Wuchang bream
Megalobrama amblycephala
Also known asBlunt-snout bream · Wuchang fish
Water parameters
Minimum tank: 400 L per individual at harvest size.
Feed and growth
- Feed protein
- 28% target
- Daily feed (warm)
- 2.00% of body weight
- Daily feed (cool)
- 0.70% of body weight
- Max density
- 50 g per litre
A 2000 g adult eats about 40.0 g of feed per day at optimum. 10 fish at adult size: ~400 g daily.
Legality
Rules vary by jurisdiction and change over time. Verify with your local fisheries or wildlife authority before stocking.
| Jurisdiction | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| United States (federal) | check local regulations | verified 2026-05-13 |
| New South Wales | prohibited | verified 2026-05-13 |
Unlisted jurisdictions default to "check local regulations".
Origin and habitat
Native to the middle Yangtze basin of China, in freshwater lakes and rivers, where it lives as a benthopelagic, deep-bodied cyprinid relative now placed in the family Xenocyprididae. Also called blunt-snout bream, it has a laterally compressed, silvery-olive body and small scales, and adults typically reach about 40–60 cm and 2–4 kg. It is strictly herbivorous, grazing aquatic macrophytes, algae and higher plants. The white, tender, moderately bony flesh is popular in Chinese cooking, classically steamed whole. The fish is one of China's major farmed species, ranking around twelfth worldwide by aquaculture tonnage with roughly 0.7 million tonnes produced in 2012. Developed as a cultured fish in China through the mid-twentieth century around Wuchang, now part of Wuhan in Hubei, it has since been improved by selective breeding.
Climate and outdoor ponds
- Climate
- temperate (handles seasonal swings)
- USDA zones
- 6–12 (winter low around -23°C or warmer)
- Heating needed
- no
- Cooling needed
- no
Care notes
A warm-water herbivore mostly relevant to Chinese aquaculture and to systems serving Chinese markets. It grows best between about 20°C and 30°C within a tolerance of roughly 15–32°C, and it has a fairly high oxygen demand, needing dissolved oxygen above about 5 mg/L, more than many pond fish. Growth runs around 0.5–1.5 kg in 10 to 14 months on carp pellet of 25 to 30 percent protein, or directly on plants where the fish grazes duckweed, aquatic weeds and vegetable trimmings. That plant-recycling habit is its main draw for aquaponics, letting surplus duckweed and grow-bed trimmings replace much of the pellet ration. Stock around {density:15}-{density:25} and keep pH between 6.5 and 8.5. Breeding is straightforward in hatcheries by hormone induction, a female shedding hundreds of thousands of eggs, and systematic selection since 1985 has produced faster-growing certified strains. Fingerlings are cheap and plentiful from Chinese hatcheries. The species is essentially unknown in aquaculture and markets outside China, so it fits growers in China or serving Chinese communities, where its plant-based diet sits well with integrated production.