Should you buy eyed ova or collect your own? How do I take care of the ova and what do they need? What are alevins and what do I do with them? All good questions for the beginner fish farmer to ponder. Those tiny little eggs seem so fragile, don't they? They are, but you can handle them with a bit of guidance.

For the DIY fish farmer with a stock of eyed ovum, it is time to really get started. The rearing boxes need to already be resting in the ponds for a few weeks before the ova are ready. The edges of the boxes will be about 6 inches above the water and the box itself is moored so it won't budge.

Now it is time to hang the hatching trays. The trays are suspended inside the rearing boxes with the h2o level coming up to the top edge. This is where your ova will be calling home until they hatch and are strong enough to swim out into the rearing box.

The ova will need to be carefully washed before they can be added to the hatching container. The technique for cleaning the ova is quite simple. A large container is filled with water and ova, the water is drained off and clean water added. This process is done over and over until the water runs crystal clear.

After cleaning, the ova can be placed on the hatching trays. This can be done by tenderly ladeling the ova, a few at a time, out of the cleaning container. Hold the ladel ever so close to the tray and empty the ova as kindly as possible. Never pour the ova from a height, the impact will certainly kill them.

Ova will hatch at a far higher rate if they are spread into a single layer. This is a very delicate procedure and requires a soft touch. A feather is just the tool for the job. Gently running the feather over the ova will spread them out with the least damage.

Despite taking all the necessary precautions, some of the ova will not make it. They can be easily ID'd by their white or opaque color. Dead eggs must be removed from the hatching trays immediately. Leaving them in the trays can lead to fungus growth that can ruin your entire stock.

A natural way to clear out deceased ova is to introduce fresh-water shrimps to your hatching trays. They will only feast on the dead ova and will not damage live ones. These mini fish farm housekeepers will clear out animal and plant debris in the water as well.

Keeping a lid over the rearing boxes will also help to protect ova from fungus growth. Fungus loves light and a lid will cut off the light and keep growth down. A lid is also a great way to protect ova and young fish from predators.

In a little while, the first fish will begin to hatch. These young fish, known as an alevin, will have a large bag on their underside. This is the yolk sac. The fish will require no food to begin with. They will feed off of their sac for the next six weeks or so.

Eventually, the DIY fish farmer will find out that some of his alevins have begun to move away from the rest at the bottom of the hatching trays. They'll begin to swim up against the current. Now's the time to begin feeding them finely processed foods. Their yolk sacs are almost gone now and they're moving on to the next stage of their lives.

In the next report of this series, we'll check out the "fry" stage of fish and the steps the DIY fish farmer does to ensure their health.

Until next time...