Pond Management

Pond Management
• It includs;
1. Site selection for pond construction
2. Liming, fertilization
3. Feed and Feeding
4. Aquatic weeds and Predators control
 Site Selection
• Right selection of site is probably the most important factor
in determining the feasibility of viable operations.
• Site selection will be based on the species to be cultured
and the technology to be employed.
• It may be possible to find solutions when factors are
unfavourable and present problems, but it would involve
increased investment and operating cost and would affect
the profitability.
• In land based aquaculture, like Nepal, the most farms have
earthen ponds, soil characteristics, quality and quantity of
available water and ease of filling and drainage, especially
by gravity, are basic considerations.
• Flooding: Do not have flood problem from last 10 years
data
• Land slope: Land should not steeper than 2%. Steeper land
limit the pond size, increase the excavating cost and
increase the risk of erosion.
• Room for further expansion: The increasing farm site will
increase the management cost.
• Vegetation: Dense vegetation particularly tall trees makes
cleaning more difficult and expensive. Land under grass or
low shrubs is much better suited in this respect. In the wind
prone area tall tree near the pond may act as a effective
wind breaker but side by side it provides the niche for
fishing birds.
• Water table:
High ground water level may create problem in farm
operation as drainage will become difficult and expensive.
The use of mechanical equipment for pond construction
will also become inconvenient. The high water table area is
not suitable for hatchery and nursing purpose as pond
drying is impossible there. The water table just below the
bottom of the pond is suitable for aquaculture.

• Soil characteristics:
The quality of soil is important in pond farms, not only
because of its influence on productivity and quality of
overlying water, but also because of its suitability for dike
construction. The ability of pond to retain the required
water level is also greatly affected by the characteristics of
soil. Sandy clay to clay loam soil are considered suitable for
pond construction.
• Source and nature of pollution:
It will be useful to ascertain the past use of the site. Crop
land that would have treated for long period with
pesticides may have residue that are harmful to fish and
shell fish. The farm that use the water mixed with pollutant
from industry may have the problem.

• Accessibility:
The farm should have access to the electricity, road, input
market etc to run the business well.

• Social security:
The community around the proposed site should be
business friendly and have positive attitude to
industrialization.
 Liming
• Problems with acid-base relationships in
ponds usually can be solved by liming.

• Identification of ponds needing lime:

Hardness (total) < 20 mg/liter
Alkalinity < 20 mg/liter
Failure of fertilizer to produce a plankton
bloom.
 Liming materials
• Compounds useful as liming materials contain
either calcium or calcium and magnesium
associated with an anionic radical that will
neutralize acidity. The common liming materials
are,
– CaCO3 – Calcite
– CaMg(CO3)2 – Dolamite
– Ca (OH)2 – calcium hydroxide/hydrated lime/builders
lime
– CaO – calcium oxide/quick lime/unslaked lime/burnt
lime
• Reactions of liming materials with acidity are
illustrated below;
CaCO3 + 2H+ ---- Ca2+ + H2O +CO2
CaMg (CO3)2 + 4H+ --- Ca2+ + Mg2+ +2 H2O
+2CO3
Ca(OH)2 +2H+ ------ Ca2+ + H2O
 Neutralizing Value and Fineness
• The term neutralizing value refers to the relative abilities of liming
materials to neutralize acidity.
• Pure CaCO3 is assigned a neutralizing value of 100% and is the
standared against which other materials are compared.
– For example, the molecular weight of CaCO3 is 100 and that of CaO is
56. Thus by weight, calcium oxide is a more effective neutralizing
agent than calcium carbonate. One unit of calcium oxide will
neutralize as much acid as 1.79 units of CaCO3.
– 56/100 = 1/x i.e. x = 1.79
• So, neutralizing value of CaO
• 1.79/1* 100 = 179 NV

• Similarly,
Ca (OH) 2 ------ 136 NV

CaMg(CO3) 2 --- 109 NV

Liming Dose
Lime dose is based on the pH. If pH is low, high
amount of lime is required and vice versa.
pH 4-5 5-6.5 6.5-7
Amount of lime as 2000 1000 500
CaCO3 (kg/ha/yr)
 Method of application of lime
• New ponds can best be limed before they are
initially filled with water. The required quantity of
liming material should be spread evenly over the
pond bottom.
• The bottom of the older pond that are drained
for fish harvest or renovation may be allowed to
dry and limed by spreading over it.
• Pumping and spreading over the pond water for
Ca(OH)2.
• For agricultural lime, it can be sprayed by shovel
from the platform of the boat.
 Pond Fertilization

