Roach: description, spawning, lifestyle, nutrition, photo, enemies, fishing, habitats, cooking

Description

Roach (lat. Rutilus rutilus)

- a species of fish from the carp family (Cyprinidae). It has many subspecies, some of which have their own names: ram, roach, soroga. In Siberia, at least in its western part, and in the Urals, the common name for roach is chebak.

The roach has a blackish back with a green or blue tint, as well as silvery sides and belly. It differs from the closest species in having non-serrated pharyngeal teeth located in a row on each side, rather large scales, a mouth located at the end of the snout, and a dorsal fin that fits above the base of the ventral fins.

The scales of the fish are colored silver-white, and all fins, except the tail and dorsal, are orange-red. It is believed that the roach has a brighter color than its related roach.

Adults of this fish feed on various invertebrates, their larvae, mollusks; in summer, the diet of roach may include filamentous algae.

At the age of three to five years, the fish reaches sexual maturity. As a rule, roach breed from March to May, when the water temperature no longer drops below eight degrees Celsius. Its eggs, whose diameter reaches one and a half millimeters, stick to plants.

Roaches spawn in large flocks, spawning (from 2.5 to 100 thousand eggs) takes place at a time, and the spawning itself is very noisy. The development of roach eggs occurs within nine to fourteen days, after which the larvae begin to independently feed on smaller vertebrates.

Semi-anadromous forms of roach (roach) grow much faster, and their fertility is almost twice as high. Adults return to the sea, where they begin to feed heavily.

What kind of fish is best to get?

It is better to populate your first aquarium with unpretentious inhabitants, for example, viviparous fish. They do not require special care and reproduce quickly and easily. Females do not spawn, but “give birth” to fully formed fry. Below is a list of viviparous aquarium fish.

1. Guppies are the simplest fish, but very beautiful, especially the males. There are many types of guppies that vary in color. The long tail, fins and abdomen can be of different shades: red, orange, green, blue, blue. It is very interesting to breed fish; you can cross representatives of different species with each other and get the original color of the fry. The maximum size of males is 4 cm, females – 6 cm.
2. Swordtails - you can recognize them by their unusual tail fin. In males, part of the tail is elongated and pointed, resembling a sword blade in appearance. Most often in the aquarium you can find red swordtails, but these fish have a large number of species of various shades. In a large aquarium they can grow up to 10 cm (excluding the tail “blade”).
3. Platies are similar in appearance to swordtails, but their tail is of a regular shape. There are many varieties, every aquarist will be able to choose a fish to his liking. There are red, spotted, yellow, orange and silver platies. The size of an individual can range from 4 to 12 cm.
4. Mollies are a close relative of platies. There are also a large number of types and color options. The most common completely black fish. They can grow up to 10 cm, but most often they are no more than 7 cm in length.

You can also choose spawning fish; there are easy-to-keep species that are suitable for beginners. During the spawning period, females lay eggs, from which fry develop. Below are the most unpretentious spawning fish and their descriptions.

• Danio rerio is an elegant fish that grows no more than 5-6 cm in length. Despite its small size, it looks very impressive in an aquarium. Blue and white stripes run along the body, starting from the gills and extending to the tip of the tail.

• Cardinals are miniature fish with bright colors and a fluorescent stripe along the body. The maximum size is only 3 cm; they can live in a small aquarium. It is best to keep cardinals in a large flock of 10-15 pieces.

• Neons are fish with a shiny, iridescent belly. They look especially interesting against a dark background. They grow up to 4 cm, a small flock can even be placed in a 10-liter aquarium.

• Corydoras are peace-loving catfish. They live in the lower layer of water and love to dig in the ground. They look for food at the bottom, so it is necessary to ensure that the food reaches the lower layer of water. There are special feeds in the form of granules that sink well.

• Ancistrus are excellent cleaners. Using a suction cup mouth, they remove fouling from decorative objects and the walls of the aquarium. They grow quite large - up to 15 cm.

• Gourami and lalius are labyrinth fish. To maintain them, it is not necessary to install an aeration system in the aquarium. Labyrinthine species capture air from the surface of the water. The fish have an attractive appearance, there are many subspecies and color options. Gourami grow up to 10-12 cm, and lalius - up to 7-9 cm.

• Cherry barbs are schooling fish up to 4 cm in length. The abdomen and fins are bright scarlet. This is the most peaceful subspecies among other barbs.

It is not recommended to keep fish such as discus, cichlids, astronotus, labeo and botia in your first aquarium. These species are sensitive to water parameters and require a fairly spacious aquarium. If there is insufficient care, the fish will get sick and may die, and this, in turn, may discourage a beginner from wanting to get involved in aquarium keeping.

Behavior and habitats

Roach is a schooling fish. As a rule, individuals of approximately the same age and size gather in one group, but exceptions occur. The formation of a flock is influenced by factors such as the size of the reservoir, food supply, and others. Groups in which medium and large individuals predominate stay in deeper areas, while small fish prefer shallow coastal waters. This fish loves places overgrown with reeds, reeds and other aquatic vegetation, often standing on the border between grass and clean water. In general, it is unpretentious and feels great in a variety of conditions, both on the current and in quiet river bays. The only thing it vitally needs is a sufficient level of oxygen in the water.

With the onset of spring, which brings the first warmth, the roach leaves great depths and rises upstream to the spawning grounds. Along the way, it actively feeds, delighting fishermen with a good bite. Spawning begins around mid-April and lasts several weeks. In some regions, depending on weather conditions (primarily temperature indicators), the spawning process may begin earlier or later.

In summer, this fish is active around the clock. Since water bodies abound in algae and living organisms during the warm period, she has no problems with food. Because of this, it becomes much more difficult to catch it; it often ignores fishing baits. However, closer to mid-autumn the picture changes. The vegetation gradually begins to sink and die, living creatures hide in the bottom soil, so the roach stops being picky. Now it’s easy to catch even for a beginner, using any bait or attachment.

In October, this fish gathers in large groups and moves from shallow water to depth. But unlike many of its relatives, such as bream, it does not remain half asleep in wintering pits all winter. On the contrary, roach remains active during the cold period. It can be effectively caught in winter only in deep areas, preferably with the remains of aquatic plants at the bottom.

It is the year-round activity of roach that captivates fishermen. But some of them underestimate this fish, so they are often left without a catch. The fact is that she is not as carefree as it seems to beginners; she can also be frightened by the silhouette of a person or loud sounds on the shore. Roach can also be unpredictable: today it is caught in one place, tomorrow in another, for several days it bites perfectly on a worm, and then its mood suddenly changes, give it something vegetable.

What river fish can live in an aquarium?

The range of representatives of rivers suitable for a home pond is quite large: carp, verkhovka, tench, rudd, etc.

Before populating the aquarium, you need to take into account that the most “resistant” fish will be from a body of water that is not flowing or has a weak current. Also, fish caught in the fall will be more resilient to the conditions of an artificially created habitat.

When settling river residents, it is necessary to take into account that coexistence of predatory and non-predatory fish is impossible.

Predatory animals (perch, pike, pike perch, catfish) need live fish for food, unlike non-predatory animals (bream, rudd, carp, crucian carp), which use plants and invertebrate animals as food.

Regarding the types of fish suitable for keeping at home, the most unpretentious representative is the crucian carp, which can “survive” even in the most difficult conditions.

