While catching a fish and detaching it from water, it can’t survive for a short period. It dies before we come home and cook it. However, we can’t circumvent the subtle taste of a live fish.
And, when it is a Shad, it becomes more challenging to keep it alive and preserve the genuine taste. So, today we shall discuss how to keep shad alive so that after fishing, you can preserve the live fish and have that delicate taste whenever you desire. So, please keep your eyes on us.
Curtains Up For Knowing How To Keep Shad Alive
The end to wait is here as now we are going to know all about how to keep shad alive shortly.
Vital Facts About Shad
Before starting the process discussion, we must keep a little information in our minds.
- A male shad can be up to 20 inches, and a female shad can be up to 25 inches. So, we must choose a roomy space to preserve a Shad fish.
- We must provide enough food according to our diet.
- The water quality must be fresh since Shad lives in freshwater reservoirs.
- We must keep the aquarium or reservoir well ventilated by supplying oxygen properly. And we also need to focus on the water temperature.
The Process Of Keeping Shad Alive
Shad is a freshwater fish that we can find in rivers like the Columbia River. After catching a shad, it can survive from a few minutes to 40 minutes. So, we have to place it immediately in the water. Let’s see the whole process below.
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Choose The Right Bowl
Shad is one of those fish which require roomy space to survive. Due to its medium size, we can keep a shad in a bowl which can contain at least 20 litres of water. But it is for a few hours if we can supply oxygen.
About the dimensions of the primary tank, you must choose one according to your prediction. Let’s assume you want to catch 10 Shads. So, you have to select a primary tank which can contain around 60 to 80 litres of water.
It may mystify you and raise the question, how can you carry this enormous tank while going fishing.
When you are going, keep the tank vacant. And fill up the tank before fishing, as simple as that. It would be best to choose a circular tank, and the diameter is 30 inches with 1.5 to 2 feet in height. It can contain around 10 Shads inside.
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Filling The Tank
The primary tank is immovable if it is full of water while you will catch fish. Moreover, it includes significant risk of being broken if your tank is plastic.
However, the filling process is relatively straightforward. You can use a small pump to fill the tank if there is a facility of electricity in your vessel. You can also use a bucket to fill the tank with water.
The river water is the best water to use. All the elements that Shad requires to survive are present there. So, you do not need to use any purifying materials or pH balancing kit.
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Proper Oxygen Serving
The third step is serving proper oxygen in the tank. There are several air pumps available in the market. You must choose a robust one which can be 120 watts at least. You can run that air pump with the electricity in your boat.
What if you do not have electricity? You can use a small size oxygen cylinder. An adequate refilled oxygen cylinder can serve your tank proper oxygen through a good diffuser for several hours. Keep in mind that to survive in such a place, a supply of oxygen is a must.
Keeping Shads At Home
These are how you can keep your caught Shads alive while on a boat. But, these are immediate and temporary solutions if you intend to keep Shad live month after month, follow the next steps.
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Choose The Right Place
After catching Shads and bringing them home, you must prepare a colossal tank if you desire to keep them alive for several months, as the Japanese do. The minimum amount of water to keep 10 Shads is 1000 litres.
You can purchase this massive tank from everywhere. And the wisest shape of the tank is cylindrical. You can choose a 15 to 20 inches heightened tank, but the diameter should be 45 to 60 inches for ten shads.
And, if you are selecting a rectangular shaped tank, you ought to choose the exact rectangular tank with 4 feet in length and 1.5 to 2 feet in width. Do not choose squares or any other shape.
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Maintaining Water Conditions
Shad is a freshwater fish. It only survives when all the elements of water are in a balance. The first condition that you should focus on is the temperature of the water. The ideal temperature that keeps Shads jubilant is above 13° C to 25° C. About the pH, which is in the second, it must not cross 6.7, and the least is 5.5.
The third point is maintaining the oxygen in the water. A 120 watts air pump is enough to serve oxygen and condition the water. Moreover, we must choose a set of suitable diffusers which create small-sized bubbles. Tiny bubbles are more likely to infuse oxygen in water than large bubbles.
The last element that we must provide is the filter. The water must be fresh, and a good filter can condition the Co2 level of water that comes from fish waste.
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Maintaining Diet
There is no alternative to providing good foods fresh. Making Shads survive is not enough; we must let them be healthy. And to do that, we must select nutritious foods for them.
The Diet of Shad utterly depends on its size and age. If you are preserving adult Shads, you can offer them several easily available foods. Some of the most nutritious foods are small shrimps, fish eggs, insects, worms, water striders, etc.
If you can’t manage the food, several foods or pellets are available in the market for aquarium fish. You can select one of the quality products.
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Water Changing
The most hassling job is the change of water in the tank. But there is no way to escape since the health of fish also depends on water. The changing process is relatively straightforward.
Firstly, remove 50% water from the tank. If the water is too cloudy, you can remove more, though the chance is meagre if your filtering machine is good enough. After removing the water, mix the water conditioner in a bucket so that all the ingredients become active.
Then start pouring the tank and use a jug to pour the conditioning solutions. Meanwhile, check the pH level and temperature within a few minutes interval. If one of these goes out of the track, fix it immediately.
Related: How To Keep Dungeness Crab Alive After Catching
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Conclusion
Hopefully, our content helped you learn Shads by answering how to keep Shad alive. If you are preserving your Shads, we must admire the decision. It keeps the Shads healthy, and the nutritious value remains untouched.
It will always taste like those fishes caught a few minutes earlier about the taste. To eat and survive, we must catch and cut the fish.
But, when we are preserving or keeping it alive, we must prove the humanities inside us and circumvent all the cruelties. Moreover, we must select those ways which are less painful to fish while cutting.
