Recapture and condition of pond-reared, and hatchery-reared 1 +  European grayling stocked in addition to wild conspecifics in a small river

The relative performance of European grayling Thymallus thymallus reared in a hatchery on commercial dry feed or in a pond with natural food and their wild conspecifics, was assessed through recapture of tagged fish 5 months after their release into the Blanice River, Czech Republic. One-year old pond and hatchery reared fish from a resident broodstock were marked using Visible Implant Elastomer tags and released into 3 sections of river in May 2006. Wild one-year-old grayling were also tagged in these sections on the same days. The ratio of hatchery reared, pond reared, and wild fish was 1:1:1 in all sections. The recapture rate (hatchery 14.9%, pond 22.1%, and wild 51.3%) and site fidelity (hatchery 7.8%, pond 13.0%, and wild 35.1%) were significantly different among groups. Wild fish had a higher probability of recapture upstream of their original section than did hatchery or pond reared fish. Pond rearing was superior to conventional hatchery rearing for subsequent stocking of 1 +  grayling in running water. Initially different mean condition factors were similar in all groups at recapture, suggesting adaptation of the artificially reared fish that remained in the river sections surveyed.