Tench is a lazy, slow-moving fish, but at the same time omnivorous, which makes it profitable for home breeding or rearing in one's own pond. Entrepreneurs engaged in growing the line receive excellent profits not only from the sale of fish, but also from the provision of fishing services at the pond. The article discusses such items as places of fish farming, its behavior, diet and spawning process.
General description and characteristics
Outwardly, tench fish is similar to its carp relatives. The color of the body of the fish often changes color depending on the habitat. There are fish with a silver-olive and bronze hue on the sandy bottom. There are also dark green, almost black fish that live in heavily silted and peat ponds. A distinctive feature of tench are small bright red eyes, a small mouth with puffy lips. The body is covered with small scales, enveloped by mucus. Tench is almost impossible to confuse with other fish.
Despite the unique exterior, the tench has similar features with crucian carp and carp. The tench has the same antennae as the carp, located in the corners of the mouth. Also, like a carp, a tench consumes food, absorbing particles from the bottom. At the same time, the fish is able to go in search of food to deeper layers of silt, and the carp is looking for food, usually on the bottom surface.
With carp, the similarity of tench is that it is undemanding to the high content of oxygen dissolved in water. The shedding is sufficient for breathing with a concentration of only 0.5-2 mg / l, due to which in winter, when oxygen is not left under the ice of some ponds, only tench and crucian carp survive, burrowing into the sludge and falling into suspended animation. At the same time, their metabolism slows down significantly, which is why they need even less oxygen than in hot summers.
In Russia, tench is caught, the average size of which is 150-700 grams. The size of fish for central Russia varies within 1 kilogram. Sometimes some lucky ones manage to catch an individual about 3-4 kilograms in size. Individuals caught in England are considered to be record-breaking - the largest tench weighing 6,890 kilos was fished in 2001.
Tench is one of the few domestic fish that is characterized by external sexual characteristics. Males have larger ventral fins with markedly thickened second rays. But the female’s body size is larger than the males, because they grow 30-40% faster than males.
Where is tench found in Russia?
In Russia, tench lives in the temperate zone of Eurasia. It is found in the rivers and lakes of the basins of the Black, Caspian, Baltic and Azov Seas. In Siberia, tench fish is distributed in the upper Ob and Yenisei, a species is also noted in the western part of the Baikal basin.
Lifestyle & Habitats
Tench is a fish that prefers places with a weak current, quiet river bays, overgrown with soft vegetation. The fish feels comfortable in large ponds and lakes, shores overgrown with reeds, reeds and sedges.
In the summer, the tench is liked in shallow water, in thickets well-warmed by the sun with a muddy bottom, at a depth of no more than 2 meters. Fish lives in one place. The search for food turns into a digging silt, slow movement along the bottom. But at the same time, she will not move far from her place. Determining the habitat of tench in the morning and evening is possible when the fish feeds on air bubbles - they rise in a long chain to the surface of the water.
Despite the fact that medium and large individuals live separately, young animals and small fish gather in small schools. As the colds approach, closer to autumn, tench stops feeding, gathers in packs and lies hibernated toward winter closer to early November.
Winter is considered a dangerous time for tench, because a sharp decrease in the water level in a body of water can lead to the death of the fish, it can be crushed by ice in shallow water. Lin from the cold rescues the mucus that is on the scales - it is a kind of protective capsule.
Tench is a lone fish, leading a sedentary lifestyle. The fish feels comfortable near the bottom, avoids bright light and hides in the thicket. Lin does not require a high oxygen content in the water, due to which it is able to survive where other fish cannot live.
Habits
Tench goes in search of feed in a layer of sludge, digging it. Often, for food, the fish goes deeper into the water. Fishermen argue that it is impossible to meet a tench on the surface. Others note that in the dark, during the period of mass emergence of insects, the fish emerges in the upper layers of the water.
