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Aquaculture Potential for Hornyhead Chubs

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Aquaculture Potential for Hornyhead Chubs Aquaculture Potential for Hornyhead Chubs Jeff Gunderson Minnesota Sea Grant 141 Chester Park 31 West College Street Duluth, MN 55812 Carl Richards U.S. EPA - Mid-Continent Ecology Division - Duluth 6201 Congdon Boulevard Duluth, Minnesota 55804-2595 Paul Tucker formerly with the UMD Natural Resources Research Institute and Minnesota Sea Grant Technical Bulletin Series # 116 In cooperation with USDA’s Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service USDA Grant #2005-38500-15847 And in cooperation with University of Minnesota Sea Grant February 2010 North Central Regional Aquaculture Center Michigan State University 13 Natural Resources Building East Lansing, MI 48824-1222 in cooperation with USDA he hornyhead chub (Nocomis biguttatus) What do they look like? is one of the most valuable baitfish spe- Dorsal colors range from black to olive or Tcies in Minnesota. Culturing hornyhead brown. Their sides can be silvery or brassy to chub supplies valuable baitfish to anglers and yellow-brown, with or without a dark lateral generates income for fish farmers and baitshop stripe. The belly is primarily white. A prominent owners in Minnesota and other northern states. caudal spot is visible on most specimens, par- Hornyhead chubs can be reared in aquaculture ticularly on young hornyhead chubs. facilities and sold through baitshops to anglers, who are often willing to pay $5 to $6 per dozen. The reddish tail of juveniles, a trait retained by many adults, gives rise to the name redtail chub Because it is illegal to import baitfish into Min- (Nocomis effusus) used in the baitfish industry. nesota, such prices put harvesting pressure on The fish’s more broadly used common name, wild populations. Culturing hornyhead chubs hornyhead chub, comes from the white wart-like relieves pressure on wild populations while bumps that can develop spines that grow on the keeping the market adequately supplied with this heads of breeding males. desirable bait. This technical bulletin describes how to spawn and grow hornyhead chubs produced in an out- door spawning system and an indoor over-winter growout facility. Where do hornyhead chubs live? As you can see on the map below, hornyhead chub occupy the Great Lakes drainages of the Photo by Konrad Schmidt United States and the central Mississippi drain- age area. The male’s circular pectoral fin is much larger than the female’s elliptical egg shape one. Some males will also have a reddish ear spot on the gill cover and orange tints on the dorsal and caudal fins. Adult females frequently range from 7.6 to 10.2 cm (3 to 4 in) in length with some specimens exceeding 15.2 cm (6 in). Males are generally longer, reaching 17.8 cm (7 in) or more. How do they reproduce? Hornyhead chubs reach sexual maturity by 2 or 3 years of age. A mature male builds a dome- shaped nest of stones for spawning during a breeding season that lasts from April through July. He excavates a concavity in a gravely streambed then moves stones to this depression from as far away as about 25 m (80 ft). From Becker (1983) After the mound is complete, the male exca- vates a spawning pit at or near the leading edge. 1 Aquaculture Potential for Hornyhead Chubs Should a female deposit eggs in this volcano- are known to consume: clams, snails, crayfish, shaped structure, the male will fertilize them and worms, aquatic insect larvae, and fish. fill in the crater with stones after several spawn- ing sequences. A new pit is often excavated in What do you need to culture the same mound, sometimes within a few inches hornyhead chubs? of the preceding one. Females can release be- • A spawning system, tween 450 to 1,000 eggs through the breeding • culture facilities for early growth of fry and season. fingerlings, and • a place for growout to market size. Where are they found? Hornyhead chubs inhabit riffle/pool sections of Spawning System small streams to medium-sized rivers. They are Spawning systems can take a variety of forms. more commonly found in clear water at depths Water can be circulated along the edge of a pond of 60 to 181 cm (2 to 6 ft). Adults are gener- prepared with appropriately sized gravel or cir- ally not found in vegetation, but the young use culated through an earthen raceway-like system. vegetation extensively, at least for several weeks A technique similar to a system used to spawn through the first month of life. creek chubs (Semotilus atromaculatus) may also encourage hornyhead chubs (a species with How long do they live? similar spawning requirements) to spawn. In Hornyhead chubs can live for 4 years, but most this system, gravity moved