It creates a special layer around itself consisting of water and dirt, and in such conditions it can last for about 2-3 months.

Therefore, crucian carp are the best option for keeping in a home pond. This fish loves a lot of vegetation and algae, so this must be taken into account when “populating” this inhabitant.

The most important condition is to create a habitat for the fish that is similar to their native one (rivers, reservoirs, ponds).

In order for the residents to feel free and comfortable, it is necessary to prepare a large aquarium with algae (duckweed, hornwort, trampweed, glitterweed), which can acclimatize in the conditions of a home pond.

Appearance

Roach is a small fish. It belongs to the carp family and, like all cyprinids, has pharyngeal teeth. The fish remains active throughout the year. In some areas of Siberia and the Urals it is called chebak. There is another name - soroga or path. The back is much darker than the belly. In some reservoirs it is almost black, in others it is gray, but in any case with a blue or greenish tint. The sides and belly have a silvery tint. The scales are quite large, dense and non-rigid. The base of the dorsal fin is located exactly above the pelvic fins. The color of the anal, pectoral and pelvic fins varies from red-gray to orange. The food supply of roach consists of invertebrates and larvae. In summer, the fish expands its menu with filamentous algae.

Roaches reach sexual maturity at three years of age, and under unfavorable conditions at five years of age. It begins to spawn at a water temperature of at least 8°C. In different regions, this period occurs at different times from March to the end of May. Roaches live in schools and spawn together. The spawning of this fish is noisy. The eggs stick to the stems and leaves of aquatic vegetation, and after a couple of weeks they turn into larvae that can feed on their own. The average lifespan of a roach is 20 years. Hypothetically, by this age, her body length could reach 0.35 m, and her weight would be about 1.5 kg. But in reality, even specimens weighing 0.7 kg are rare. The average weight of a roach is from 100 to 300 g. It takes the fish several years to reach it. A five-year-old individual weighs about 80 g. Photo of roach Roach is often confused with rudd, but they can be distinguished. The photo clearly shows that they have different eye colors. Photo of rudd In roach it is red, in rudd it is golden with a red spot.

Feeding rules

The success of keeping fish depends on proper feeding. Pet stores have a large selection of dry food. There are flakes and granules that will not only provide complete nutrition, but also enhance the color of the fish. Aquatic inhabitants are fed 2 times a day in small portions. It is believed that everything should be eaten within 3 minutes. If food remains, it is removed from the aquarium. Leftover food rots over time, releases harmful substances and pollutes water.

It is not recommended to constantly keep fish on a “dry ration”; the diet should be varied with live food:

• bloodworm;
• tubifex;
• artemia;
• coretra;
• Gammarus.

Such high-protein food is especially necessary for fish before spawning. Worms and larvae are thoroughly washed and, if necessary, cut into small pieces. You can purchase frozen live food; it is safe from infection, although less nutritious. For feeding, you can purchase a special feeder in the form of a cone with a mesh. It is very convenient: all the food is inside this structure until the fish eats it.

Some types of fish love plant food, especially catfish. Leaves of lettuce, dandelion, cabbage, cucumber and zucchini slices are scalded with boiling water and placed in an aquarium. You can use a fork as a weight. There are some other table foods that aquarium pets will enjoy:

• sea ​​fish;
• milk;
• caviar;
• squid;
• egg yolk;
• beef heart.

You can prepare vitamin minced meat yourself. Finely chop several of the above ingredients, add iodized salt (on the tip of a knife), spirulina and vitamin D in oil. This feeding well compensates for the lack of vitamins and is recommended for weakened individuals with dull coloring. The main thing is not to overfeed, as some species do not have a sense of satiety. Overeating causes a disease such as obesity of internal organs, which can kill aquarium fish.

Spawning

Puberty in roaches occurs two years after birth. Spawning of roach begins later than ide, pike and some other fish species. But somewhat earlier than bream, catfish, pike perch and carp. In central Russia, roaches spawn in the river bed after the water subsides. In the Kama, Volga and Oka, this fish goes to spawn in oxbow lakes and flood lakes. On the Don, lower Volga and Dnieper, roach spawn until the flood. In the Don, it spawns early, in March. The beginning of spawning depends on the water temperature. If the area is located closer to the south and the spring is warm, the reservoirs heat up faster. In this case, spawning begins earlier. Typically, roach spawning begins in late April - early May. At this time, the water temperature already reaches 10 to 15 degrees.

In reservoirs located to the north and in the Middle Urals, roach spawns in the middle or end of May. Before the start of spawning, the roach becomes covered with a rash in the form of whitish spots. Then they become darker and harden. The scales become rough to the touch. Traces of hard spots disappear a week after spawning. Before laying eggs, female roaches rise upward in large schools. The males emerge behind them. Due to the fact that after spawning fish are caught without milk and eggs, it is assumed that the reproductive products are spawned in one go and mature at the same time. Roach eggs are transparent, soft, with a slight green tint.

They stick to underwater rocks, snags, etc. The eggs are located very closely, and when they are on the moss, they look like bunches of grapes. The largest clusters can contain over 84 thousand eggs. The number of young roaches largely depends on favorable environmental conditions. In stagnant water, spring storms are very disastrous for juveniles, during which many eggs are washed ashore. The fry are not at all afraid of rough water, so they go to depth only in June. In rivers, many juveniles are carried away by floods.

Preparing the aquarium, transporting fish

When preparing for the introduction of river fish into a home aquarium, first of all, you should pay attention to the soil; small pebbles are best in this case.

The development of fish in a new place will be successful if, after catching, it is placed in water from its permanent habitat. And at home, new guests should be placed in an aquarium with 50% clean water and the same amount of water should be added from the reservoir.

In order not to injure the caught fish during transportation, you need to choose comfortable dishes (it is better to use wide and low ones). It is recommended to carry 4-5 copies in a 5 liter container.

If the journey is long, take care of temporary aeration for the fish; such a device can be made from a hose, a spray bulb and a sprayer.

In order for the fish to quickly get used to the new habitat, it is better to catch it in reservoirs with a reduced oxygen regime, or at a certain time of the year: in the summer - during a period of intense heat, when the water is already beginning to “bloom”, in the winter - during the period of “freezing”, when fish gather near the ice holes.

The most resistant to new conditions are small fish (fry) approximately 3-4 cm in size. It is better to catch large inhabitants in the spring.

To create conditions close to natural, the water must be replaced during purification with the following composition: half of the settled water and the same amount of natural water. The saturation of water with oxygen is created by blowing.

At the beginning of rehoming, you should notice changes in your pets' behavior and adjust the aeration time, making it shorter or longer (up to 24 hours)

A critical point that requires your attention is the natural increase in the temperature of the water in the aquarium during the summer.

Because in warm water the fish will lack oxygen; this problem can be solved by lowering the aquarium temperature by adding cold water. Sometimes you can even add tap water, not settled.

After about 2-3 weeks, the fish will wean themselves off natural water, so keeping and caring for them will not be so burdensome.

Growth of young roach

Young common roach begin to emerge from the eggs after a week, in warm weather. Often ten days after spawning. Less often - after two weeks. The fry swim close to the surface of the water. They feed first on their yolk sacs and then on small plankton. At first, the fry hide from enemies among the algae. There she gradually begins to feed on crustaceans and plants. In rivers, young roach are found near swimming pools and rafts. There she hides from predators and finds food. In July, young fish begin to swim into open water. It finally leaves its shelter in the form of aquatic thickets in August. In autumn, young fish go together with adult fish to spend the winter in deep holes. In some lakes, roaches sometimes swim to the surface for food even in late autumn.

