Fry and spawning

In short

• For the first 2–3 years buy fingerlings. Start spawning your own once the pond works and you have a second, small pond for fry.
• Tench spawn on their own in the pond, in June–July, on plants, once the water is above 20 °C (68 °F). That is the easiest start.
• Carp spawn in a small, shallow pond on grass when the water reaches 18–20 °C; in lowland UK and Ireland that means late May to early July, and in a cool year not at all.
• Carp eggs hatch in roughly 3–4 days at 20 °C; the larvae need tiny live food (zooplankton) from the first day they feed.
• Trout eggs are counted in degree-days: roughly 300–380 °C-days to hatching, i.e. 30–38 days at 10 °C (50 °F).
• Selling and moving live fish and eggs need a health certificate and often registration. Check with the fish health authority.

What's inside

Chapters

1. Buy or spawn
2. Broodstock: choosing and preparing
3. Tench spawning in the pond
4. Carp spawning in a spawning pond
5. Nursery pond: the first six weeks
6. Trout eggs
7. Enemies and fry health
8. Autumn and winter for fry
9. Common mistakes
10. Printable checklist

Worksheets

• Egg and fry calculator
• Date calculators
• Broodstock record
• Egg incubation log
• Spawning and fry calendar