The water environment for cage culture has a critical impact on fish farming.
Why so important?
Because the water environment for cage culture has a direct effect on fish growth. If you don’t know the secrets, your fish’s growth will be suffered.
In this article, we shall share the most 2 important factors regarding the water environment.
1. Water speed
To provide sufficient oxygen and plankton bait, the fish cages must be installed in slow-water regions. The water flow has a great effect on fish growth. The streaming water will guide the fish to swim. If the water speed is too high or even beyond the fish’s swimming ability, the fish will be unable to swim upstream. So the proper flow rate plays an important role in fish activity. The aggressive water flow speed for cage culture is 0.2 meter per second. With such speed, fishes become hard to swim and growth is slow. The maximum speed is 0.3 meter per second, which you should always avoid it. Overall, the ideal water speed for culture is 0.1-0.2 meter per second. The high-speed flow will consume the fish’s energies fast. It will be harmful to fish growth.
2. Wind & waves
The natural waves are mainly generated by the wind and the flood peak. The waves can cause the water to move both horizontally and vertically. By doing that, the dissolved oxygen in the water can be spread rapidly and evenly. If the wind and waves are too big, the cages will easily get damaged. And fish will easily get hurt, too. At the same time, it will be difficult to feed the baits. The baits will get lost seriously. Moderate wind and waves can increase bait efficiency and dissolved oxygen volume. Also, they can eliminate residual feces as well as improve the water environment inside the cage. Therefore, the cage location should take into account the wind, waves and water speed.
If you have any questions about the factors, please leave your comment.