Fish Breeding There are two breeding system in fishery, viz flow-through system and circulatory system.

The former consumes a lot of water than the later but in terms of cost, the later involve huge investment. In the flow-through system, the amount of water that enters the pond simultaneously leaves the system from another outlet(i.e. water in = water out). The circulatory system involves an amount of water that is flowing within the system through different processes that makes the water to be useful at each chamber. Materials Requirements The main materials required are tanks, pipes, valves, tubes, filters, nets, pumps and ultraviolet light. The tanks used are: Rearing tanks: this is where the hatching takes place. It contains hatching net (kakaban) as the hatching region within the tanks where the process occurs. This is the only requirement for the flow-through system. Sedimentation tanks: this collects its water from the rearing tanks. It contains biofilters that aids the process of collecting unwanted solid particles from the water that comes from the rearing tanks. Water with no or very little particles leaves this chamber. The type of biofilter used depends on the size of fish to be reared. Pump tanks: this collects water from the sedimentation tanks. The pipes that takes water away from here are connected to pumping machines (pumps) with is also connected to the UV light chamber. Any living organisms that are exposed to this UV light can live any longer. The water from here may be sent to the rearing tanks directly or for further purification. Biotower tanks: these tanks are placed above the pump tanks to minimize space. This tank is similar to sedimentation tank and thereby removes dead organisms from water before supplying the water into the rearing tanks. The above tanks are interlinked and the processes involved form a circular system which enables the used water to be reused for a very long time. Fish breeding involves the following basic steps. Selection of brood stocks Injection of female fish Stripping Fertilization Incubation Hatching

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Fish management Selection of brood stock: this involves selection of male and female mature fish. It is better to use fish that have spent at least 12months. Injection of the female fish: some hormones aid the stripping of the eggs from the fish. The hormone may be natural or artificial (synthetic). Natural hormones include use of pituitary glands of fish or urine of pregnant woman. The pituitary glands are collected from mature fish also which can be preserved for later use. The urine is collected, evaporated and the residue contains the required hormone. Artificial hormones can be bought form veterinary doctors. The dosage of the hormone is administered per kg and varies depending on the hormone to be used. 0.5ml of hormone is given per kg of fish when synthetic hormone is used. Pituitary gland of 1.0kg of fish is used to inject 1.0kg of female fish. Note that it is better to give excess dose than less required. This will only lower the time for stripping. The injected fish is left for 8 12 hours before stripping. The fish should be ready for stripping within these hours. If after 12 hours the fish is not ready for stripping, administer half doze again. Watch the fish closely because it may be ready any time from then to avoid wastage of the egg. This process is highly dependent on temperature. High temperature makes the fish ready for stripping faster than at low temperature. Stripping: this is done when it is sure that the fish is ready for stripping. Always avoid contact of the egg with water. To ensure this, dry the container and the fish with towel. Then strip the egg out dry. Fertilization: this may be dry or wet. Dissect the male fish and remove the male organ (milt). For dry fertilization, the milt is dissected and poured over the egg, stir with feather or plastic spoon and leave for about 2 minutes for fertilization. Add saline water to rinse out excess sperm, decant the excess sperm. For wet fertilization, prepared sperm solution using saline water is added to the stripped eggs. Incubation: Spread out the remaining fertilized eggs on the kakaban and leave to dry inside the rearing tank without adding water. This may take up to 6 7 hours. Hatching: add water to the rearing tank to allow for hatching of the fertilized eggs. The hatched eggs move down the kakaban and the unhatched eggs appear white among the remaining eggs. Siphon out the hatchlings at intervals. Management: the hatched eggs (hatchlings) are not fed for 3 days. They feed on the attached yolks during this period. Feed the fry with artemia for 1 2 weeks. Then feed them with fish meal rich in protein with sizes 0.1 0.5mm, 0.5 1.2mm and 1.2 2.0mm as they grow for 6 weeks. Give necessary medication to avoid bacteria infection. Give excellent water supply and always siphon out waste to avoid contamination.

Often this problem can be traced to poor water quality. Pond sites, with acid bottom soils, usually have a drastic effect on the impounded pond water. This effect can be seen in three

important water quality parameters: pH, total water hardness, and total alkalinity. All three of these parameters play a very important part in the production of fish in farm ponds. Ponds having an alkalinity and a total water hardness below 20 ppm CaCO3 should be limed. The amount of lime added will depend on the acidity of the pond mud and the total hardness. The most common liming material is simple, agricultural limestone - CaCO3 or CaMg(CO3)2. Effects from the addition of lime are variable but usually last from 2-3 years depending on the amount of water passing through the pond. If the water has less than 20 mg/l total alkalinity, liming is necessary. Waters that have between 20 and 50 mg/l alkalinity would benefit from the application of lime, while waters above 50 mg/l alkalinity do not require lime.