Species: Leuciscus rutilus L = Roach

One of the most common Russian fish.
The body is oval, more or less elongated, depending on age, sex and degree of development of the ovaries or milk. The head is rather thick, with a rounded muzzle; the mouth is small, the upper lip protrudes slightly above the lower; the eye is large, however, it also varies greatly in accordance with the size of the fish. The color of the roach is silvery-white (in large specimens the belly is mostly pinkish or with a pinkish tint), the dorsal and caudal fins are greenish with redness; pectoral fins are pale yellowish, in large specimens they are orange; abdominal and anal - red. The iris is orange with a red spot at the top. The so-called lateral line stands out especially clearly on the body of the roach - a row of scales, equipped with a tubule, stretching along the sides of the body from the head to the base of the caudal fin, in which sensory nerve cells are located. This line serves to determine the lateral water pressure and current strength. It plays an important role in the fish’s choice of location and helps it in crossings and wandering along rivers, indicating the direction of water flow. Thanks to it, the fish easily recognizes what kind of water it is in at a given time: stagnant or flowing, the strength of its current, and as a result can choose in it those conditions that are necessary for its life.

Thanks to it, wandering fish have the ability to find river mouths by the increasing pressure inside the aquatic environment from the influx of tributaries and find places where these tributaries flow into the main river so that during spawning they can leave upstream from the main river and disperse along them. With its help, they seem to sense the proximity of the flow of these tributaries when they are still floating along the main river.

Roach is found everywhere: in rivers, streams, lakes and even ponds with clean, clear water; it avoids only cold and fast water and prefers quieter and warmer water. In addition, it does not tolerate mud or silt and therefore is found only in lakes and ponds with a sandy, cartilaginous bottom.

Roach is a fairly lively and agile fish. In summer and spring, in a word, during the entire warm season, it lives constantly in shallow bays, and with the onset of winter it goes deeper and remains there until the ice breaks up. In summer it stays scattered or in very small schools, but by winter it gathers in schools almost as dense as during spawning in the spring. However, roach always leads a social lifestyle and belongs, without a doubt, to the most gregarious Russian fish. One-year-old roaches gather in especially large runes; those that are larger are caught in large flocks less often.

The main food of roaches in spring and autumn is algae and aquatic grasses, and in summer small insects, worms and small crustaceans. In addition, at this time, it is said that it also sometimes feeds on the corpses of other fish. At least, according to most fishermen, they often happened to catch roaches on pieces of fish intended as bait for predatory fish.

Roach spawning in our countries occurs in early May, and in the south - earlier. Roach eggs develop rather slowly, and the young hatch no earlier than 8-10 days; but it hatches in such countless quantities that it floats like black clouds near the surface of the water, and in those places where spawning occurs, it makes even the water itself seem alive.

Having hatched, the juveniles first hide in a thicket of reeds and water grasses, in which they hide from their countless enemies and look for food, consisting mainly of daphnia, cyclops and other small crustaceans; and then little by little begins to emerge from their shelters into clean water and, leaving shallow places at the beginning of autumn, moves into the riverbed or the middle of a pond, where it remains until the frost begins, and then it retreats into the deepest holes and scurries around in them until the ice breaks up. Roaches usually become capable of spawning only in the third year, and in the second only in rare cases.

In an aquarium, small roaches hold up quite well and get along well with other fish, but when they reach large sizes, they become almost as dangerous for their small counterparts as perch. True, being a herbivorous fish rather than a carnivorous one, it does not eat fish, but nevertheless loves to suck in fish. I’ve never had a roach in my aquarium, and therefore I can’t say anything on my own about its morals, but I’ve heard that small roaches like to swim in schools and rush into a stream of fresh water, like the aerie roaches; however, they don’t like it to be completely cold and try to move as far away from the place of its influx as possible, and when the general temperature drops, in contrast to perches, they even lose all playfulness and cheerfulness and become as if sleepy.

In addition to the ordinary roach, there is also a lovely variety with golden scales and a reddish tint on the back and sides, a variety that is very rare and, as far as I know, is found only in the Volga near Saratov.

Finally, I cannot help but mention another painful form - the roach degeneracy. The body of this roach is completely transparent, more transparent than that of the roach. The gills are clearly visible through the gill covers, and the insides are visible through the walls of the abdomen. The body is all one color - colorless. The scales are transparent, bordered by several rows of dark dots. The iris is orange with black spots.

They quickly get used to the conditions of a wide variety of aquariums, both cold-water and tropical, with a wide range of hardness and acidity, and can tolerate even slightly salty waters. The color of these fish is amazing - metallic blue with iridescent tint. Young roaches are especially good. The darker back is colored from velvet black and emerald to various shades of burgundy. The silver sides shimmer with shades of all the colors of the rainbow, constantly changing so that the eye is not able to fix any specific color. Roach is a peaceful fish with a balanced character, calm and sociable, easily getting used to its owner and willingly demonstrating its affection. She prefers to stay in a school of her own kind or other non-predatory fish, willingly coexisting with crowns, bleaks, bitterlings and breams. Such a flock either becomes denser and begins to live as a single organism, or sometimes, breaking up into small groups, fills the space of the aquarium with the sparkling of living sparks. The most common domestic fish turns out to be surprisingly beautiful and interesting when kept in an aquarium, especially since roaches transplanted from natural reservoirs take root without problems. The fish quickly become accustomed to captivity and begin to actively feed on any food, both live (invertebrates that are suitable in size) and dry, produced for various types of fish. Roaches do not spoil plants, do not dig up the soil - in a word, they are ideal for any, especially office, aquarium.

The fish also thrive in a tropical aquarium at temperatures up to 26°C. Of course, a few roaches can be added to a school of large zebrafish or barbs, but the true beauty of the fish will only appear in a specially designed aquarium for domestic fish. It should combine shelter with open space, dense shadow with spots of bright light. In an aquarium, it is advisable to use side and/or diagonal lighting with dense vegetation in the background. When general illumination is low, individual groups of plants should be brightly illuminated. In dark places it is better to use driftwood or ridges of large stones, but significant spaces - up to 2/3 of the volume - should be left free. Roaches prefer to stay in the middle and lower parts of the aquarium. In order for the fish to flock together, an aquarium with coastal thickets can be supplemented with a medium-sized predator.

The most suitable design options can be recommended:

• a section of a river with a rapid and a backwater; the rapids are organized by a pump, which creates a flow along the front glass or along the diagonal of the aquarium, and the backwater is organized by dense thickets of plants in the background, slowing down the flow of water; areas with different conditions will form within the volume of the aquarium;
• a section of a lake with a stream flowing into it, organized by an overflow filter;
• coastal thickets of chastukha, arrowhead with duckweed and watercolor.

