Catfish Farming For Beginners

Catfish Farming For Beginners

How Do I Start A Small Catfish Farm?

Catfish farming is an important agricultural industry in the United States, with more than 60,000 acres of water devoted to catfish production. These catfish are being grown under several production systems and with various degrees of management. Successful catfish farming generally requires constructing facilities; controlling water quality; rearing, stocking, and feeding fish; and harvesting and marketing the fish crop.

A fish farmer must decide what type of catfish farming enterprise to establish based on the desired level of fish production and the availability of capital, land, and water resources. The size of the fish farming operation and the farmer's commitment to management will determine the efficiency and profitability of the enterprise. Catfish farming may provide a major source of income, diversify an existing farming operation, or satisfy family food and recreational needs.

A fish farmer can grow catfish in ponds, cages, or raceways. The fish can be marketed in several ways-as small fish for stocking, aspan-size fish for food or recreational fishing, or as large fish for broodstock.

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Careful planning is an important part of any operation. A well designed catfish farm is the result of proper planning to suit individual needs. Catfish farm planning and application assistance is available from the Soil Conservation Service.

This bulletin discusses the production of channel catfish (lctalurus punctatus), the most commonly grown species. Other species, such as the blue catfish (I. furcaws) and the white catfish (I.catus), have similar cultural requirements. All three species grow well where water temperatures are above 70°F for at least 4 months each year. They are native to America and have a good conversion ratio of feed to flesh.

Methods of Catfish Farming

Ponds

Pond culture is by far the most common type of catfish production. Ponds can be installed on sloping upland valleys or on nearly level land. The number, size, and shape of ponds are often limited by soils, topography, and available water supplies. Catfish farms may range in size from 20 acres or less to 640 acres or more depending on available resources.

A catfish farm needs a water-distribution system, convenient drainage facilities, complete protection against floodwater, and a system of all-weather roads. Careful attention to pond size and design, elevation of drainpipes, and adequacy of outlets and spillways is important.

The earth-fill levee or dam is probably the most expensive item of construction when a catfish pond is installed. The design of the damor levee depends on the site selected. The watershed or drainage area, the height of the dam, the need for a roadway along the top, and the soil under the dam, as well as the soil material to be used in the dam, must be considered. Dams are built of soil material excavated from inside or outside the pond area, or both. Soils in certain locations are unsuitable for catfish ponds because of their low water holding capacity and/or cavernous conditions underneath the pond.

The side slope of the dam or levee must be able to withstand erosion from the wave action. All trees, stumps, and brush should be removed from the water area. Smooth the bottom and gradually slope it to the harvesting area. Establish grass cover on dams and levees.

Do not locate ponds on land where pesticides have been regularly applied to crops, especially to cotton. If there is any question concerning pesticide residues, have the soils tested.

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An overflow pipe is needed to discharge runoff water and prevent loss of fish through the emergency spillway. This pipe establishes stable waterline and allows temporary storage to be accumulated and disposed of without excessive use of the emergency spillway. To prevent a loss of fish through the overflow pipe, place around this pipe a sleeve of larger pipe that extends up to the level of the emergency spillway.

This sleeve acts as a trash rack and allows deeper water containing less oxygen to be discharged. If runoff water periodically enters a pond, a properly designed spillway is needed. When water flows through a spillway, catfish may swim out of the pond. To prevent losing fish, the spillway must be wide enough that the flow is less than 3 inches deep. A screened over fall installed in the spillway keeps undesirable fish from entering the pond from downstream.

How Many Times Should I Feed My Catfish?

Good catfish feed contains 32 to 36 percent protein, 6 percent fat, 10 to 20 percent carbohydrates, and 10 to 15 percent fiber. A minimum of 8 percent of the ration should be from fishmeal and all feeds should contain the recommended vitamins. Ingredients used in making feeds vary widely, depending on availability and cost.

Feeds are sold as floating or sinking pellets and as finely ground meal or crumbles. Floating pellets cost more but are more stable than sinking pellets. They also enable you to determine whether the fish are feeding. If they are not feeding, find the cause and correct it.

Some experienced fish farmers prefer sinking pellets because of the lower cost and they have learned to tell whether the fish are feeding normally by observing the activity of the fish in the feeding areas.

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There is little or no difference in fish growth between the use of floating feeds and sinking feeds. Some farmers mix a small amount of floating pellets with sinking pellets so they can observe feeding activity more easily.

