Key Technical Points and Daily Management Methods for Yellow Catfish Farming
The yellow catfish, commonly known as the anchor catfish, yellow gudgeon, yellow catfish, yellow-fin fish, etc., has many species distributed in rivers, lakes, ditches and other waters of our country, and is a high-quality, valuable economic fish. This fish has large output, tender meat, few small bones, delicious taste, rich nutrition and relatively high medicinal value, and is deeply welcomed in domestic and international markets, especially large-sized live fish which are in short supply.
The yellow catfish has an elongated body, a flat belly, and the rear half of the body is slightly compressed. The head is large and flat, the snout is round and blunt, the mouth cleft is large and inferior, the upper jaw is slightly longer than the lower jaw, and both the upper and lower jaws have villiform fine teeth. The eyes are small, lateral, and the interorbital space is slightly raised. There are 4 pairs of barbels; the nasal barbels reach the posterior margin of the eye, the maxillary barbels are the longest, extending to behind the base of the pectoral fin, and there are 2 pairs of mandibular barbels, with the outer pair longer than the inner pair. The back of the body is dark brown, the sides are yellow with 3 interrupted black stripes, the abdomen is pale yellow, and all fins are grayish-black. The yellow catfish is a carnivorous-based omnivorous fish. Foraging activity generally occurs at night, and food includes small fish, shrimp, various terrestrial and aquatic insects (especially chironomid larvae), small mollusks and other aquatic invertebrates, and sometimes it also preys on small fish. Its feeding habits vary with the environment and season. In spring and summer, it often swallows the eggs of other fish, and in the cold season, small fish make up more of its food, while benthic animals gradually decrease. Yellow catfish of different sizes also have different feeding habits: those with a body length of 2-4 cm mainly feed on copepods and cladocerans; individuals with a body length of 5-8 cm mainly feed on zooplankton and aquatic insects; individuals over 8 cm feed on mollusks and small fish, etc. In artificial cultivation, minced fish, shrimp and mollusks can be fed. They need to eat animal-based bait, and they also eat artificial compound feed, but it is best to use compound feed as the main food, supplemented by fresh and live animal bait. In natural waters, the yellow catfish grows slowly and the market size is small, which to a certain extent affects market development. Therefore, artificial cultivation of the yellow catfish is imperative.
Pond-based main culture of yellow catfish
1. Pond conditions: The yellow catfish has poor tolerance to low oxygen and has relatively high requirements for ecological conditions. Choose a pond with sufficient water source, fresh water quality and convenient drainage and irrigation, with an area of 2-5 mu, a flat pond bottom, 10 cm-20 cm of silt, and a water depth of 1.5-1.8 m. The pond inlet should be filtered with a 30-mesh silk screen to prevent wild trash fish and other harmful organisms from entering.
2. Pond clearing and water fertilization: Half a month before stocking, drain the pond water, and use 125-150 kg/mu of quicklime plus 1.5 kg/mu of crystal trichlorfon, or 1 bottle of Decis, to splash the whole pond for disinfection, thoroughly killing pathogenic organisms. After 5-7 days of disinfection, inject about 80 cm of new water, and use 200 kg per mu of fermented chicken manure or cow manure or night soil to fertilize the water. After 7-10 days, when a large amount of plankton appears in the pond, the fry can be stocked.
3. Fingerling stocking: Generally in June, stock yellow catfish summer fingerlings. They are required to be robust, disease-free and injury-free, and uniform in size. Stock summer fingerlings of yellow catfish with a size of 2-4 cm at a quantity of 150,000-20,000 fish/mu. The specific stocking quantity should be determined according to pond conditions, the abundance or shortage of bait, and the individual farming level. One week after stocking, put in about 200 silver carp and bighead carp fry of about 20 cm per mu to regulate water quality. When stocking fingerlings, soak and wash them with 3% salt water for 15 minutes.
4. Feed feeding: Within one week after the yellow catfish summer fingerlings enter the pond, they mainly feed on zooplankton in the pond. After 3-5 days, start domestication, feeding fresh minced wild trash fish meat crushed with a meat grinder, mixed with 10% compound feed such as eel, soft-shelled turtle or frog feed to form a dough-like shape for feeding. Domestication and feeding method: Set up 4-6 feeding tables on one side of the pond, each with a size of 1 m * 1 m, made of fine mesh cloth, and set at a water depth of 50 cm. Place the artificial minced meat on the feeding tables and feed twice a day, at 7:00-8:00 in the morning, with the feeding amount accounting for 1/3, and at 18:00-20:00 in the evening, with the feeding amount accounting for 2/3. After 10 days of domestication, withdraw to 1-2 feeding tables in the pond. If they are yellow catfish summer fingerlings already domesticated to eat artificial minced meat, after entering the pond the feed can be directly fed on 1-2 bait tables in the pond. When the yellow catfish reaches a body length of more than 5 cm, 20%-30% of plant-based feed such as soybean meal, rapeseed meal, peanut meal and corn flour can be added to the minced meat. The daily feeding amount is determined according to fish body weight and pond water temperature. When the water temperature is below 20°C, the feeding amount accounts for 1%-3% of fish body weight; when the water temperature is above 20°C, the feeding amount accounts for 4%-6% of fish body weight.
5. Daily management: Master the suitable water depth. When the fingerlings have just entered the pond, keep the water depth at 70-80 cm, and later gradually deepen it to 1.5-1.8 m as the water temperature rises. Control the fertility of the pond water and keep the transparency at 30-40 cm. Regularly add new water, generally once every 10-15 days. Regulate the pond water quality: every half month, splash once with 10 kg/mu of quicklime dissolved in water, and regularly disinfect the water body once a month with bactericidal drugs such as chlorine dioxide. Feed medicated bait once a month, adding 0.6 g of tetracycline per kg of feed, feeding once a day for 3 consecutive days. Equip each pond with one 1.54 kW aerator, and rationally turn it on for aeration according to weather and water quality conditions.
6. Fish disease prevention and control: During the farming period, adhere to the principle of "prevention first". Regularly disinfect the water body, food and live fish bait, and administer medicated bait. Common diseases of yellow catfish mainly include enteritis and hemorrhagic edema disease. To prevent and control enteritis, regularly add 1% salt or garlic juice to the feed for prevention. For treatment, splash chlorine dioxide over the whole pond, and at the same time feed sulfaguanidine medicated bait for 5 consecutive days. To treat hemorrhagic edema disease, splash strong chlorin or chlorine dioxide over the whole pond for 3 consecutive days. At the same time, add tetracycline to the bait for feeding for 5 consecutive days. The yellow catfish is a scaleless fish, and its tolerance to commonly used aquatic drugs is inferior to that of the four major Chinese carps. It is relatively sensitive to drugs such as copper sulfate, trichlorfon and potassium permanganate, so caution is needed when preventing diseases.