This fish in each body of water is unique in its own way and slightly different from specimens caught in another body of water. These differences are clearly manifested in the shape of the body (elongated/high), and in the color of the fins (especially the dorsal), and in the color of the scales (more or less blue). Young fish (young fish) have a similar color and shape, differing only in the intensity of the blue tint of their scales and the brightness of the orange color of their eyes, while adult fish differ significantly in both color and shape. The body of the roach has the shape of a symmetrical, elongated petal, compressed from the sides. Body height is from 1/4 to 1/3 of length. The length of the caudal peduncle is always greater than the height of the head and ranges from 1/6 to 1/4 of the body length. The scales are large or medium, tightly fitting. The lateral line is complete, with a slight bend towards the belly. The dorsal fin begins above the base of the pelvic fins. The width of the dorsal and anal fins is approximately the same. The dorsal fin has from 7 to 11 branched rays, and the anal fin has 7-13. Behind the ventral fin is a keel covered with scales. The color of the body, fins and eyes of this fish has countless variations depending on the age and conditions of the biotope. The back is dark with a blue or greenish tint, the sides and belly are silvery-white or silvery-blue. The dorsal and caudal fins are gray, sometimes with a red tint, the others are faded orange or faded red, the ventral and anal fins are usually brighter. The mouth is oblique, almost terminal, the apex of the mouth is higher than the lower edge. The iris of the eye is yellow to red. With age, the color of the eyes and fins becomes brighter.

Roach inhabits a wide variety of water bodies: rivers, ponds and lakes, reservoirs. This is a schooling fish that lives on the border between thickets of aquatic vegetation and open water. She loves areas of a reservoir with a slow flow or standing water, willingly settling among thickets of water lilies, near bushes and snags flooded with water, and in deep barrels. The roach tries to avoid cold and fast-flowing sections of rivers and rifts, preferring reaches and calmer, warmer water. It rarely rises to the surface, more often it stays in the water column or in the bottom layers; in small rivers and reservoirs it prefers a sedentary life and is not prone to extensive travel. Roaches use small overseas lakes with unfavorable winter conditions in the spring for reproduction, in the summer for feeding, and go to the rivers for the winter. Roach food is varied and changes with the seasons. In summer, its favorite food is green algae; at the end of July and in August it readily eats duckweed, and at the end of August and in the fall, as the water temperature drops, it switches to feeding on the larvae of mosquitoes, caddisflies, and mayflies. Semi-anadromous forms and large individuals in reservoirs feed on mollusks. In winter, fish gather in deeper places and continue to feed, although less intensely.

Sexual dimorphism during the year is weakly expressed, manifesting itself only in body shape. In females, the body is taller and has an elongated, symmetrical, almost rhombic shape; in males, the body is less symmetrical, rather triangular. By the time of spawning, clearly visible whitish tubercles (nuptial plumage) appear on the body and head of males, and the abdomen of females is noticeably rounded. Roaches breed in the first half of May, when the water temperature rises to 6–8° C. In warm spring, spawning is amicable, but during cold weather it lasts for several weeks. Spawning grounds are located in shallow waters, where fish come in large schools. By this time, male roaches have clearly visible whitish tubercles on their body and head - a kind of mating plumage. Spawning males are usually smaller than females. The eggs stick to herbaceous plants and to the rhizomes of trees and shrubs. The eggs are pale yellow, about 2 mm in diameter. At the moment of laying eggs and milk, the female and male stay side by side and make a short throw through a tuft of grass or sedge. The fertility of roach, depending on the size of the female, ranges from 2.5 to 100 thousand eggs. Their development at a temperature of 11–16°C lasts 7–14 days. The average length of larvae at hatching is about 6 mm. At first, the larvae hang motionless on aquatic plants. After resorption of the yolk sac, they switch to feeding on external food - planktonic crustaceans.

Juvenile roach stay in schools in small bays along with juveniles of other carp fish at the very edge of the water; they are easy to observe and catch from the shore. The size of adult fish in small reservoirs does not exceed 25 cm, usually 12–20 cm. The size of fingerlings is 5–7 cm, yearlings 10–12 cm. In large rivers and vast reservoirs, roach reaches 35 cm and more than 1 kg of weight, and among semi-anadromous fish They are found even larger, up to 50 cm and 2 kg in weight. Roaches live in favorable conditions for quite a long time, up to 20 years, reaching sexual maturity at the age of 2–4 years with a length of more than 10 cm.

The northern border of the range runs along northern Sweden and Finland, the Kola Peninsula (lake Imandra, Lovozero, Ponoy River) and almost all the mouths of rivers flowing into the Arctic Ocean. The southern border of the range runs north of the Alps up to the Azov-Black Sea basin, where it is distributed everywhere, except for the coast of Asia Minor, in the basin of the Caspian and Aral seas.

The common roach is one of the most widespread and numerous species of carp fish in Eurasia. Found from the Pyrenees in the west, to the river. Lena in the east. There is one in Yamal (Seyakha River). It is found in Lake Baikal, lakes Khubsugul and Zaisan, as well as in many isolated lake and river systems in Altai, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. It has been artificially resettled in a number of places outside its natural range. Not in the Far East in the Amur basin.

The so-called lateral line stands out especially clearly on the body of the roach - a series of scales, equipped with a tubule, stretching along the sides of the body from the head to the base of the caudal fin, in which sensory nerve cells are located. This line serves the roach to determine the lateral water pressure and the strength of the current. It plays an important role in the fish’s choice of location and helps it in crossings and wandering along rivers, indicating the direction of water flow. Thanks to it, the fish easily recognizes what kind of water it is in at a given time: stagnant or flowing, the strength of its current, and as a result can choose in it the conditions that it needs for life.

Thanks to it, wandering fish have the ability to find river mouths by the increasing pressure inside the aquatic environment from the influx of tributaries and find places where these tributaries flow into the main river so that during spawning they can leave upstream from the main river and disperse along them. With its help, they seem to sense the proximity of the flow of these tributaries when they are still floating along the main river.

Roach is found everywhere: in rivers, streams, lakes and even ponds with clean, clear water; it avoids only cold and fast water and prefers quieter and warmer water. In addition, this fish does not tolerate mud or silt and therefore is found only in lakes and ponds with a sandy, cartilaginous bottom.

Roach is a lively and agile fish. In summer and spring it lives constantly in shallow bays, and with the onset of winter it goes deeper and remains there until the ice breaks up. In summer it stays scattered or in very small schools, but by winter it gathers in schools almost as dense as during spawning in the spring. Roach always leads a social lifestyle and belongs to school fish. One-year-old roaches gather in especially large runes, while larger ones are found less often in large flocks.

The main food of roaches in spring and autumn is algae and aquatic grasses, and in summer small insects, worms and small crustaceans. In addition, during this time, she sometimes feeds on the corpses of other fish. Fishermen often caught roaches using pieces of fish intended as bait for predatory fish.

Roach spawning in Central Russia occurs in early May, and in the southern regions a little earlier. Roach eggs develop rather slowly, the young hatch no earlier than 8-10 days; but it hatches in countless quantities and floats in whole clouds near the surface of the water, and in those places where spawning occurs.

Having hatched, the juveniles first hide in a thicket of reeds and water grasses, in which they hide from their countless enemies and look for food, consisting mainly of daphnia, cyclops and other small crustaceans; and then begins to emerge from their shelters into clean water and, leaving shallow places at the beginning of autumn, moves into the riverbed or the middle of a pond, where it remains until the onset of frost, and then it retreats into the deepest holes and scurries in them until the ice breaks up. Roaches usually become capable of spawning in the second or third year of life.