• Fertilizer are applied to the ponds to increase

the inorganic nutrient concentrations, favour
greater phytoplankton growth and ultimately
enhance the production of fish or crustaceans.
There are two types of fertilizers;
• There are two types of fertilizers;
– Organic fertilizers
– Inorganic/chemical fertilizers
• The different inorganic fertilizer used in the fish ponds are
classified as
• Nitrogenous fertilizer
– Urea- 46% N
– Ammonium Sulphate (AS) – 20-21%N
• Phosphorus fertilizer
– SSP – 18-20% P2O5
– TSP – 44-54% P2O5
• Potassium fertilizer
– Muriate of potash (MoP) – 60% K2O
• Compound fertilizer
– DAP ---- 18% N, 48% P2O
• Advantage of chemical fertilizer
– Mineralization is very fast giving quick effect on pond
productivity
– Lack of pollution
– No BOD is required
– Easy to transport

• Disadvantage
– Costly
– Effective for short period
– May create water quality problem. Eg. Urea, AS increases
acidity.
 Organic Fertilizer
• Organic fertilizer are composite in nature and
contain all the natural elements required for
the metabolic cycle. Organic fertilizers may be
of following types:
– Livestock manure
– Compost
– Green Manure
– Night soil
Advantage
– Improve the pond soil water holding capacity
– Relatively inexpensive
– Readily available on-farm
– Slow nutrient release for long time
– Also provide micronutrients
– Also serve as direct source of food for certain fish species
– Encourage bacterial growth and zooplankton bloom

Disadvantage
– Difficult to transport
– Low content of primary nutrient (N,P,K).
– High demand of BOD which may cause oxygen depletion of pond
water when applied at high rates
• Time of fertilization in pond
– New pond, don’t formed good bottoms muds.
– Low turbidity ( >40 cm secchidisk visibility)
– When pond is not green
– Periodic basis (weekly or forthnightly).
Secchidisk can be used as a simple method for
judging plankton turbidity and the need for
additional fertilization of a fish pond.

Secchi disc transparency (after 3-4 days of Interpretation

fertilization)
<25 cm No fertilization, management practice to
increase DO.
25- 40 cm No fertilization, regularly observed fish
behavior.
40 to 60 cm Routine fertilization.
More than 60 cm Routine fertilization with increase dose.
 Do not Fertilize the pond
• Pond completely depends on feed
• Excessive water exchange rate
• Pond has too much aquatic vegetation
• High plankton turbidity.
 Fertilizer Application method
Chemical fertilizer
– Dissolve in the water and spray all over the pond.
– Large application of fertilizer at ling interval is wasteful because
much of the phosphorus is adsorbed by the pond muds and
nitrogen is lost through denitrification.
– Never throw solid fertilizers directly into the pond water
especially phosphate fertilizer, because the bottom mud can
quickly aabsorb and turn the soluble phosphate into insoluble
compounds, which are than limited use for the pond water.
Organic Fertilizer
– Heaping at the corner of the pond with a sunny exposure by
making platforms about 30 cm under water.
– Fertilizer should be applied in the early hours of the day, about
2-3 hr after sun rise.
Fertilizer dose
• Nitrogen – 0.2 – 0.4g N/m2/day
• Phosphorus fertilizer – 0.1 – 0.2 g P/m2/day
• Manure – 120 -150 kg/ha/day
 CONTROL OF AQUATIC WEED AND
PREDATORS
• Weed infestation is a problem of almost all
system of aquaculture especially in tropical
and sub tropical undrainable ponds.

• Dense vegetation particularly floating

plants, prevent adequate light penetration
may cause oxygen depletion and
consequently anoxia.

• Nutrients from the water will be used up by

the weeds.

• Dense growth of aquatic weeds will make

fishing with nets extremely difficult in
ponds.

• It adds substantially to the operational cost.

Common Aquatic weeds
 Common Aquatic weeds
• From the point of view of aquaculture and
weed control, the macrophytic and algal
weeds can be best classified according to their
habits and habitat. According to Phillipose
(1968), they can be divided into:
• Floating weeds : they are unattached
and float with their leaves above the
water surface and roots under water
(Eg; Eichhornia, pistia, Azolla )

• Submerged weeds: they are

completely submerged under water,
but may be rooted in the bottom soils
(e.g. Hydrila, Najas) or free floating (
e.g. Ceratophyllum, Utricularia)

Azolla Hydrila
Pista (water cabbage)
• Marginal weeds: they fringe the shore line of
the water body and are mostly rooted in the
water logged soils (e.g. Typha, Phragmites)
• Emergent weeds : they are rooted
in the bottom soil but have all or
some of their leaves, leaf laminae
or shoots above the water surface
(e.g. Nymphaea, Trapa,
Myriophyllum)
Myriophyllum
• Filamentous algae: they form mats
in the marginal area or scums in
the main body of water (e.g.
Spirogyra, Pithopora)

Spirogyra
• Algal blooms: occurring dispersed
in the water body (e.g.
Microcystis, Anabaena).

