Yellow Catfish Feed Formula and Feeding Methods Explained
The yellow catfish is a mainly carnivorous omnivorous fish that generally forages at night. Its food includes small fish, shrimp, various terrestrial and aquatic insects (especially chironomid larvae), small mollusks and other aquatic invertebrates. When formulating aquaculture feed, the feeding habits of the yellow catfish should be fully taken into account. Let's take a look below at the feed formula and feeding methods for the yellow catfish!
Feed Formula for Yellow Catfish
1. Formula One: fish meal 30%, soybean cake 30%, wheat bran 10%, wheat middlings 16%, meat and bone meal 1%, minerals 1%, multivitamins 1%, fish oil 1%.
2. Formula Two: fish meal 30%, soybean meal 20%, rapeseed meal 25%, wheat bran 10%, wheat 8%, corn 5%, inorganic salts etc. 2%.
3. Formula Three: fish meal 8.5%, soybean cake 25%, rapeseed cake 30%, wheat bran 20%, barley 10%, corn 5%, bone meal 1%, salt 0.5%.
4. Formula Four: fish meal 15%, soybean cake 35%, wheat bran 30%, corn 5%, pagoda tree leaves 5%, barley 8.5%, auxin 1%, salt 0.5%.
5. Formula Five: fish meal 10%, soybean cake 25%, rapeseed cake 30%, wheat bran 20%, barley 10%, corn 5%, bone meal 1%, salt 0.5%.
Feeding Methods for Yellow Catfish
1. Feeding principles: flexibly adjust according to the scientific stocking density, water quality conditions and different seasons. Focus on uniform feeding and adequate feeding; do not feed in a rigid, uniform way. Feed as much as possible according to the scientific fish-farming principles of the "four fixeds" and "four observations".
2. Feeding amount: for yellow catfish fingerlings stocked in ponds, food intake is low at first, and it takes 3 to 5 days before they form groups to feed. It is generally believed that if winter fingerlings are stocked, the feeding amount before April is 1% to 3% of body weight, and during the peak growing season it is 5% to 8% of body weight.
3. Feeding frequency: feed twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. If the pond shows fish gasping at the surface before dawn, then under aeration conditions, the feeding time should be appropriately delayed, for example from the original 8:00 to 8:30 to 9:00 to 9:30.
How to Save Feed when Raising Yellow Catfish
1. Strict pond clearing and disinfection: pond clearing and disinfection can kill wild trash fish, reduce competitors for food, and also kill disease-causing agents in the water body, improving water quality and giving the yellow catfish a good environment for feeding and growth. If there are many wild trash fish and miscellaneous shrimp in the pond, they will compete with the yellow catfish for bait, and ferocious fish may even prey on the yellow catfish, reducing feed utilization, so attention should be paid to removing them.
2. Reasonable stocking density: a reasonable stocking density can improve feed utilization. Suitable matching of species can make full use of the feed, achieve mutual benefit and symbiosis, create harmony in the water body, and improve feed use efficiency.
3. Scientific feeding of bait: whether bait feeding is standardized affects both the growth of the yellow catfish and changes in water quality. In natural waters, the food of the yellow catfish is mainly small shrimp, fish and fish eggs, and some aquatic insects and aquatic plants. Therefore, in artificial farming, live animal bait such as small fish and shrimp and livestock and poultry processing scraps can be used for feeding, and soybean cake, peanut cake, wheat bran, etc. can also be fed.
4. Regular regulation of water quality: as the saying goes, to raise fish you must first raise water. Water quality affects how fast the yellow catfish grows and the feed conversion ratio. The yellow catfish likes fresh, clean water. With good water quality, it grows quickly, has fewer diseases, can make full use of the feed, and the feed conversion ratio is reduced.