Common carp is a foreign fish and there are several varieties. The variety used in Western Orissa is the fully scaled carp, which suits the tropical climate. Common carp lives and feeds near the pond bottom and can be grown with the Indian major carps, catla, rohu and mrigal as a 'polyculture' (which means growing many different types of fish together). It can also be grown alone, as a 'monoculture' in rice fields with high dykes that retain water.

These guidelines provide advice on producing fish seed of the Indian major carps in hapas within ponds to improve survival.

In this issue:

Nursery rearing of silver barb Puntius goniotus. Artemia enrichment and biomasss production for larviculture. Seed production of mud crab Scylla serrata in India. Macrobrachium on the southwest coast of India. Fish wastes in urban and suburban markets of Kolkata: Problems and solutions. Groups of poor women farming carps in leased ponds, Bangladesh. Lymphocystis disease and diagnostic methods in China. Mesocosm technology advances grouper aquaculture in northern Australia.

It was common to believe that fish cannot be cultured in seasonal ponds. However, fish can be produced in any pond of any size, anywhere in Orissa, provided that the water quality is good enough. A small and shallow pond that retains water for two months can be used for raising fry. A larger and deeper pond holding water for three to four months can be used for fingerling production.

If the place where fish live is good and healthy, fish rarely die from diseases. If we stress fish by roughly handling them, by keeping too many together, or by not feeding them well, they may suffer from disease. Depending on the disease, we may see lots of fish die in a short time, small numbers of fish deaths every day, reduced growth, marks on the fish, or a change in the way they look or swim.