Culling

[DiscusBob]

Hi:

I'm a new breeder with a question:

What do you do with culled fishes? Are they destroyed? If so, how?

Aside from obvious runts, how does one determine who should be culled?

Thnaks,

Bob
Corn9006@aol.com

[ronrca]

Check out this thread:

http://forum.simplydiscus.com//index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=10359

There are various methods to cull. Some freeze, some boil, some smash, some feed!

[Rick_May]

yep, diffrent ways to do a very nasty task, its just how quick do you want to end it for the little guy. I prefer the old slam on floor.

Here is a easier way, it will cost you, but painless.... get some local pain killer like ambesol for tooth ache, add it to a bucket full of water and put the fish in, they will slowly go in to coma, and that is it... let it sit for a while and add it as fertilizer to your plants.... no smashin, no gut spilling.. no blood splatter... etc.. etc...

As far as which ones should be culled... as a general rule this is what I follow,

at about 1" - remove any fish that swim funky, or is less than half the size of the largest fish in the batch...

between 1" and 2", cull for defects like missing gill plates, crooked fins, missing fins.....

between 2" and 3", cull for uneven gill plates, short gill plates, small eyes, any fish less than 1"....

after 3"..... depending on space availability cull for shape, growth rate and color......

except for obvious defects, which you don't want to sell, it is pretty much an individuals own choice.... I don't always kill the ones I remove, I keep them for various other stuff that I tool around with.... but as a professional breeder you may have to take in to account cost, time and space available as well.... ;)