Key Points of Yellow Catfish Farming Technology and Daily Management Methods
I believe many people like to eat yellow catfish, right? This fish is rich in protein, so its nutritional value is very high, and many people like to eat it. It can be seen everywhere, whether in supermarkets or vegetable markets. But how exactly are so many yellow catfish farmed? Let's learn about yellow catfish farming together with the editor below!
Fry and Fingerling Rearing of Yellow Catfish
1. Conditions of the rearing pond: The pond area should preferably be 1-3 mu. It requires sufficient water source, fresh water quality, and convenient water filling and drainage. Before stocking fry, remove excess mud from the pond bottom (keep it at about 10 cm), and repair the pond embankment to prevent seepage.
2. Pond clearing and water fertilizing: 10-15 days before stocking fry, use 150 kg of quicklime per mu for dry pond clearing to kill wild fish, pathogenic bacteria, parasites, and other harmful organisms. 7 days before stocking, fill the pond with water to 30-40 cm. When filling with water, wrap the pipe opening with a 40-mesh sieve silk net for filtration to prevent wild fish and harmful organisms from entering. Then use 4-5 kg of biological water-fertilizing king per mu to cultivate palatable natural feed for the fry. For newly opened ponds, 3-4 kg of inorganic fertilizer can also be applied.
3. Fry stocking: The stocking density of yellow catfish fry should preferably be 30,000-50,000 fry per mu, preferably monoculture, and they must not be mixed with carp or crucian carp fry. The fry put into the pond should preferably be from the same batch of hatching. If the hatching times differ greatly, the fry are likely to grow unevenly, causing a decrease in survival rate. Before stocking, measure the pond water temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, ammonia nitrogen, and other indicators. If the water temperature in the fry bag does not differ from the pond water temperature by more than 2°C, the pH is between 6.8-7.5, the dissolved oxygen is greater than 5 mg/L, and the ammonia nitrogen is less than 0.06 mg/L, they can be stocked into the pond.
4. Fry rearing: Newly hatched larvae whose yolk sacs have not completely disappeared have weak swimming ability, like to gather at the bottom of the water body, and feed on small zooplankton such as rotifers. If natural feed is cultivated sufficiently in the early stage, the survival rate of the fry will be greatly improved. If insufficient feed is found, methods such as artificial feeding of rotifers, adding organic fertilizer, cutting green grass for composting, and splashing soybean milk twice in the morning and evening can be used to promote the reproduction of zooplankton. As the fish grow, the fry's activity and feeding ability increase noticeably. At this time, gradually raise the pond water level to 0.8-1.5 m to increase the activity space for the fish. When they grow to 2-3 cm, the natural feed in the pond can no longer meet their feeding needs, so special extruded floating feed for yellow catfish can be used for artificial feeding and domestication. The feeding amount depends on the feeding situation of the fry, and it is best if they finish it.
5. Daily management: Persist in patrolling the pond every day, and pay attention to observing the water color and the fish's feeding and activity conditions. Through measures such as adding water, using microbial preparations, splashing fertilizer, and turning on aerators, keep the water quality fresh, the dissolved oxygen sufficient, and the feed organisms abundant. At regular intervals, carry out insecticide treatment and sterilization of the pond, and regularly add immunizing preparations such as vitamin C to the feed to improve the disease resistance of the fry and prevent fish diseases.
Living Habits of Yellow Catfish
The habits of yellow catfish are quite distinctive. It has strong adaptability in the wild, likes to live in groups, tolerates low temperatures, low oxygen, and pollution, and has a wide range of adaptability to water temperature. Yellow catfish are widely distributed in our country, and traces of it can be found in rivers, lakes, and streams. It is a small fish, generally weighing only a few liang, and very few exceed 1 jin, but there is a kind called "Huai catfish" whose largest individual can reach more than 3 kg.
Yellow catfish has the habitual characteristics of benthic carnivorous fish. It likes to eat small fish, small shrimp, zooplankton, and insects. When hungry, it also eats certain vegetarian foods (such as grilled dried tofu), but it does not often eat them. It feeds greedily and ferociously, and its sense of smell, hearing, and touch are all relatively sensitive. It has the habit of burrowing around everywhere to seek food.
Yellow catfish also has the habit of being afraid of light. For half the day, most of them inhabit the bottom of the water or concealed places with weaker light, and come out to move about in the evening, at night, and in the early morning, and are especially active on cloudy and rainy days.
Farming Cycle of Yellow Catfish
There will be differences in farming density and models in different places. Generally, the cycle in the Northeast is short and should be around May and June. If farmed in the Pearl River Delta area, the general farming density is 25,000-30,000 fry of 5-8 cm per mu, and the farming cycle is about 12-15 months, with a yield of 3,500-5,000 jin per mu (depending on farming level and mortality conditions)
Precautions for Yellow Catfish Farming
1. Keep the water body with relatively high dissolved oxygen. Yellow catfish have relatively high requirements for dissolved oxygen in pond water, so when polyculturing, the water quality is required to be fresh and the dissolved oxygen sufficient. During the growing season, new water should be added in a timely manner, and in high-temperature seasons, water should be changed frequently. It is even better if a slight flow of water can be maintained.
2. Maintain reasonable stocking density and stocking size. According to the amount of feed organisms in the water body, scientifically and reasonably determine the polyculture ratio and stocking size. Generally, 30-60 fish per water body are suitable for polyculture, and the stocking size is 3 cm/fish to 4 cm/fish. If the density is too high and the size is too small, the market size will not be reached by the end of the year.
3. After yellow catfish are polycultured in fish ponds, it is no longer suitable to polyculture other carnivorous fish, and yellow catfish should not be polycultured in ponds for freshwater prawns or freshwater crayfish.
4. During the farming process, if the yellow catfish are found to be too small, it indicates that the amount of natural feed organisms in the fish pond is insufficient. Small miscellaneous fish and shrimp, summer fry of domestic fish, or artificially prepared special yellow catfish feed can be appropriately added. When feeding artificial feed, first feed the main cultured species (put it into shallow water areas), and then feed the yellow catfish (put it into deep water areas). Yellow catfish have the living habit of hiding by day and coming out at night, so feeding should mainly be at night.
The above has introduced yellow catfish farming technology for everyone. I believe everyone has gained another understanding of the living habits of yellow catfish. In fact, fish farming also requires adjusting farming methods according to its characteristics. Only good methods can produce high-quality fish. The editor believes that as long as you put in effort, you will get rewards, so everyone should continuously summarize experience in daily life. I believe that if everyone farms with care, there will definitely be good economic benefits!