I'm not allowed to tag fish,I used identifying markers that occur naturally such as bird scars.
Excited about my first hatching of trout eggs!
- Thread starter Cecil B.
- Start date
Sorry the fishes max age was determined by biologist who study other lakes,one of the best trout lakes in Missouri has a lot of trout born in the 70s
See if u can get in contact with any decent biologist in the northern us or Canada ,most of my favorite fish biologist are either dead or retired,have u googled "rainbow trout average age" ?
I'm sorry that's really vague. I think your giving your opinion not based on actual scientific data. And Yes I'm aware of the average age of rainbow trout and it's no where near what you state. I will no longer comment on this. It's a waste of my time.
I know this is an old post, but I just started 3 years ago raising trout, ponds, streams,etc.
What sort of water or "system' if you will are you raising 6 pound brook trout? That is huge. I have several 3 pounders at 3 yrs old and I just don't believe they will get much larger. Our NYS record here is 6 1/2 lbs. I've caught a 5 pounder in a remote pond.
Just curious. Still learning.
What sort of water or "system' if you will are you raising 6 pound brook trout? That is huge. I have several 3 pounders at 3 yrs old and I just don't believe they will get much larger. Our NYS record here is 6 1/2 lbs. I've caught a 5 pounder in a remote pond.
Just curious. Still learning.
Sorry for the late reply. I haven't been here for a while. The "water system" is a 1/10th acre artificial pond that is 88 long by 55 at the widest pond. Well water flows in 24/7 at abut 41 gpm about 6 to 8 months of the year depending on the fish load. The pond is about 12 feet deep in the middle and steep sided to keep warming down. When empty it looks like a crater. There is a diffuser sitting on the bottom in the center that mixes the water column via a small compressor that runs 24/7. If I have a heavy fish load (720 pounds maximum)* I run a Kasco 1/2 hp surface aerator I the summer at night. I have since found I can produce up to 720 pounds in the pond vs. only about 500. I think the Chara on the bottom helps remove ammonia along with providing a surface area for nitrifying bacteria. Of course the over 50 percent added freshwater from the family has more to do with carrying capacity too.
Are you feeding your brook trout or are they subsisting on natural feed? Feeding artificial feed makes all the difference. That said possibly due to rapid growth my brook trout don't live much past 3 years. In fact I won't keep them past 3 years for that reason. Slower growing trout living on natural feed will have a longer lifespan although planted trout typically only live 3 or 4 more years with the exception of come individual brown trout.
I feed my trout probably more than I should but my market wants large heavy fish. And since they are not swimming against current that may make a difference. too. My largest brook trout length wise was 24 inches which was about 5 lbs. My heaviest brook trout was less than 24 inches and weighed 6 lbs. 10 oz.
Here's one from about 3 years ago:
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Getting a few nitrite spikes in my coldwater system which is not unusual for coldwater systems. Not above 0.5 mg/l but nitrite spikes nothing the less. Dealing with it with water changes. Hopefully it will stabilize. Out of 1000 eggs I have removed 59 dead ones. Eggs should be hatching any day now.
No nitrite readings with API color tests two days in a row! Hopefully the water changes have given the nitrobacters a chance to catch up. I think I have may have added too much ammonia a few days before the eggs arrived. Two more dead or unfertilized eggs this morning for a total of 61 out of a 1000. Not bad.