Daily activity
Tench is a fish that can feed all day, but its maximum activity is observed in the morning and evening - usually during this period it migrates to the shore. The rest of the time the fish spends in deep places, but it continues to eat there. It is noted that on cloudy days, tench fish is able to eat all daylight hours.
Seasonal activity
In spring and summer, tench lives on small lakes and rivers overgrown with vegetation, where there is a lot of silt at the bottom. It lives on places warmed by the sun at a depth of 1-2 meters. He constantly lives in one place.
In the fall, when cold weather sets in, the lines form jambs, stop feeding, freeze in silt pits of reservoirs and rivers. In winter, fish activity is not observed - they hibernate.
They catch the line only in the warm time of the day, because in another period there will be no bite. Engaged in fishing from spring to spawning, then after 2-3 weeks. During this period, incredible zhor is observed in fish. In the spring, when the water warms up, the lines approach the shore in small areas with vegetation and algae, in which they seek food.
Migration
Despite the fact that tench leads an inactive lifestyle, the fish is able to make feed migrations daily inside the reservoir, moving from deep places to the shores, and bypassing vegetation along the same trajectory. Also, the fish can make small movements during spawning.
What do the lines feed on?
The basis of the diet of these fish is food of animal origin, although occasionally they can consume plant food. Invertebrates that live in water and near water bodies become objects of hunting: insects and their larvae, mollusks, crustaceans, and worms. In the spring, they are happy to eat algae and green shoots of rdest, reed, sedge, uruti, cattail.
Fish have no seasonal preferences, they are very unpretentious in nutrition and consume everything edible that they can find.
Basically, the lines feed on bottom areas with peat or silty soil, and undergrowth thickets. To get food, these fish have to dig out the bottom. In the fall, the lines feed less than in the summer, and during the winter they don’t eat anything at all.
But after waking up when spring comes, when it gets warm, the lines awaken from hibernation and migrate closer to the shore in search of nutritious food. They feed on fish and mosquito larvae.
Breeding process
Tench is considered a thermophilic fish that can spawn rather late, usually in late spring or early summer. Shallow water with a slow current, sheltered from the wind and abundantly overgrown with aquatic vegetation, is usually chosen as a spawning ground. Masonry is performed at a depth of 30-80 centimeters and is often attached to the branches of shrubs or trees that are lowered into the water, which grow near the coast.
Spawning is carried out several times with a break of 10-14 days. In the process of spawning, fish that have reached puberty by the age of 3-4 years are involved. Reproduction is available only to those individuals whose weight reaches at least 200-400 grams. In one season, the fish is able to lay about 20-500 thousand eggs that ripen in three days.
When hatching, the size of the fry of the line does not exceed 3.5 millimeters, they are attached to the substrate, after which they remain in the same place where they were born after 3-4 days. All this time, the larva grows rapidly, feeding on the reserves remaining in the yolk sac.
After independent fry swimming, they gather in packs and hide in dense underwater vegetation, consuming animal plankton and unicellular algae for survival. Later, when the length of the fish reaches about 1.5 centimeters, the young go to the bottom, where they begin to eat more nutritious food, consisting of their benthic organisms.
Varieties of tench
Depending on the habitat of the tench, this species is divided into four ecological variations. Their representatives are slightly different in body features and a little less tinge of scales. There are such varieties of tench:
- Dwarf. The reason for this name is the small growth of the line - no more than 12 centimeters in length. This is due to the fact that tench lives in places resettled by fish, which leads to a sharp slowdown in growth. Dwarf tench is more common than other varieties. It settles in almost any freshwater pond.
- Lake District. Fish looks similar to the river line, but has larger sizes. This species prefers to settle in large lakes and reservoirs.
- River. There is a tench in backwaters or bays of rivers, branches or ducts with a slow course. It differs from lake and pond lines in a significant thinness. Also, river lines may have a slightly curved mouth to the top.
- Pond. Habitat tench - small artificial or natural reservoirs. Slightly thinner and thinner than lake fish. But when the pond line in the lake is shared, it will begin to gain weight as quickly as possible and will become outwardly similar to lake lines.