Small roaches can be kept quite successfully in a home aquarium. In an aquarium, this fish holds up quite well and gets along well with other non-predatory fish of comparable size. It gets along best with species similar in character: bleaks, minnows, gobies, crucian carp. Gets along well with goldfish and catfish.

To keep roaches in captivity you need a spacious aquarium

(from 100 liters) with a good water filtration system and aeration. A weekly water change of 20% of the total volume is required. Coarse sand or small pebbles are suitable as soil. It is best to choose rigid-leaved plants (for example, Echinodorus). The water flow in the aquarium should be moderate. In a spacious aquarium, small rafts like to swim in schools and rush into the stream of fresh water coming from the filter.

The roach is quite picky about food and eats almost any plant (higher plants, lower algae) and small live food (bloodworms, coretras, crustaceans). Granular dry food for ornamental pond fish works well.

Roach is a fairly cold-water fish. The optimal water temperature for keeping it is 17-21 degrees. Celsius. Easily tolerates drops in water temperature to 10 degrees. but immediately they noticeably lose their activity and become sleepy. When the water temperature rises above normal, the fish becomes lethargic and unplayful. Keep these fish at the recommended temperature and they will delight you with their active behavior for a long time.

With proper care, roaches can live in an aquarium for 10 years or more. Grows in captivity depending on the size of the aquarium. It is worth noting that, having reached large sizes, roach becomes almost as dangerous for small fish as perch. Being a herbivore rather than a carnivore, it does not eat fish, but nevertheless loves to suck them in.

Stimulation for spawning of roach in aquarium conditions is winter keeping at a low temperature and its subsequent gradual increase, together with increased and varied feeding of live food. There should be two or three males per female. After spawning, it is necessary to replace 25% of the water in the spawning aquarium with fresh water. The incubation period for eggs ranges from 5 to 12 days. After the fry appear, the adults must be removed. Food for fry: ciliates, rotifers, filamentous algae, “live dust”, artificial food for fry. The growth rate of roaches is quite low; by the age of five years of life in the aquarium, roaches gain only 60-70 grams of weight.

based on materials from the book by N.F. Zolotnitsky “Amateur Aquarium”

Of course, many people like to breed aquarium fish, but what if you live in a rural area and traveling to the city for food, equipment and new inhabitants becomes a problem?

If you love exotic things and would like to keep fish from local waters at home, we will tell you how to do it correctly.

Lifestyle

Roach is found in rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. It prefers a schooling lifestyle, with small fish staying in shallow water, near the coast, while large individuals prefer deeper places. It does not necessarily gather in schools based on size and age; you can often see both small and very large roaches in one school.

The best places for it are thickets of aquatic vegetation. Roach is an unpretentious fish, so it can often be found even in heavily overgrown reservoirs. It does not like strong currents, although it is found in rivers, but it is worth looking for it in areas with slow currents.

The fish is quite cautious and will quickly leave at the slightest sign of danger, so the fisherman should not attract undue attention to himself. In winter it gathers in large flocks and searches for deep holes; in winter it prefers to stay near the bottom.

Where to get food to grow

When breeding in rural areas, anything that can be found at hand will be suitable as food for crucian carp in a country pond.

For adults you can use:

• grain crops that are pre-crushed and steamed;
• legumes are prepared in the same way as grains;
• mashed boiled potatoes;
• feed for pigs or poultry;
• porridge cooked without salt;
• grain flour;
• bran;
• meat and bone meal.

The crushed ingredients are mixed and diluted with water. The resulting food is divided into small parts and used to feed fish. Properly prepared food does not float to the surface.

To feed the fry, prepare a mixture of 4 types of flour:

• grain;
• legume;
• meat and bone;
• fishbone;
• vitamin premix (optional).

Nutrition

The basis of nutrition is zooplankton, although this fish is omnivorous. It also feeds on crustaceans, algae, insects, insect larvae, water mites and other aquatic organisms. It is worth noting that in different bodies of water (and even in different parts of the same body of water) roaches may have different taste preferences. Therefore, in one lake it can be perfectly caught with a worm, but in another it can completely ignore this bait, but will greedily grab an ordinary crumb of bread.

The zhora period begins after spawning, usually in May and June. During these months she bites on almost everything. In general, given its omnivorous nature, there are many options for bait, with experienced fishermen often taking several types of bait, using them in turn and determining the most effective one.

What to feed for growth

In order to quickly grow a large adult carp from a fry, it needs a complete diet. This breed of fish is omnivorous. Cyprinids happily eat worms, bloodworms, insect larvae, wheat, barley, bread crumbs, and steamed grains of rice.

You need to feed the carp twice a day and at the same time.

• In the morning, when the water has time to warm up under the sun.
• In the evening hours before the sun goes down.

Due to the carp’s indiscriminate eating habits, it is also called the “pond pig.” But in order to grow carp breeds in a pond, you need to have the right diet.

For adequate nutrition, fish must receive a certain list of feeds.

Compound feed

It is a mixture of wheat, bran, fish meal and other components. You can give compound feed that is fed to livestock and poultry. You must first dilute it with water. You need to add enough water to get a dough consistency.

Cereals and legumes

There is no need to use them daily. They must be soaked in water for several hours in advance. Beans and peas must be steamed first to remove toxins from the beans.

Protein

This type of food is very necessary for carp and is beneficial for it. Protein foods include worms, maggots, bloodworms, snails, etc. The maximum need for protein occurs in the spring and autumn months. But protein foods should be present in the diet year-round. Otherwise, diseases of the digestive system will develop.

Potato

Potatoes for feeding fish are used boiled. Potatoes have little nutritional value, so it is recommended to mix them with protein feed or fishmeal.

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Cake and bread

They are best given along with grain crops or waste from them.

Young grass

Before feeding the fish with young soft grass (lupine, wood lice, etc.), it must be chopped.

Insects

Carps love to eat insects, but catching them is not at all easy. Almost all insects fly towards the light, so you can put several lamps near the pond or string a garland over the pond. Lighting should only be turned on at night. Insects that fly into the light will inevitably fall into the water and become food for fish.

Value

The disadvantages of roach include a large number of small bones, however, there are cooking techniques that neutralize this factor. The calorie content of this fish meat is 88 kcal, it contains no carbohydrates and a lot of proteins. Contains many amino acids that are easily digestible. 100 grams contain 2 grams of fat and 17 g of protein. The meat is not fatty.

The meat contains a lot of phosphorus and calcium, but in general, this fish has sufficient nutritional value. The main thing is to be able to cook it and catch large roach. The trifle is only suitable for fish soup.

How to choose the right food for your fish?

If your choice falls on ready-made food, then you should understand that not all of them are the same and healthy, so you should pay attention to some characteristics:

• Purpose of feed. Take balanced food for pond fish, not aquarium fish;
• Balance. The food must be balanced and include proteins, minerals, and vitamins to ensure healthy and complete nutrition.
• Digestibility. The diet you choose should be well absorbed and promote good digestion, as this will help keep the water clean for a longer time.
• Components. They must be selected, so there is no need to buy economy-class food made from low-quality raw materials, since this does not provide any nutritional value for the fish and accelerates water pollution with organic matter and the growth of algae due to poor digestibility.
• Package. You should not purchase food in bulk or in damaged packaging, as there is no guarantee that such food remains fresh or of high quality. The packaging must be made of dense material, not allow light to pass through and have a lock;
• Immune protection. Particularly useful food for fish are those that help increase the body's defenses.