Fry should be fed as soon as they leave the nest or swim up in the holding vats or tanks. Meal or crumbles made from a good-quality catfish feed is used primarily for fry. Fry may take the feed more readily if a jar of baby food liver is added to each pound of meal or crumbles. In screened holding boxes, feed only as much as the fry will eat in 20 or 30 minutes. In ponds, feed 2 to 3 pounds per surface acre each day. Gradually increase the quantity of feed to the amount they will eat in 20 to 30 minutes. As the fry approach fingerling size and are feeding well, seine and weigh a sample of fish every 2 or 3weeks and adjust the feed to about 3 percent of the total weight of fish in the pond.

Use ;a-inch pellets for fingerlings from 2 to 6 inches long, ~6-inchpellets for fish up to one-half pound, and JB-inch pellets for larger fish. Pelleted catfish feeds should have good stability and remain intact for at least 10 minutes in water.

The feed allowances are based on rations containing 36 percent protein and approximately 2.9 kcal of digestible energy per gram of protein. If feeds of different protein and energy concentrations are used, daily allowances should be adjusted proportionally.31t is risky to exceed 30 Ibiacreiday unless water is flowing through the pond or aeration equipment is available.

Scatter feed in 3 to 4 feet of water completely around the pond. Feed at the same time each day when oxygen concentration of the water is highest. This is usually around midday. Trucks with blowers or other mechanical feeders are desirable for large ponds.

Never feed more than 30 pounds per acre per day unless water is flowing through the pond or aeration equipment is available to prevent an oxygen depletion.

Self-feeders are good labor-saving devices for isolated small ponds. Place them so feed will be dropped in 3 to 4 feet of water. Fish learn to bump the underwater release and obtain feed. Avoid overfeeding by putting only the correct amount for 2 or 3 days in the feeder. Without auxiliary hand scattering of feed, self-feeders may cause a wide variation in fish sizes.

Before feeding each day, check the response of the fish by throwing out small amounts of feed; also, check self-feeders to see if they have been used. If fish fail to feed vigorously, something is wrong; stop feeding until you find and correct the trouble.

If you use sinking pellets, check feed consumption by placing a4- by 4-foot tray on the pond bottom in the feeding area before feeding. Lift the tray slowly an hour after feeding. If all the feed has not been eaten, reduce the amount of food.

To prevent weight loss and increase disease and parasite resistance, feed catfish held over winter. Self-feeders are helpful in winter, since at this season it is difficult to know when the fish are hungry. When the water temperature 6 inches below the surface is below 45°F, feed every other day at the rate of one-half of 1 percent of the estimated total weight of the fish in the pond. During warm weather feed each day at the rate of 1 percent of the weight when the water temperature is between 45°-60°F. In ponds holding brood fish, stock small forage fish such as fathead minnows (Pimepha/es prome/as) or other species to provide protein necessary for egg growth and to keep the males in good condition. If fatheads are not available, feed cut fish or liver.

Harvesting

Harvesting methods will vary from one fish farming operation to another. Some farmers use a "seine-through" technique that allows for a partial harvest three or four times each year. This method allows the farmer to "top off" the market size fish while the smaller fish pass-through the seine and remain in the pond for future growth. Other fish farmers may conduct only one operation for a total harvest at the end of the growing season. This is achieved by seining the entire pond (fig. 14) or by draining the pond and concentrating fish in a harvesting basin.

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Catfish ponds should be designed to facilitate harvesting operations. Ponds that have a firm, smooth bottom free from trees and stumps and gradually deepening to a harvesting basin are easily seined. Stretch the seine from bank to bank. A long rope attached to the bottom of each end makes the seine easier to haul. Trucks and tractors with winches are often used to pull long seines. In well constructed ponds, an experienced seining crew with good equipment can harvest 70 to 90 percent of the fish. Lower the water to concentrate the remaining fish in the harvesting basin.

Carrying fish from a pond to a tank truck is back-breaking labor. Mechanical equipment such as a power hoist mounted on a truck or tractor makes the job much easier.

Catfish being harvested and hauled are under considerable stress. Fish concentrated during the harvesting operation may suffer from oxygen deficiency and emergency aeration may be necessary to prevent losses. The digestive tract of fish should be empty when they are handled or hauled, so do not feed fish the day before harvest.

Harvest timing is important to the fish farmer. Regardless of the harvesting method used, harvest operations must be coordinated with processing plants, live haul markets, or other receiving outlets of the fish industry. Evaluate fully the available markets before starting a fish farming enterprise.

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