Special care required for winter fish farming: Vet varsity

Indian Meteorological Department has issued yellow alert for dense fog for Sunday.

The maximum temperature recorded on Saturday was 21.0°C while the minimum stood at 13.6°C.

Unlike terrestrial livestock, fish is a cold-blooded animal and requires special care during winters. Temperature has started decreasing and special attention should be paid to fish during this time.

“Its body temperature decreases with decline in environmental temperature during winters. Hence, optimal water depth of six feet should be maintained in the pond to provide comfortable hibernating space to fish in the middle and bottom water zones; besides adding tube well water at dusk to keep the surface water warm, especially when water temperature falls below 15°C,” Dr Meera D. Ansal, dean, College of Fisheries, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, said.

Day length, light intensity and hence, photosynthetic activity decreases during winters, which lowers dissolved oxygen content in the water, particularly during continuous foggy days. Hence, farmers shall aerate the ponds either by adding fresh water or by using aerators, specifically during dawn and monitor the water pH during continuous foggy days, which may fall to detrimental levels due to poor photosynthetic activity and subsequent accumulation of carbon dioxide. If the water pH falls below 7.0, add lime @ 100kg/acre in two installments.

“Trim the nearby trees, so that direct sunlight could fall over the pond,” she added.