Natural enemies of roach

Photo: What a roach looks like

In their natural environment, the shy and small-sized roach has plenty of enemies. In the spring and very early summer, a huge number of eggs of this fish die, because... actively eaten by eels. Predatory perches and pike can also be counted among the enemies of roach; they constantly accompany its schools, often making attacks during the spawning period. A predatory fish watches for a young roach in the underwater growth, where it swims in search of plankton. Pike-perch are not at all averse to snacking on roach; they attack the fish, hitting them with their heads, and then biting them with sharp fangs. Voracious chubs feed on roach fry and inexperienced young animals.

Fish enemies also include some birds, for example, cormorants, which eat half a kilogram of fish in one day. Kingfishers also feast on fry and small fish, which do not exceed ten centimeters in size. Herons, on the contrary, love larger roaches, eating mature fish, about 35 cm long. Waterfowl grebes graze in shallow water, where they dive deftly, catching small fish, the length of which usually does not go beyond 16 cm. Seagulls also will not refuse a fish snack .

In addition to predatory fish and birds, roach is eaten by otters, muskrats, and minks, which hunt it along the shores. Small-sized fish are swallowed instantly right in the water, while larger ones are eaten on land. In addition to various representatives of the fauna, all kinds of diseases affect the roach, from which the fish also die. Black spot disease occurs in fish because they eat snails that are infected with the larvae of a parasitic worm. Black spots appear on the body of a sick fish; this parasite does not pose a danger to humans.

By feeding on water fleas, roaches become infected with ligulosis. This disease is characterized by the development and growth of a tapeworm in the abdominal cavity of the fish, which gradually begins to compress the internal organs of the fish, causing the roach to become infertile and soon die.

The enemies of roach can also include people who skillfully handle a fishing rod. Fishing enthusiasts catch a lot of roach, from which they prepare a variety of dishes. Fish meat is quite tasty and has low calorie content, so it is also suitable for those who take care of their figure by adhering to a diet.

Interesting fact: In Great Britain, roaches are caught for entertainment, and almost all fish caught are released back into the water. Although roach is considered edible, the British do not value it; they prefer other types of fish.

What do crucian carp eat?

Crucian carp eats literally all small-sized waste that comes under the sight of its attentive gaze, so this fish is classified as omnivorous. Newly born, grain-sized fry use the filling of the yolk sac, which remains after embryonic development, to maintain their life cycle.

Living in warm, gentle waters, the fry actively develop and, having matured a little, begin to overeat the daphnia, crustaceans, and remains of blue-green algae that live in the lakes.

Once the fry reaches one month of age, their diet becomes more varied; now crucian carp can feed on bloodworms and the smallest larvae of various insects floating in the water column.

In adulthood, crucian carp love to feast on annelids , pay attention to small crustaceans, and happily consume the roots and stems of coastal plants, duckweed, algae remains, and also eat insect larvae.

Nevertheless, this has not quenched the crucian carp’s love for man-made baits; it also still loves to eat boiled cereals (buckwheat, pearl barley, millet), and does not remain indifferent to dough and bread crumbs, fully flavored with butter.

Type of fish and feed used

• silver crucian carp (from the Latin Carassius gibelio). This species of crucian carp previously lived only in rivers belonging to the Pacific Ocean basin. But today, due to the fact that there was once a time when artificial resettlement took place in the middle of the 20th century, the habitat of this species of crucian carp has increased by an order of magnitude, silver crucian carp began to live in the reservoirs of Poland, Romania, China, Siberia and Germany . Moreover, in many of these countries, this type of fish began to show off on the championship podium instead of its original owner - the golden crucian carp. The dimensions of the silver crucian carp are an order of magnitude more modest than the dimensions of the gold crucian carp, but this does not prevent the first variety from having an amazing ability to adapt to environmental conditions; the scales of this fish are cast in silver, and greenish nuances are visible in its color. The fins of goldfish are transparent and have a slightly pink tint. Being residents of lakes, peat quarries or ponds, crucian carp can migrate to neighboring reservoirs, which is why they are found in large quantities in reservoirs near fish farms;
• common or golden carp . The natural habitat conditions of crucian carp favor an increase in the lifespan of common crucian carp up to 12 years; these individuals become sexually mature 3-4 years after birth. The peritoneum of the common crucian carp is devoid of pigmentation, the back of the individual has a brownish color, the scales of the crucian carp flare up in golden-copper, bronze shades in the sun. Golden crucian carp dotted the reservoirs of Europe, representatives of this species are found in the cool waters of Sweden, Great Britain, Norway, the distribution area of ​​golden crucian carp also includes the warm reservoirs of Croatia, Italy, and Macedonia;
• Japanese crucian carp . Inhabits the reservoirs of Japan and Taiwan, wild varieties of crucian carp have found a cozy refuge in lakes Biwa and Japan, the length of the Japanese crucian carp is approaching 35-40 cm.

Population and species status

Photo: Roach fish

The distribution range of the roach is very extensive; this small fish adapts to various bodies of water. She is unpretentious to the environment and is omnivorous. The population size of this fish does not cause any concern among environmental organizations; on the contrary, in some reservoirs there are too many of them.

Back in the 70s of the last century, the demand for roach in Northern Europe fell sharply. The fish eats zooplankton and grows very slowly, which leads to the fact that the reservoirs where they live begin to become very overgrown and bloom, because they are not caught for industrial purposes. Catching roach leads to the restoration of the amount of zooplankton, a decrease in the nitrogen and phosphorus content in the water, which contributes to the fact that valuable fish species begin to grow and develop in its place.

Large fish can still be sold, but in the vastness of central Europe it is very cheap, and most fish are used to produce feed for livestock and even biodiesel. A project has been launched in Finland that involves catching up to 350 tons of roach annually. It is worth noting that ram and roach are of greatest commercial importance; this fish is sold both fresh and dried.

So, roach remains a plentiful fish, it does not have any particular industrial value, and in some countries it is practically not consumed as food. Although a huge number of fry and eggs are eaten by predatory fish, birds, and other animals, the roach population is not in danger of extinction due to this, therefore it is not under special protection and does not need special protective measures.

Interesting fact: Roach can interbreed with rudd, chub and bream, which happens quite often. Such hybrids have very faded colors and most of them are not able to reproduce, but even this factor does not have a significant negative impact on the size of the fish population.

In conclusion, I would like to note that for everyone, roach has its own value: for some it is an excellent trophy in sport fishing, others adore its gastronomic features, preparing a lot of not only tasty, but also very healthy, dietary dishes, others catch roach for the purpose of further sale. And remembering the taste of dried roach, many people’s mouths begin to water.

Conditions of detention

Before you start growing carp, you will need to create all the conditions suitable for this. For beginners, it is better to use an artificially dug pond for fish farming that meets the criteria described below.

• The reservoir should not be deeper than one and a half meters, since this is the most comfortable depth for carp. In a deeper pond, the water will not warm up enough and the water temperature will remain low. This will adversely affect the survival of carp, since it is a heat-loving fish.
• The optimal pond volume is 8 tons. Therefore, the minimum length of each side cannot be less than 3 meters. To prevent water leakage from the pond, the bottom should be lined with brick, clay or concrete. You can put a film on the bottom.
• Carp is a heat-loving fish that requires well-heated water for normal nutrition and reproduction. This must be taken into account when arranging a reservoir. One part of it should be in the sun, and the second in the shade. This will keep the carp warm, and if necessary, it can easily hide from the sun’s rays.