water down a gravel- do not live beyond 3 years in the wild. Males lined outdoor raceway. grow larger and more rapidly than females but appear to have a higher mortality rate. Growth rates vary with temperature and food supplies. Behavior Note Young-of-the-year (YOY) in Minnesota and A male hornyhead chub defends Wisconsin reach 4.2 cm (1.7 in) by the end of his nest well, but appears willing to their first year, 6.5 cm (2.6 in) during their sec- ond year, and about 9.5 cm (3.7 in) during their share the responsibility with a male third year. common shiner (Luxilus cornutus). In this commensal relationship, the Surveys from the southern part of their range chub seems to be the mover of suggest growth can be much faster there. Horny- stones, builder of nests, and protec- head chubs in an Oklahoma river grew to 8.9 tor of the territory, while the shiner cm (3.5 in) by age 1, 13.5 cm (5.3 in) by age 2, further secures the safety of the nest. and 16.0 cm (6.3 in) by age 3. This suggests that Male hornyhead chubs will intercept hornyhead chubs can attain market size (approx. and drive off intruding males while 8.1 cm (3 in)) within one growing season in our the male shiner might specialize in region. driving off marauding females forag- ing for freshly deposited eggs. It is What do they eat? unknown whether adding male com- The hornyhead chub is a visual feeder, active mon shiners to an artificial spawning primarily during daylight. They eat a variety of system will increase spawning suc- plant and animal food items. Animal food items cess, but the possibility is intriguing. for the young include: rotifers, cladocerans For more details, refer to Appendix A (waterfleas), copepods, chironomids (midge), in Gunderson et al. 2008 at www.sea- and aquatic insect larvae. Older hornyhead chubs grant.umn.edu/aquaculture/redtail. Aquaculture Potential for Hornyhead Chubs 2 Water depth, flow rate, water temperature and 1.2 ft/sec) (Mean: 18.3 cm/sec (0.6 ft/sec)). Add- quality, and gravel size are the key parameters ing cement blocks or other current deflectors can determining the success of a system. Other con- create areas of differing velocities, which may siderations include how large the system must encourage successful nest building. be to produce the desired number of fry, water availability (for filling the system and to com- Water temperature: Spawning typically oc- pensate for evaporation or seepage), broodstock curs when water warms to 18.3° C (65° F), but procurement, and the ability to remove adults has been reported at water temperatures from and/or fry from the system with minimal stress 16 - 26° C (61 - 79° F). Pre-spawn broodstock and mortality. should be held in water colder than 18.3° C (65° F) and introduced into an artificial spawning sys- Past researchers have used two spawning sys- tem before the water reaches this temperature. tems. First, side channel backwater areas were incorporated to provide habitat for fry. Water quality: Hornyhead chubs require silt-free, Secondly, researchers connected the artificial clear water for successful spawning. See Table spawning area to a pond, so fry could move out 1 for water quality parameters for collaborator of the flowing water of the spawning system. spawning systems. These additions to a flowing water system may improve hornyhead chub spawning systems as Gravel size: Males use 5 to 12.7 mm (¼- to well. ½-in) diameter gravel to build the nest and 19 mm (¾-in) gravel to “cap-off” the nest. This Remember that culture conditions can vary gravel size reflects the size used by wild fish. greatly. These suggestions and facts might help Males will need sufficient gravel of this size when setting up an artificial spawning system: range for successful nesting. Water depth: 30 to 46 cm (12 to 18 in). Spawn- Broodstock ing occurs at depths of 18 to 48 cm (7 to 19 in). • Aim for an initial stocking ratio of 10 females for every male Flow rate: Surface water flowing approximately • Each male needs 1 m2 (11 ft2) of defensible 10 to 20 cm/sec (0.33 to 0.66 ft/sec). territory, but note that males may not utilize all the space in a spawning system due to Male hornyhead chubs appear to choose nest- variations in water flow building areas related to water velocity. In • Minimize supplemental feeding to maintain artificial spawning systems, nests are more likely water quality to be built in areas with a velocity of 10 cm/sec • Although adults don’t seem to eat newly (0.33 ft/sec). In one study, water velocity over hatched fry, it may be wise to remove brood- nests was measured from 2 to 36 cm/sec (0.07 to stock from the spawning system when spawn- Table 1. Average water quality conditions from June through September in hornyhead fry spawning/growout systems.
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