Fishing line
The number of tench is usually large, most of its time, the fish are inactive, and also finicky to the nozzles. Because of this, fishing a tench can seem like a pretty complicated process. But fishing will be an interesting thing if you know about the habits of fish in a particular reservoir.
Summer
Summer is the main time for tench hunting. During this time period, the fish is more active. Taking into account the nature of the fish’s nutrition, it is caught on several types of gear - float and bottom fishing rods. The first method is good in that it shows excellent catch results. In the case of a bottom fishing rod, it is better to give preference to its feeder variety.
At the very beginning of the open water season, tench eats animal food, because of which caddis, bloodworm, worm, maggot are used as bait. Lin likes leeches that live in a pond. A little later, when shoots of pond plants appear (reeds, cattail, pond, egg capsules), the fish menu becomes varied. During this period, it is recommended to catch tench on pieces of shoots and delicate leaves of these herbs.
Good fishing for plant bait begins by the end of summer. Fishermen use pearl barley, peas, and dough. Fish is not indifferent to cottage cheese. Some anglers note that when adding cottage cheese to some lures, nibble becomes much better.
To attract tench to the place of fishing, it is desirable to use conventional bait mixtures. Considering that the fish is able to “walk along the trails”, it is tamed by bait for several days. If it is known exactly where the tench lives, there is no need to feed it.
In winter
Although the tench is not active in winter, in some bodies of water with good oxygen saturation and prolonged thaws, fish can get out of hibernation and begin to feed. This is rare and the fisherman often misses such moments. If a tench pecked on a hook in winter, it is considered just luck.
However, some amateurs purposefully go "to the line" in the winter, but the maximum catch can be modest.
Biting and fighting
In rare cases, when the tench has excessive activity, he confidently grabs the bait, but more often he is careful and does not always bite. In some ways, the bite of this fish is similar to crucian carp. But a tendency to “enjoy the process” is typical for a couple of minutes: it nips a little with the tips of the lips, throws it to the bottom. This leads to long-term fluctuations in the float, which the fisherman can perceive as a small fish bite. But at this point, it makes no sense to hook. If the float suddenly deepens and swims to the side, or lays to one side - they immediately hook.
Many fishermen from personal experience have noticed that fish, especially large ones, will vigorously resist after cutting. She will also try to confuse the line in the algae, trying to dig into the silt. It is often very difficult to cope with tench fishing, the fisherman needs to be serious at that moment. The tendency of the tench is the “false” slack of the fishing line, after which he immediately pulls it. In this case, often snap breaks. It is advisable to use a strong fishing line.
Gatherings during fishing tench are rare, because usually the hook cuts through the fleshy mouth of the fish. After the tench is tired, the fish is quietly brought to the shore in the upper layer of water, while not letting it splash so as not to frighten away other individuals that can hide nearby. It will be possible to finally remove the fish from the water with the help of a net - so it will not slip out due to the plentiful layer of mucus.
Use as bait
It is generally accepted that a small tench fish, despite its endurance, is a bad bait, because it does not represent any attractiveness for a predator. But some anglers do not agree with this statement. They convince that there are such reservoirs where a lot of tench is found, and where the predator gets used to eat fish.
Lin for sale: preparing for business
The tench is cultivated as an auxiliary commercial fish, although in the pre-industrial era in Russia it was bred along with crucian carp and carp. In general, breeding tench in a pond is practically no different from growing carp.
The most difficult is the first stage, which involves passing administrative barriers. The pond is either rented from the state or pulled out on its own. In both cases, you will need to obtain the necessary permissions.
When choosing a pond or area under its excavation, a number of factors are taken into account, including the specific pond suitable for breeding tench. Fish like warm muddy ponds with abundant vegetation. Linu will not fit very small stagnant ponds.