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• The reservoir should not be located in lowlands, as melt water may enter it. The consequence of this may be the development of bacteria in pond water that negatively affect the health of the carp.
• Ponds, swimming pools and gardens should not be placed in close proximity to the city or near highways. It is better to dig a pond in the country, where there is the least noise. Loud noises frighten the fish, they eat less and grow more slowly.
• In a large pond, the water takes a long time to cool down. For this reason, they are more popular than small ponds and koi tanks. In small ponds, the water temperature changes much faster, which entails the risk of fish death.

If there are not enough funds to equip the reservoir, you can raise fish in cages. This option involves placing cages in a reservoir. They should be installed at a distance of at least 3 meters from the bottom. Cages are made from burlap and nylon nets.

The stocking density of young fish in cages should not exceed 200 fry per 1 m². Grown-up fish are released into larger containers.

Carp breeds can be bred in a pool, which is a sealed container. It is made from fiberglass. The fish are placed in it in March or April, when the water is warmed up sufficiently.

How not to confuse roach with rudd

Distinctive features of roach:

• The pelvic and dorsal fins are at the same level; in the rudd, the ventral fin is slightly extended forward above the dorsal fin;
• The roach has a lower lip that protrudes forward;
• The roach's eyes are red, the rudd's are golden yellow.

Sometimes roach can interbreed with rudd, bream and other types of fish. This happens if they all spawn in one place. The result is hybrid forms that confuse fishermen and cause surprise and confusion as to who was caught.

Features of the predatory inhabitants of the aquarium

Before deciding to purchase predatory fish for your aquarium, it is worth studying the issue of keeping them, which is associated with a number of difficulties. And this is not only satisfying the need for live food, but also creating conditions for a comfortable existence. Given the large space required for predators, a large-volume aquarium equipped with filtration and aeration systems is required. Due to the fact that keeping predatory aquarium fish is not only difficult, but also expensive, it is not recommended for beginning aquarists to keep them.

Lures

Pellets with a diameter of up to 4 mm can be used practically at any time.

Tip: roach loves various attractants, so any bait can be pre-treated with them. Anise and hemp scents are suitable.

Live baits can be tossed with breadcrumbs, coconut flour or peanut flour. You can try using colored maggots, but it depends more on the color of the water in the pond.

To improve the game and increase the attractiveness of the bait, you can try using scented foam balls. They are put on the hook by lifting it to the eye of the hook, and then the bait is put on.

On many reservoirs, instead of hooks, winter jigs work better.

Video

The video shows how to breed and what to feed crucian carp in a pond at the dacha.

There are cheaper feeds from domestic producers. Today there are quite a lot of them on the market. You can buy them at pet stores and veterinary pharmacies. The choice will depend on how much you are willing to spend and your free time.

When going through the hassle of organizing feeding crucian carp in the pond, remember that they will all result in positive emotions from fishing in your own garden at any time. In this case, you will not need to think about biting. And just relaxing by the pond with goldfish is a great way to spend time and give you a boost of positivity.

Maybe

Fishing methods

Fishing is one of the most exciting activities for a person, but this does not mean that the fish itself will cling to the hook. Fishing is also hard work, without which it is unlikely that you will be able to catch at least one fish. Despite the fact that there are always enough roaches in any body of water, they are not so easy to catch, since several factors influence successful fishing. This includes the personal skill of the fisherman, the ability to choose the right gear and bait, and the ability to choose a promising place. Often factors beyond the control of the fisherman are included. As a rule, these include natural factors such as atmospheric pressure, water temperature, etc.

Roach can be caught all year round, but during periods of severe cold it is better not to go fishing, as you may be left without a catch. Roaches are most active during the first and last ice conditions, in the spring during the pre-spawning and post-spawning periods, as well as in the summer, especially in the dark. Before spawning, roach gather in numerous schools and stay within the aquatic vegetation, where they actively feed. During this period, it can be caught with almost any bait, such as a worm, bloodworm or maggot.

When fishing for roach, the use of bait is purely symbolic. Ingredients such as breadcrumbs, cake or makha, rolled oats, small bloodworms with the addition of dry clay or clean sand are suitable for this. Roach can be caught well on a regular float rod with a jig. The fishing rod is equipped with a fishing line with a diameter of about 0.12 mm and a leash with a jig equipped with a long hook number N14-N16. The length of the fishing line is chosen to be about 20 cm shorter than the length of the rod. To prevent a fairly thin fishing line from breaking when the fish jerks, it is better to use a rubber shock absorber in the rig, about 50 cm long. The fishing line should have at least 3 weights, of which the lowest one should have the least weight. When the roach takes the bait into its mouth, it lifts the rig, but it should not feel the weight of this sinker. With the arrival of spring, when there is no longer ice on the reservoirs, the roach stays as close to the coastline as possible or enters bays where the water is cleaner. After spawning, the roach chooses quiet places with little current for its parking.

When it gets really hot outside, this fish goes into the depths or hides from the heat in dense thickets of aquatic vegetation. The roach does not take bait from the very bottom, as it prefers to feed at a slight distance from the bottom. Before the water warms up to +10 degrees, roach moves in numerous flocks along the coastline and eats everything that gets in its way. To catch it during this period, a rod about 5 meters long is suitable. Casts should be made as close as possible to thickets of aquatic vegetation and bites will follow one after another. Lures of any origin are suitable as hook bait. The roach is actively caught until the spawning stops. During this period, the fish is not afraid of anything and can be caught with bare hands. Large pike and perch are especially lucky during this period, as they follow the schools and also actively eat them, and they don’t even try to hide. Therefore, during the spawning period, fishing for roach can be the most effective.

After spawning, this fish is not so easy to catch, especially without bait. After catching a dozen individuals, you should definitely add bait. Catching roach in the summer is associated with difficulties, since the fish are no longer so hungry. As a rule, during this period its bite is quite sluggish. She can take the bait into her mouth and immediately spit it out. But even at such times there are baits that the fish are unlikely to refuse. This is, first of all, greens, or rather mulberry.

A grasshopper can be no less tempting for a roach. Fishing with this bait is necessary near thickets of aquatic vegetation. The roach can linger at the fishing point for some time if the fish are constantly fed in small portions. You can use any ingredients as bait, even ordinary bread. The bite may be most active if the place is fed in advance with cereals or any porridge. With the arrival of autumn, the roach begins to show somewhat greater activity if you use a dung worm, bloodworms and other baits as bait on the hook, throwing them into the aquatic vegetation. When the arrival of winter is already felt, the fish gather in numerous schools and go into the depths.

From this moment, a new stage of catching roach with a winter fishing rod begins, especially if the reservoir is already covered with ice. For winter fishing, you will need a fairly thin fishing line, 0.1-0.12 mm thick, as well as a pellet-type jig weighing about 4 grams. The roach does not tolerate sudden movements, so manipulations with the pellet should be slow and smooth. During this period, the fish can easily feed from the bottom, so there should be systematic tapping of the bait on the bottom. And yet, the most frequent bites are observed at a slight distance from the bottom. From the end of December to March, it is better to catch roach using small bloodworms, placing no more than two larvae on the hook. In order for the bite to be constant, bait should be systematically added to the hole. During this period, bites on standing tackle are no less frequent. The bait must be constantly changed to a fresh one, without leaving gnawed bloodworms or mucus from the fish on the hook, as this alarms the fish.

