How to house carp (Cyprinus carpio), breed carp, feed carp, and rear carp with pictures

Origin	Eastern Asia and Western Europe
Sexual Differences	Females chubbier. Males brighter colored.
Temperature	34^o to 90+^o. 66^o best. 100+^.o usually lethal
Attitude	Eager eater and strong fighter
Biggest Threats	Eagles, kids, and very large catfishes
Schedule	Dawn to dusk plus the night shift
Security	Wary. Babies hide in the mud. Adults make mud.
Size	Iowa record -- 50 pounds. They get bigger.
Foods	Omnivore
Water	Prefers clean water but very adaptable
Breeding Comments	May and August most likely – at 63^.o

LA
Carp grow huge and make great sport fish. Yes, koi are carp. Note the barbels.

LA
Eight-inch carp.

LA
Eight-inch carp. Could be the same guy.

LA
Five-inch carp.

LA
Small doitsu koi looking like a carp (because it is).

LA
This size gets used for flathead bait.

LA
Koi sure look better than their "wild" brothers -- same species.

LA
The original carp they imported looked like this -- often called a German carp.

Origins. Our U.S. Fish and Game department brought scaled, mirror, and leather carps to our country in the 1800s. They were (and still are) a highly sought after food fish and game fish in Europe. Christmas carps and Easter carps for holiday dinners are especially prized. In the U.S., carp reproduced so easily and so rapidly, that carp soon became a “poor man’s fish.” Actually, the Fish & Game people brought them in twice, because the first batch all died.

LA
Quillback -- one of our native suckers shouldered aside by the carp invaders.

LA
Buffalo fish -- native sucker and direct competitor with the exotic carp (minnow).

LA
Better looking buffalo. Both carp and buffalo are tasty -- smoked or fried.

LA
Grass carp -- another Asian import. They devour vegetation. Triploids are sterile.

Appeal. Koi (the highly colored carps) appeal to our eyes. The other guys appeal to our angling skills and taste buds. Smoked carp tastes great. Small ones make great flathead bait.

Production Note. Commercial fishermen harvest carp by the ton from our Mississippi river, just a few furlongs east of here. They export them to Europe where they avidly devour them. Baked carp are highly regarded in Eastern Europe.

LA
Two types of carp scales here.

LA
No teeth but real eating machines.

LA
Mouth on an eight-inch carp.

LA
Same guy a little closer.

Worst Traits. Big carps can root like a hog – as deeply as six inches into the substrate – in search of edible morsels. They also eat nearly any vegetation that will fit into their mouths and uproot the rest. They out-compete most game fishes – especially in turbid (stirred up) waters. They grow probably five times faster than bass and can live in water that would kill most game fishes. Carps also fight harder than most game fishes.

Personal Observations. Iowa waters with soil bottoms that have carp in them are constantly roiled by these honkers looking for food. Minnesota waters with their sandy or rocky bottoms stay much clearer and yield some huge carp. Check out their St. Croix River.

LA
These guys are around three feet long.

Size. Carp grow into lunkers in uncrowded biotopes. Males mature sexually @ 12 inches (two years in crowded quarters, one year with lots of elbow room and food). Females mature @ 17 inches (five years when crowded, some as early as three years).

Spawning Triggers. Carp start looking for likely rendezvous sites at 41^oF. They get real serious at 63^o and start thrashing around like wallowing hogs in the warm shallows -- usually late May in our neck of the woods. Most of those leaping fish you almost see are frisky carp. Females spew eggs like a commercial lawn service sprays your grass. They knock it off @ 81^o.

Spawning Aside. Commercial breeders use an extract from in-season carp pituitary glands to put hard-to-breed fish into spawning condition -- sort of a piscatorial Viagra.

Eggs, etc. Carps depend upon quantity for survival and it works for them. A five-pound female can spew 500,000 eggs. If you ever brought home live plants from a spring fishing expedition, you have brought home carp eggs. Some will survive no matter what. Carp eggs hatch slower in cool water and faster in warm water – very fast in heated aquaria.

Fry. Carp hatch out ¼ inch long and live on their yolk sacs about five days. When they begin swimming, they begin eating – anything that will fit into their mouths. Some will survive on green water. Most carp larvae greedily devour powdered commercial foods. You get fantastic growth rates with microworms and newly hatched brine shrimp. The shrimps make their long guts turn bright orange. If they eat brine shrimp egg shells, you can also see them in their guts. At 3/8 inch you can see their barbels. At 1/2 inch you can tell they’re carp. At 1 inch you can see their scales and fully developed fins.

LA
Some 0.75-inch carp. Note the dorsal fin on the guy on the right. Eager eaters.

Temperature. For happiest carp, set the temperature of your pond or river @ 66^o. But don’t obsess about it. Carp adapt more readily than most other fishes.

LA
These carp (Koi and Koi II) are totally adapted to regular feedings.

Temperament. Carps “tame” rather rapidly to regular feedings. They also revert to pure wild animals when they see a net. If you want to catch carp on hook and line (and who doesn’t?), pre-chum your fishing area with canned corn (whole kernel, not cream-style) or slices of day-old white bread on a daily basis before you toss out your line.

LA
A four-inch carp but no barbels. Wild carp are prettier in the spring.

LA
Carp have big mouths but prefer smaller baits

Suggestions. If you intend to fish for carp, keep an eye on your pole or use a cheap one. Big carps “harvest” more poles than any other fish. If you intend to catch several carp, flatten the barb on your hook (or bring lots of hooks). Use a light line and forget sinkers. Landing nets help a lot. LA – former professional carp catcher.

Butterfly koi, Picture courtesy of Nathan Hightower.

Butterfly Koi. Nathan Hightower netted this butterfly koi from a small river in central Texas. Rather than the multi-color standard koi look, this guy has a coloration better suited to survival in the wild -- very similar to the colors of our wild carp population. Just a reminder that the Federal Fish and Game people brought these fish to America as a game fish. They have adapted very well. LA

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