Fathead minnow reproduction: Implications for commercial culture

Abstract

The fathead minnow, Pimephales promelas, is widely used as a bait, forage, and research fish in the United States. A hardy and fecund fish, this species has many attributes that are excellent for culture. Unfortunately, despite the widespread use of fathead minnows in toxicity testing and thousands of resulting publications, relatively little aquaculture‐related research has been conducted in support of commercial production. On the surface, current commercial fathead minnow production practices appear much the same as those of a decade ago. However, producers continue to refine culture methods, balancing broodfish stocking rates, spawning substrate quantity, and feeding rates in an attempt to meet both losses to predators and market demand. This review examines relevant reproduction‐related studies in the fields of ecology, behavior, toxicology, and aquaculture with the goal of advancing fathead minnow culture. In fathead minnow production, relative to the culture of food fish species, reproduction is vital, more so than rapid growth or a low feed conversion ratio. Fish numbers may exceed 1 million fish/ha, while feeding rates are relatively low and in feeder fish production, growth is deliberately restrained in order to maintain fish within market sizes year‐round. Underappreciated factors identified as affecting reproduction and with implications for commercial culture include: (a) poor egg adhesion to commonly used spawning substrates, (b) egg and fry cannibalism at high fish densities, and (c) the relatively short breeding period of individual males. Results highlight the importance of selecting an appropriate broodfish stocking rate based on fish size, anticipated pond fertility, and feeding program. New methods to improve reproductive performance will likely increase costs and will need to be accompanied by thorough economic analyses.

The Effects of Different Winter Feeding Regimens on Growth, Survival, and Fatty Acid Composition of Fathead Minnow and Golden Shiners

“…Both FHM and GS are found in geographic regions further north than Arkansas and are accustomed to cold temperatures in their natural environment (Stone et al. , ). Effective feeding strategies are further complicated by large pond sizes, which in some cases may exceed 25 ha (Stone et al.…”

“…Effective feeding strategies are further complicated by large pond sizes, which in some cases may exceed 25 ha (Stone et al. , ). During the peak of the production season, baitfish farmers typically administer small amounts of feed (10 kg·ha −1 ·d −1 ) compared to other aquaculture industries, such as catfish, for which feeding rates commonly exceed 150 kg·ha −1 ·d −1 .…”

Resource-use efficiency in US aquaculture: farm-level comparisons across fish species and production systems

“…The second-leading finfish species raised in the USA, trout (primarily Oncorhynchus my kiss, but also Salmo trutta, Salvelinus fontinalis, and O. clarkii), is most commonly raised in concrete raceways with constant water flow-through, whereas baitfish, feeder goldfish Carassius auratus, and sportfish (including M. salmoides, Lepomis macrochirus, and Pomoxis spp. among others) are most commonly raised in open, static, earthen ponds (Stone et al 2016(Stone et al , 2019. The scenarios for this analysis in cluded the most common management practices and degree of production intensity as determined by previous surveys of US aquaculture farms (primarily those reported by Kumar et al 2020a for catfish, Engle et al 2019 for trout, and van Senten & Engle 2017 for baitfish, feeder goldfish, and sportfish).…”

Empirical support for a strategy for the restoration of Pugnose Shiner (Notropis anogenus)

“…Application of pond‐culture techniques provides the most feasible approach for artificially propagating Pugnose Shiner, because it has a substantial record of producing large numbers of other small cyprinid species (Ludwig 1989: Morrison & Burtle 1989: Stone et al 2019). In fact, the Pugnose Shiner has been shown to survive well, grow, and reproduce in high‐quality suburban storm water retention ponds (Schaeffer et al 2012).…”