish pond
  • A size of the broodfish pond depending on the magnitude of operations, may vary in area from 0.2 to one hectare. The pond should be of rectangular in shape. The number of brood-fish ponds in a hatchery depends on the methods of dealing with different species. Fish species which breed naturally in a pond must be kept separately from those which do not breed naturally. Organic manures such as cattle dung, chicken and duck droppings and composted water hyacinth with urea and lime produce zooplankton bio-mass. Organic manures should be applied at the rate of 5000-10000 kgs/ha/yr and inorganic fertilizers are applied at the rate of 260-320 kgs/ha/yr..
• Storage tank (or) Ante tank
  • The purpose of ante-tank is to hold selected ripe breeders prior to hypophysation. A 200 m² (or) 450 m² (10mx20 m or 15 m or 30 m) ante tank of 1.0 to 1.5 m depth can hold 25-50 sets of broodfish (each set containing one female and two males) with female spawners weighing 3-6 kg each.
• Breeding tank
  • The purpose of breeding is to hold injected breeders for natural spawning and fertilization. A breeding tank may be rectangular in shape, a convenient size being 2.5 m x 1.5 m x 1.0 m for holding 4-6 breeders and 4mx 2mxxlm for 8-10 breeders weighing 3-6 kg each.