For a profitable line breeding business, you will need to pick up objects with a water mirror area of at least 20 hectares. Acceptable and more depending on financial capabilities. Not only a lot of fish are grown in a large pond, but they also earn on the provision of paid fishing services. When the reservoir is located near the village, earnings for fishermen may be higher than when selling fish.
Also, when choosing a pond, it is important to think over the spillway system, because such a gateway not only allows you to control the water level, but is also considered the easiest way to catch salable fish. If there is no way to build a drain hose, you should refuse this pond and choose another option.
Tench is a fish that needs a muddy bottom and an abundance of vegetation in a pond, the depth of which should be at least 1.5 meters for safe wintering of fish. With extensive breeding, fish feed on small invertebrates obtained from silt, vegetation residues and detritus. This is good because the farmer does not have to spend on the maintenance of the reservoir. But this method is suitable only for large reservoirs, while the number of salable fish is small.
To increase the number of products from a reservoir of the same area, it is recommended to use an intensive method of cultivation, where the basis of the ration of the line is artificial feeding. The method is suitable for growing grown fry, which are launched into the pond in the spring, and are caught in the fall for sale. From one hectare of the pond, several tons of fish are obtained, but the costs of intensive breeding are very high.
An intensive way of breeding tench involves feeding fish with compound feed, chopped fresh vegetables mixed with porridge, weed seeds, and grain waste.
Breeding and growing tench for sale
Line begins to breed with fry, which are acquired in specialized fish breeding nurseries. Purchased young growth weighing 30-40 grams by two years of life reaches a mass of about 200 grams. By the third year, it weighs about 400 grams, which is considered an excellent indicator for marketable fish. Average tench productivity is 1.2 tons per hectare. When grown in polyculture with carp, the total productivity can reach 1.5 tons.
In small reservoirs, there is no problem with catching salable fish, because tench is considered a lazy fish that does not depart from its feeding places - it is easy to catch it with dragsters. It is more difficult with large lakes and ponds, it makes no sense to use a drag in them, it will not be possible to cover the entire water territory. The only effective option in this case is flushing water. The process is carried out at night with a minimum noise level so that the tench does not bury itself in the sludge.
The unpretentiousness of tench and the ability to transport it without problems is considered a feature of fish - with sufficient humidity, the fish can live without water for about 48 hours.
Line breeding profitability
It is difficult to calculate the average profitability of an economy, because it is necessary to take into account specific factors that can produce different financial results depending on the conditions where the entrepreneur works. Also today in Russia there are no those who breed only tench. In the best case, it is released into a pond with carp. For these reasons, the standard cost scheme for creating a fish farm will be considered:
- On average, about 5-7 million rubles are spent on the creation and preparation of a reservoir of 100 hectares. This amount includes the creation of the relief of the reservoir and the construction of locks. When receiving a pond from the state, the costs can be significantly less.
- Have to spend money on the purchase of fry tench. To fill a reservoir with an area of 100 hectares, about 2-3 million rubles will be needed. When catching fish every fall, you will have to spend on fry annually. If the entrepreneur is going to let breeding run by itself, reducing the catch rate, a situation is possible where spawning of fish in a pond will cover the loss of population from the catch. That is, you no longer have to spend money on filling the reservoir with fry.
- With an intensive method of growing tench, the entrepreneur will need to lay out the amount for feeding. For these purposes, agricultural waste is mainly used. The ability to bargain with farmers will help reduce costs - in bulk they are willing to sell cheaper.
- The costs include the salary of the guard, who will monitor the order at the pond, protect him from poachers.
- There will be waste as well when paying for services for fishing and transporting it to a place for sale.
On average, the cost per kilogram of fish grown by the intensive method is about 70 rubles per kilo. With the extensive method - much less. Wholesale frozen fish is about 100 rubles per kilogram, live tench - 120-140 rubles. In retail, revenue will be several times greater. So from one kilogram net profit will be approximately 30-40 rubles, depending on the cost, current wholesale prices, method of implementation.
