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Notes on sunshine bass rearing project in Seward county farm pond.
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02-27-99
1,025 reciprocal hybrid striped bass weighing an average of 37 g. were purchased from Keo Fish Farms in Keo, Arkansas at 8:00 a.m. They were transported in a 1,100 liter plastic container to Denton, Nebraska. The fish were then introduced at 10:00 p.m. into a .04 hectare pond with an average depth of 1.5 meters and a maximum depth of 4 meters. The pond had been filled 5 days earlier. No mortality was observed during transport.
02-28-99
Initiate feeding using 1.5 mm floating steelhead chow with 45% protein content purchased from Nelson and Sons in Murray, Utah.
03-99
Fish were found throughout the month of March and into April that were swimming near the surface with 10-20% body coverage of a greenish fungus that was generally found on fins, especially the caudal fin. None of these fish were observed to recover and were netted out and discarded.
11-01-99
Discontinue feeding.
03-01-00
Start feeding.
05-25-00
All fish were observed at the surface, apparently suffering from oxygen deprivations after feeding schedule had been increased and water temperatures were also increasing. An extra aerator was turned on and water input was increased from 30 lpm to 120 lpm. The fish subsequently returned subsurface. Ten fish were found dead the next day.
06-01-00
100 fish were removed from the pond for sale to reduce competition for oxygen within the pond. These fish averaged 650 g in weight.
11-01-00
Fish were transferred into a newly filled .6 hectare pond with an average depth of 2 m. and a maximum depth of 5 m. with an established population of young of the year bluegill and fathead minnows. 385 fish were removed using hook and line. Of these fish, 44 were hooked deep enough to warrant cutting the hook off and leaving it imbedded in the esophagus or stomach. 180 fish were collected and moved using traditional seining methods. Ice covered the pond within 48 hours and no fish were immediately seen dead.
11-01-00 through 03-25-00
Nearly 5 months of harsh winter ensued. It was deemed necessary during this time to leave a 1/3 hp aeration system operating to prevent winterkill. The water level dropped 1.5 meters probably due primarily to seepage. This left a maximum depth of 3.5 meters and an average depth of 1.4 meters. Surface area at this time was .5 hectare.
04-20-01 through 05-22-01
Fish were observed several times going through spawning behavior. On warm, windless days, the dam area of the pond was extremely turbid due to massive movement of smaller fish into water depths as shallow as .3 meters. On occasion, larger female fish were observed sounding at the surface with multiple smaller fish rotating around the larger fish. Hand feeding was attempted during this period with only nominal feeding observed.
05-23-01
Fish begin binge feeding, with daily consumption of over 20 kg common. Automatic feeder was set for 3 daily feedings of 1 kg each. Fish were then fed by hand twice a week until feeding ceased.
5-24-01
Begin pumping water in at 40 lpm
06-01-01
A tremendous young of the year class of fathead minnows was observed throughout the pond. Seining revealed fathead minnows averaging 10 mm in length.
07-01-01
Several thousand fathead minnows were seined with an average length of 15 mm. No young of the year bluegill were observed during seining. Striped bass hybrids can now be seen surface feeding of fathead minnows throughout the day, especially during low light periods of early morning.
07-05-01
Water pumping increased to 100 lpm
08-11-01
Discontinue pumping water. Cooler weather has allowed water temperature to decrease to 27 C.
While seining for fatheads, it was noted that thousands of YOY bluegill are now available ranging from 25-65mm. Size range of fathead minnows was 20-75 mm. Brown algae bloom is now at it's most prevalent.
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