In such winter fishing conditions, you should use the thinnest fishing line. About 0.08 mm thick, maybe thinner. The jig chosen is also small, about 2 mm in size with a hook number N18-N20. When fishing, the roach practically does not resist in winter, but with the arrival of spring, which the roach certainly feels, a fish weighing no more than 100 grams can easily tear such thin tackle. Therefore, with the arrival of spring, you need to arm yourself with more reliable gear. A simple float rod is more suitable for fishing in still water or in slow currents. In this case, it is necessary to lift the bait from time to time, and this must be done slowly. It is during the ascent that roach bites occur. The bait is raised to a height of no more than 30 cm from the bottom. Some experienced fishermen catch roach on a spinning rod, using artificial flies as bait. The better the quality of the bait and the more realistic it is in depicting an insect that has fallen into the water, the more effective the fishing.

The most effective fishing for roach can be from early morning until 10 o'clock, as well as from 18 o'clock in the evening until full twilight. When fishing in winter, you can count on a significant catch during thaw conditions, when fish can rise from the bottom to the upper layers of water. In any case, to stay with the catch, you will have to work hard, regardless of the time of year. If you don’t know what a roach eats and where it can be found in a body of water, then you shouldn’t count on a successful fishing outcome.

Settling the aquarium

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After purchasing an aquarium, decorating it and installing equipment, do not rush to immediately add fish to it. For about a week or two, the aquarium undergoes acclimatization, the production of beneficial bacteria and the removal of harmful substances such as ammonia compounds and nitrites. At this time, fish cannot be added.

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But you have time to decide what types of fish will live in your aquarium.

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Beginners should select the most simple and unpretentious residents, whose care will not be difficult.

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For example, capricious goldfish are suitable only for experienced aquarists.

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When populating an aquarium, you should consider the compatibility of the inhabitants.

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Predatory cichlids will probably kill peaceful mollies, and cockerels and tetradons will tear off the tails of goldfish.

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Fish keeping

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Having prepared the aquarium and placed the inhabitants in it, do not rest on your laurels!

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Regular maintenance of the biological environment is now your permanent responsibility.

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What needs to be done to make the inhabitants of the aquarium feel comfortable?

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• Monitoring the aquarium, fish and plants. Measuring temperature, water hardness; monitoring the content of carbon dioxide and oxygen, the presence of harmful impurities such as nitrates, ammonia and nitrites. Visual inspection of fish, their behavior, plants and other inhabitants. All this is necessary for the timely detection of problems and diseases in the aquarium.
• Regular cleaning. It includes replacing the water by one third, siphoning the bottom, cleaning the walls from build-up, and cleaning the filter. The procedure is carried out at least 2 times a month in a medium-sized aquarium. Small containers are cleaned every week.
• Cleaning artificial plants and other decorative elements. They need to be washed in boiling water or treated with chlorine solutions.

The filter must work constantly; a break even for 3–4 hours leads to disastrous consequences! During this time, all beneficial microorganisms are completely destroyed and the normal balance is disrupted.

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But the lighting must be turned off at night. The photoperiod in the aquarium should last from 9 to 12 hours. Otherwise, uncontrolled growth of plants and algae will occur.

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How to feed fish correctly?

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Inexperienced aquarists often try to cram as much food into their pets as possible in the hope that this will make them grow faster.

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Do not overfeed your fish - this can lead to complications.

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First of all, excessive nutrition will have a bad effect on the health of the fish themselves. Their metabolism will be disrupted and obesity will begin. In addition, the water will quickly turn into a muddy, stinking swamp due to constant contamination with food that the fish could not eat.

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How to feed correctly? Adult fish are given food no more than 2 times a day; fry should be fed much more often. The amount of feed will have to be determined experimentally. The fact that the fish eat in 5–9 minutes should be considered the norm.

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An aquarium is not only a beautiful piece of furniture, but also a source of constant care. To make its inhabitants feel good, they will have to work all the time.

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When it comes to aquarium keeping, many people mean keeping all kinds of exotic fish in artificial conditions. Today, unfortunately, the most popular “pets” among our naturalists are tropical, heat-loving guppies, swordtails, gouramis, cockerels, gold and neon fish.

And the word “aquarium” itself is foreign in the Russian language, borrowed. Derived from the Latin AQUARIUM.

Cooking recipes

Many fishermen successfully catch this fish, but few of them know how to cook roach? By and large, they don’t need this, because the wives do the cooking. Here are some interesting recipes.

The simplest dish is roach cutlets. Since this fish is small, it is not at all necessary to remove bones from it; it is enough to remove the entrails, wash it, and cut off the head and fins. The carcasses prepared in this way are passed through a meat grinder several times, after which a little lard (1:6), a couple of slices of a soaked loaf, an egg, chopped onion and garlic, ground pepper, and salt are added to the resulting minced meat. The amount of the last four ingredients is to taste. Cooking consists of three stages. First, you need to form cutlets from the minced meat, then roll the pieces in breadcrumbs and fry on both sides over low heat using vegetable oil. Each side takes approximately 4-5 minutes. When the roach cutlets acquire a golden crust, they can be removed.

Another fish delicacy is dried roach, especially if it contains caviar. To do this, take fish weighing up to 0.5 kg. In the spring, you don’t have to gut it, since there is no greenery in the stomach at this time of year, which gives a bitter taste. The fish, washed from mucus, is first salted in an enamel container, generously sprinkling each row of carcasses with coarse salt. To make them better salted, place a plate on top, and place a heavy load (a brick or a jar of water) on it. After 2 days of salting, the fish is soaked in cold water for 2-3 hours. When the fish starts to float, it means it’s time to take it out of the water and prepare it for drying, namely, dip it in a solution of 3 percent vinegar, the purpose of which is to repel flies. Roach is dried in the open air at a temperature of 18-20 degrees. Depending on its size, this may take from 1 to 4 weeks. After this, it should “ripen” for the same amount of time in a fabric bag in a cool room.

Roach baked on coals turns out to be very tasty. As they say, in nature and with smoke. You can cook it this way right on the banks of a river or lake. To do this, the fish is cleaned, the gills are removed, washed and cut into portions. Rub each piece with salt and pepper, add a little butter and wrap it in foil. In this form, they are buried in hot ashes so that the smoldering coals are on top. Half an hour of tedious waiting, and the dish is ready! The “smoky” fish can be decorated with herbs, and the best side dish for it is considered to be jacket potatoes baked in the same way.

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Ready-made feed

Today, every beginner or experienced fisherman can stock up on ready-made food for their favorite “ward” fish for future use; it should include ingredients like:

• vitamins of group B, A, E, D;
• fat;
• gland;
• manganese;
• fiber;
• yeast;
• cobalt;
• protein.

There are also special premixes for fish on sale that allow for rapid weight gain of crucian carp, while the best purchased food is the one that contains from 20 to 35 percent protein, 10 percent fat, 7-10 percent fiber, and the food must meet the highest quality standards.