On average, 1.2 tons of salable fish are obtained per hectare with the intensive method. Due to this, one reservoir with an area of 100 hectares is able to enrich the entrepreneur with net profit from the catch, reaching 3.6 million rubles. Profits are increasing through additional sources of income: the organization of paid fishing. For example, in the Moscow Region a fisherman pays several thousand rubles per day. If 10 people fish daily at the pond, the additional income will be about 10-20 thousand rubles per day.
Gastronomic features
The meat of the line, which were caught in late April or early May, is considered very tasty. During spawning, carcasses are not used in food. The taste and aroma of this fish often cause many people to refuse to consume tench. This is a freshwater fish that loves marshy bottoms, which is why its meat can give off silt. But to solve this problem is simple: put live fish in clean water for 12-14 hours. If this method does not help, use spices and lemon juice.
Before cooking the fish, the carcass is cleaned. At this stage, it is necessary to peel off all the husks so as not to damage the fish skin, which after frying or baking becomes a delicious golden crust.
Tench is a versatile fish, because it can be cooked, pickled, baked, fried, used for cooking fish soup and aspic. Various fillings are prepared from fish fillet. Tench carcass is very tasty when cooked in sour cream and wine, it is stuffed and baked with herbs. Many gourmets like fried and baked tench, because the fillet is so tender and juicy.
If you bake tench, pre-marinate the fish in lemon juice and spices, then bake with a bunch of dill placed in the belly of the carcass.
About the properties of mucus tench
The mucus that covers the body of the tench has healing properties, due to the fact that it is a natural natural antibiotic. Studies were conducted by ichthyologists, who established that diseased fish come to be treated for healthy individuals: they rub against the side of the mucous fish. This procedure also helps protect against water parasites.
The fish itself, due to the presence of mucus, is saved even during wintering, when it hides from freezing. Surprisingly, even a sick pike tench admits to itself for "treatment" and it does not attack it. But a healthy pike does not mind eating healthy fish. Predators do not consider tench as food at all, probably because of the thick mucus that the fish is covered with.
The fish got its name precisely because of the presence of unusual mucus. When a fish gets into the air from water, the mucus on its body dries and darkens, changing color. After that, it completely disappears in pieces, on the site of which there is light scales. In simple words - fish molt. From this, the name of the fish is tench.
Interesting Facts
Some characteristics of the line are surprising. The fish has incredibly strong and thick skin. But this is not the only thing that particularly struck the researchers. The fish body is able to produce a unique protein substance that other fish do not have - it has powerful antiseptic properties. Experiments have confirmed that this substance is very effective against many bacteria viruses and skin parasites.
The presence of this substance protects the line from many diseases that affect other inhabitants of water bodies. This was so interesting to Japanese scientists that they wanted to create a powerful antibacterial agent from mucus of tench. But several years of research have shown - this is real, but very difficult and expensive.
Scientists were surprised to see fish blood tests. It turned out that it contains ichthyotoxins - substances that have toxic properties. Similar compounds were previously found in carcasses of river eels, pelamides of carp, tuna, and some other freshwater and marine inhabitants. The most dangerous is sea eel. An experiment was conducted where laboratory mice were used - after contact with a toxic substance, death occurs in almost 85% of cases, and very quickly - within 10-30 minutes.
The maximum concentration of toxic substances in fish bodies is observed during the spawning period. Researchers have not yet been able to find out what is associated with this feature. The good news is that tench carcasses contain a small amount of ichthyotoxins, which makes it unnecessary to refuse to eat this fish. Poisons are destroyed by heat treatment of fish. The only danger to humans is only the ingress of a toxic substance directly into the blood.
Tench is a fish from the carp family. Distinctive features of fish are considered a unique appearance, excellent palatability, unpretentiousness in nutrition. It is profitable to breed fish together with carps - this significantly increases income.
Posted by
3
Ukraine. City: Kryvyi Rih
Publications: 110 Comments: 0