Microcystis Anabaena
 Methods of weed control
Preventive measures
• Prevention is better than cure
• Avoid very shallow marginal areas and maintain the depth of
about 0.75m to 0.9m around the shoreline to discourage
growth of marginal weeds.
• Discourage the silt accumulation from run off and regular
desiltation
• Construct barriers or mesh filters to prevent the entry of
noxius weeds and their spores or seeds.
 Manual methods
• In small farms it is often possible to
remove floating weeds and uproot
marginal and emergent weed
manually.

• Water hyacinth, water lettuce, duck

weed, Azolla, Spirodella are example
of floating weeds.
 Mechanical methods
• Mechanical equipments are
used in the large ponds and
lakes. The most common
device is weed cutter, used
for cutting submerged and
emergent weeds
 Chemical methods
• Treatment with herbicide shows relatively
more rapid result in weed control.

• Foliage application of 2,4–D @1% aqueous

solution is effective in controlling floating
and emergent weed like water hyacinth,
Pistia, Myriophyllum, Inula and Prosopsis.

• Copper sulphate @ 1-3ppm is effective in

the control of several algae.

• Foliar spray of 1% aqueous ammonia

solution along with a 0.25% wetting agent
is reported to have been most effective in
controlling Pistia.
 Biological Control
• Grass carp, tilapia are useful in controlling dense
growth of vegetation

• Azolla could be cleared within a month by

stocking grass carp @ 300-375 per hectare. 125-
150 grass carp per hectare consume the duck
weed @1.8kg/fish/day.

• Stocking of sterile tilapia @ 2470 fish per hectare

will control filamentous algae and soft
submerged vegetation.
 Predator control
• Predatory fish are controlled by installing
mesh on water inlet and out let.
• Predation of insect larvae can control by
spreading oil to prevent aerial breathing.
• Netting of pond is effective to prevent
bird predation
• Snake can control by clearing pond dike
and installing snake trap.
• Otters can control by hunting with the
help of trained otter dogs and proper
fencing of the farm.
• Poaching by man is difficult to control.
Employment of reliable watchman, use
of trained watchdogs, lighting, installing
CC camera, and fencing could be
effective.
 Feed and Feeding
• The growth of fish in ponds is directly related to the
amount of food available in the pond.
• natural foods is a integral part of extensive and semi-
intensive pond farming
• The intensive aquaculture is completely depending on the
supplied feed.
• In the case of mollusc culture, live foods continue to be the
source of energy.

• On the basis of the nature of food it may be classified as

– Natural food
– Artificial food.

Plankton
-Phytoplakton: cyanophyta,
chlorophyta etc
snails, clams, insects,
Zooplankton: protozoa,
rotifera, cladocera, copepoda
etc
Natural food
Detritus
Living algae/aquatic plants
of the pond, if not fed
Aquatic animal upon by animals, die and
slowly settle down to the
aquatic worms etc bottom of the pond. These
non-living particulate
organic matter covered by
microorganisms is called
detritus
 Artificial food
• Artificial food refers to food that
is derived from plant and animal
sources but is processed in some
way.

Plant Source
• Oil cakes
• Oil cakes are the major source of
protein and lipids in fish feeds.
The most common varieties
used at present in aquaculture
are mustard oil cake (28-36%
CP), soybean cake (42-46% CP)
and peanut cake (42%CP).
Grains
– Grains are the major
source of carbohydrate in
fish feed. Grain feeds
include rice, wheat, corn,
barley, oats, sorghum, rice
bran, wheat bran, and
wheat flour sweepings all
contain 8-12% CP.
• Animal feeds
– Animal feeds are the major source
of protein in fish feeds.

– Common animal originated fish feed

ingredients are fish meal (60% CP) ,
shrimp meal (60-70% CP), blood
powder (85% CP), and meat meal
(50% CP).

– Animal feeds are highly digestible

which characterized by high protein
levels (40-80%), well balanced
amino acids, particularly lysine and
methionine, high levels of vitamins
and absence of anti-nutritional
factor.
 Management of feeding
• The food and feeding habits of fish vary with
species, season, size and age.

• Food habits of all cultivated fish species of Nepal

are identical at fry stage. They all start feeding
primarily on zooplankton.

• As they approach towards fingerlings size, there is

definite change in their food and feeding habits
according to species.
• It is reported that artificial feed containing 20-
30% CP is suitable for a good growth of carps.
• Carps are generally fed at a rate of 2-5% body
weight daily under optimum temperature
condition.
• Adult grass carp are to be fed daily on tender
grass at a rate of 40-50% body weight.