Yellow Catfish Farming Techniques and Costs: Regularly Adding Fresh Water Is Key

AbstractPond conditions: water depth above 1.5 m, area of about 3-5 mu, and disinfection with limestone before stocking. Stocking density: determined by the body length of the fry, generally about 2000 fry per mu. Feed feeding: can be fed animal-based feed such as small trash fish and earthworms, combined with artificial feed such as fishmeal and rapeseed cake. Daily management: maintain water cleanliness; for high-density farming, an aerator needs to be added. Farming cost: the annual cost of farming one mu of yellow catfish is about 25,000 yuan.

I. Farming Techniques for Yellow Catfish

1. Pond conditions

(1) Grow-out farming of yellow catfish has certain requirements for the pond, and the water depth in the pond must be kept above 1.5 m.

(2) Ensure the area is between 3 and 5 mu, and the pond is best with a mud-sand bottom.

(3) The pond must have convenient drainage and irrigation and sufficient water.

(4) Note that before the fry are put into the pond, quicklime must be used for pond clearing and disinfection.

2. Stocking density of the fish

Yellow catfish can be raised together with other fish; for polyculture, larger-sized yellow catfish should be chosen as much as possible, about 10 cm.

For yellow catfish of 2-3 cm, stock 1800-2500 fish per mu.

For yellow catfish of 4-5 cm, stock 1500-1800 fish per mu.

3. Feed feeding and management

(1) Generally, purely animal-based feed such as small trash fish, small shrimp and earthworms can be used.

(2) Compound feed can be used; the feed has certain requirements for protein, fat and vitamins.

(3) Because yellow catfish is a carnivorous-based omnivorous fish, it has relatively high requirements for the protein content and quality of the feed, generally requiring a protein content of 38%-40%.

(4) Artificially bred fry that have already been trained to eat can be directly fed artificial feed; the artificial compound feed needs to include fishmeal, rapeseed cake, soybean cake, wheat middlings, rice bran, and a feeding attractant and growth-promoting additive, and it needs to follow the ratio formula of fixed timing, fixed quantity, fixed location and fixed quality.

4. Daily management

(1) The pond water for farming yellow catfish needs to be clean water, and its transparency should be kept at 35-40 cm.

(2) Because yellow catfish has a poorer tolerance to low oxygen than conventional fish, if the pond stocking density is high, an aerator should be installed to prevent hypoxia and gasping at the surface.

(3) Yellow catfish likes clean water; regularly add fresh water.

(4) The pond water for yellow catfish should not be too strongly alkaline, and the amount of quicklime used for disease prevention should not exceed 20 g per sq m.

5. Fish disease prevention and control

(1) If good water quality and sufficient feed can be guaranteed, yellow catfish will grow rapidly, have a good constitution and be less prone to disease. It also has a certain inhibiting and eliminating effect on some crustacean parasites.

(2) Yellow catfish not only has good disease resistance, it can also eliminate anchor worm disease, to which the body surface of other fish is prone.

(3) During farming, note that yellow catfish is relatively sensitive to pesticides such as trichlorfon and deltamethrin, so such pesticides should not be used in ponds where yellow catfish are raised.

II. Farming Costs of Yellow Catfish

1. Fry: 0.3 yuan per fish, about 5000 fish can be raised per mu, total: 1500 yuan.

2. Water surface rent: 600 yuan per mu per year.

3. Bait includes small fish and shrimp, snail meat, etc.: 1.5 yuan per kg, with an average bait coefficient of 30, and the bait cost per kg of weight gain is 45 yuan. If compound feed is chosen for feeding, the unit price is 7 yuan per kg, and the feed coefficient is about 1.3; if calculated on the basis of 3000 jin of fish produced per mu, about 22000 yuan is needed.

4. The main drug is quicklime, which needs to be used once every half month, requiring 30 kg per mu; if the farming period is 7 months, about 210 yuan is needed.

5. Costs for labor, water and electricity, transportation, etc. are about 1000 yuan per mu.

In summary, farming yellow catfish requires investment in water surface rent, yellow catfish fry, bait, feed, drugs, labor and other costs. Calculating the cost for one mu over one year, about 25310 yuan per mu is needed.