Experience in artificial domestication and feeding of yellow catfish in aquaculture

The yellow catfish is a carnivorous fish, previously surviving mainly as a wild trash fish in ponds and lakes, feeding on small fish and shrimp, insects, and the larvae of various aquatic insects (especially mayflies and chironomid larvae), mysid shrimp, small mollusks, and other aquatic invertebrates. With the improvement of people's living standards and the adjustment of aquaculture structures, China has now adopted the yellow catfish as a high-quality fish species for artificial breeding and large-scale aquaculture. However, the amount of natural feed in water bodies is limited, so to develop large-scale aquaculture of the yellow catfish, the key is to solve the problem of artificial domestication of feed.

The two commonly used domestication methods are introduced as follows:

1. Domestication with animal-based feed: Purchase small fish, shrimp, snail meat, etc. from the market, mash them into a paste, mix with water, and splash it along the perimeter of the pond to attract feeding. Then gradually narrow the splashing range, slowly luring the yellow catfish to the feeding platform to eat. Generally after 7 days of domestication, the goal of feeding animal-based feed at fixed times and fixed points on the feeding platform can be achieved (fed twice daily). However, using this method to raise yellow catfish has relatively high costs, sometimes even costing more than it yields. Generally speaking, feed costs account for about 40% to 60% of total costs. The feed conversion ratio of snails is 60; calculated at 1.2 yuan per kg of snails, every 1 kg of weight gain in yellow catfish requires 36 yuan in feed costs, which in most areas is obviously higher than the market price of yellow catfish. Therefore, formulated feed must be developed for domestication to reduce aquaculture costs.

2. Domestication with formulated feed: Based on the characteristic of the yellow catfish as a carnivorous fish requiring a relatively high proportion of protein in its feed, the generally designed feed formula is: Peruvian fishmeal 45%, soybean cake powder 10%, rapeseed cake powder 15%, wheat middlings 15%, miscellaneous grains 10%, yeast powder 2%, rapeseed oil 1%, feeding attractant 2%. At the beginning of domestication, 10% formulated feed can be added to the original animal-based feed (minced fish, shrimp, and snail meat); after 2 days, correspondingly increase the formulated feed to 20% and reduce the animal-based meat paste by 10%. After 20 days of transition, the animal-based minced fish feed can be completely stopped and replaced with formulated feed. In this way, not only can the source, quantity, and quality of feed be guaranteed, but the cost is also greatly reduced, making it easy to achieve large-scale production and generate economies of scale.