A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

Spawning?

Any success, hints, tips, or experience with Yellow Perch: mating habits, habitat/optimal conditions, spawning?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Glenn Dennis on March 13, 2012 at 7:39am

Mold on eggs is a problem in tanks. Most breeding is natural in ponds. OSU and UW Milwaukee are working on perch. Larva eat rotifers because they have a small mouth gap. Rotifers need to be grown in green water since they eat alga.

Bluegill larva can eat baby brine shrimp. Both bluegill and perch have a problem of a larger percentage being runts. Someone needs to do some selective breeding to produce lines of eating size fish. OSU is at work on this problem as is University of Missouri Lincoln, Charles Hicks Dr. Wang OSU.

Aquaculture Center a NFP in Michigan is working on this also.

Permalink Reply by Leeroy Miller on March 16, 2012 at 12:47pm

Thank you very much for the information.

Permalink Reply by Leeroy Miller on March 19, 2012 at 3:41pm

After last night there are eggs all over the tank, concentrated more in some areas... I'm wondering how to tell if they are fertilized, as I'm not sure the sex of both perch. Obviously one is a female, but its possible that she laid the eggs without them being fertilized, correct? I would like to remove them (if fertilized) and try to provide an environment to successfully hatch the eggs. The question is how long can I leave them in the tank to allow for the possibility of fertilization (*if the other one is a male) before they get consumed by snail/crayfish/perch?

Permalink Reply by Glenn Dennis on March 19, 2012 at 5:04pm

If they are not fertilized by now it is to late. They water harden in a short time.

Lots of info

http://www.extension.org/pages/58706/yellow-perch#Spawning

Permalink Reply by Steve Federwisch on April 6, 2012 at 8:47am

They need to be fertilized within the first few minutes after they are laid. The males which are much smaller will ususally follow the females and fertilize almost immediately. If the ribbons stay yellowish they may be fertilized. If they are white and opaque they are most likely not fertilized. You could catch some of the females before they spawn and some males and fertilize them in a bowl and then replace them in a tank over something like chicken wire and see if they hatch. Hatching usually takes about 10 days.

Let us know how it turns out. Mine are spawning this week hopefully I can get some to hatch.

Permalink Reply by Keith Rowan on August 9, 2012 at 11:18am

any luck with your yp spawns?

Permalink Reply by Bill Bailey on April 3, 2013 at 7:38pm

Hi, my only experience with Yellow Perch is on Lake Erie, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. We also have about a 1.5 Acre pond we stock and care for ... our "Oversized Aquarium". I have talked with the DNR person with Fisheries responsibilities for our County and one of my Contacts at MSU, as well as a man in Iowa that is breeding LARGE Yellow Perch (16 inches by Selective Breeding).

My thoughts are as temp comes up, pre-select and isolate some Females, same with some Males. Select for size, color and general health. As water hits temp of 68 degrees or more the Females will Spawn on a gravel or rocky bottom. When you see this ribbon, remove the Females and introduce the Males to fertilize, you will know by a Milky substance in water. Their is some cannibalism, so remove all fish from Spawn Tank as soon as possible. Try a couple tanks, a 20 Gallon Aquarium will work, and are Cheap, do this in case a hatch is lost or needs to be isolated. If you do end up with too many you can sell them to someone else.

My thought processes with Perch was that since they are Predators if they started on flacks then pellets, when they got Bigger would they return to Predation? Dr. Weeks, Director or Aquaponics at MSU, told me no. That once the Fry are on flacks or pellets they would stay on them, given they are not put in a starvation situation.

Other issues are that most people experience NO Fry in the 1st Year. This is generally true because the Perch are small and not at full maturity. This guy in Iowa, and I will have to look him up again, said the reason that Yellow Perch population is generally on a downward slide is because of "In Family Breeding". I used to go to the "Perchvilles" in Several cities we have here in Michigan. Last one I went to was in Tawas on Lake Huron, KNOWN for its Jumbo Perch. I am 59 and I have never seen one. The board had a large Northern Pike, and 2 large Walleyes. It also had 2 perch entered. The Tag for the fish was 2.5 inches by 5 inches, both the perch wouldn't even come close to the length of the Tag. So this guys theories look and sound solid. He thinks the Perch are so inbred they don't get big enough to Spawn before they are food in the Chain. So he carefully selected Perch from separate "Families" and started cross-breeding them. Then he found more "Different" Families and cross bred ... Final result is he has 16" Yellow Perch. A BEAUTIFUL Sight!

Permalink Reply by Jason N on July 1, 2014 at 9:57pm

Hello Bill, if you can find the information on the Iowa hatchery please let me know.

Bill Bailey said:

Hi, my only experience with Yellow Perch is on Lake Erie, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. We also have about a 1.5 Acre pond we stock and care for ... our "Oversized Aquarium". I have talked with the DNR person with Fisheries responsibilities for our County and one of my Contacts at MSU, as well as a man in Iowa that is breeding LARGE Yellow Perch (16 inches by Selective Breeding).

My thoughts are as temp comes up, pre-select and isolate some Females, same with some Males. Select for size, color and general health. As water hits temp of 68 degrees or more the Females will Spawn on a gravel or rocky bottom. When you see this ribbon, remove the Females and introduce the Males to fertilize, you will know by a Milky substance in water. Their is some cannibalism, so remove all fish from Spawn Tank as soon as possible. Try a couple tanks, a 20 Gallon Aquarium will work, and are Cheap, do this in case a hatch is lost or needs to be isolated. If you do end up with too many you can sell them to someone else.

My thought processes with Perch was that since they are Predators if they started on flacks then pellets, when they got Bigger would they return to Predation? Dr. Weeks, Director or Aquaponics at MSU, told me no. That once the Fry are on flacks or pellets they would stay on them, given they are not put in a starvation situation.

Other issues are that most people experience NO Fry in the 1st Year. This is generally true because the Perch are small and not at full maturity. This guy in Iowa, and I will have to look him up again, said the reason that Yellow Perch population is generally on a downward slide is because of "In Family Breeding". I used to go to the "Perchvilles" in Several cities we have here in Michigan. Last one I went to was in Tawas on Lake Huron, KNOWN for its Jumbo Perch. I am 59 and I have never seen one. The board had a large Northern Pike, and 2 large Walleyes. It also had 2 perch entered. The Tag for the fish was 2.5 inches by 5 inches, both the perch wouldn't even come close to the length of the Tag. So this guys theories look and sound solid. He thinks the Perch are so inbred they don't get big enough to Spawn before they are food in the Chain. So he carefully selected Perch from separate "Families" and started cross-breeding them. Then he found more "Different" Families and cross bred ... Final result is he has 16" Yellow Perch. A BEAUTIFUL Sight!