Float Fishing - Flushing Meadows Fishery 

How do you know if a barbel is happy?

@@stevewilliams5428 same as any other fish,if they are stressed there scales and skin look unhealthy or they perish. If there happy they’ll flourish.

@@paulisherwood8465 If they are happy barbel and flourishing will they breed in still water?

@@stevewilliams5428 can’t say for 100% but don’t forget these fish are bred in farms and not in rivers then stocked into commercials, so if they can breed in farms there’s no reason why they can’t in commercials, but they’re never going to get to the size they go in rivers , but the same can be said of trout in lakes compared to rivers and they breed.

@@paulisherwood8465 Barbel..according to much research, won't breed in still water. They are also nomadic and can travel several miles in a week. They like cover and fast oxygenated water. I can't see how they can be 'happy' as you say penned up in a small pond. It would be like being tied to a chair in a brothel waiting room and never being let go. There are plenty of stocking options for commercials without putting barbel in..the Prince of the River. The barbel I have caught in commercials have been dull insipid fish without colour....when compared to the many river barbel I have caught. Perversely I want more barbel stocked into still waters... It keeps the clueless away from the rivers.