How much does yellow catfish cost per jin? Detailed explanation of breeding techniques and precautions

The yellow catfish belongs to the order Siluriformes, family Bagridae, and genus Pelteobagrus. It is distributed in the Pacific river systems of eastern China and is a typical euryphagous fish. So how much does yellow catfish cost per jin? What breeding techniques are there? What needs attention? Let us understand together below:

How much does yellow catfish cost per jin?

The price of yellow catfish varies slightly according to its body size. Generally, for those with a single body weight below 50g, the price is around 10 yuan per jin; yellow catfish between 50-150g cost 10-15 yuan per jin; and yellow catfish weighing more than 150g cost around 15 yuan.

What breeding techniques are there?

1. Pond preparation

Choose a pond with suitable area, good water retention, and convenient water intake and drainage. Before releasing fish, drain the pond water, level the pond bottom, remove excess mud, and clear away weeds around the pond. Use 150kg-200kg of quicklime per mu to thoroughly clear the pond. After 5d-7d, use 200kg of decomposed manure as base fertilizer, add water to about 1.5m, and when more zooplankton appear after 7d-10d, fry can be released.

2. Fry and fingerling stocking

The stocking size is 3cm-3.5cm. The stocking density must be appropriate. If the density is too high, it affects the size of the adult fish, easily leads to inconsistent sizes, and easily causes disease; yield is also difficult to increase, raising costs. If the density is too low, although the size at pond harvest can be noticeably increased, the pond is not fully utilized, yield is also difficult to increase, and benefits are likewise affected. According to our experiments, stocking 4000-6000 fish per mu is more suitable. Before the fry and fingerlings enter the pond, disinfect the fish body with 10g/m3-15g/m3 potassium permanganate or 2.5% salt water for about 15min.

3. Feed feeding

Yellow catfish have the habit of feeding in groups when small. When the fry first enter the pond, carry out feeding training to develop the habit of eating at fixed points, which can improve the utilization rate of artificial feed and increase the feeding intensity of yellow catfish. The yellow catfish has omnivorous feeding habits leaning toward carnivory. During the rearing process, artificial compound feed should be the main feed (a complete-price artificial bait containing an appropriate protein level is a measure to ensure rapid growth of yellow catfish). Every 3d-5d, feed part of fish meat, snail and mussel meat, animal offal, etc., to supplement the animal protein needed by yellow catfish. Adjust the feeding amount in a timely manner according to water temperature, weather conditions, and fish activity, generally 3%-7% of the fish body weight. When feeding, strictly follow the “four fixed” feeding principles.

4. Water quality management

During the breeding process, frequently add fresh water. When conditions permit, equip the pond with an impeller aerator, and turn it on to increase oxygen when dissolved oxygen is low. Regulate water quality to achieve “fertile, lively, tender, and refreshing”. Keep transparency at around 30cm. Conduct regular water quality measurement and analysis.

5. Fish disease prevention and control

During grow-out of yellow catfish, regularly feed medicated bait and splash external-use drugs to prevent disease. Do daily management well, patrol the pond frequently, solve problems promptly when found, and keep records of all items.

Precautions for breeding yellow catfish:

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 dissolved oxygen sufficient. During the growing season, add fresh water in a timely manner; in high-temperature seasons, change water frequently; if micro-flowing water can be maintained, even better.

2. Maintain reasonable stocking density and stocking size. According to the amount of bait organisms in the water body, scientifically and reasonably determine the polyculture ratio and stocking size. Generally, 30-60 fish per water body is suitable for polyculture, and the stocking size is 3cm/fish-4cm/fish. If the density is too high and the size too small, the market size will not be reached by the end of the year.

3. After yellow catfish are polycultured in a pond, it is no longer suitable to polyculture other carnivorous fish, and yellow catfish should not be polycultured in breeding ponds for freshwater prawns or freshwater crayfish.

4. During the breeding process, if the yellow catfish are found to be too small, it indicates that the amount of natural bait organisms in the fish pond is insufficient. Small miscellaneous fish and shrimp, summer fry of domestic fish, or artificially prepared special yellow catfish bait can be appropriately added or fed. When feeding artificial bait, first feed the main cultured species (put into shallow water areas), then feed the yellow catfish (put 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.

5. When yellow catfish are polycultured in crab ponds, because river crabs and yellow catfish are ecologically located in the same water layer position, it is easy to cause competition for ecological position between the two. Therefore, sufficient natural bait organisms must be maintained in crab ponds; otherwise, the rearing effect of yellow catfish will be affected. In advance, 300kg-400kg of snails per mu can be put into the crab pond, as well as some crucian carp carrying eggs and egg-bearing freshwater shrimp, allowing them to reproduce naturally for river crabs and yellow catfish to feed on freely.

6. Analysis of the symptoms and causes of yellow catfish disease: The diseased fish are mainly of the 3-5cm size. When diseased, the top of the head is ulcerated, red and swollen, and perforated; the gills are congested; the fin bases are congested; they leave the group and swim alone or hang vertically in the water with the head up and tail down for a relatively long time, turning back and forth. This disease is a bacterial complication caused by parasitic infection such as trichodinids. The causes of the disease are mostly: (1) High stocking density, increased feces and excrement from young fish, poor water quality, and fish being in a semi-oxygen-deficient state for a long time; combined with reduced activity space and weakened activity, parasites, bacteria, and other pathogens are more likely to infect and parasitize. (2) Water pollution and relatively low water pH increase the probability of fish infection. (3) Emphasizing treatment over prevention and lacking disease prevention awareness; if there is no timely monthly inspection to prevent fish disease, regulate the water body, and improve water quality, then when weather changes suddenly, fish are extremely prone to disease outbreaks and mass death after feeding. (4) Low protein content in the feed increases the feed conversion ratio, fish grow more slowly, and there is more residual bait and excrement, causing secondary pollution of the water body and inducing infection by parasites, bacteria, etc.

7. Prevention and treatment of yellow catfish disease: The purpose of medication: regulate the water body, improve water quality, kill parasites, externally eliminate and internally administer, and comprehensively prevent and control the “one red spot” caused by trichodinid parasitism.