fingerling production

Commercial Catfish Production
Production Process A typical production cycle for
channel catfish farming begins with
spawning of brood fish. Spawning
begins in the spring when water
temperatures increase to above
70º F. At that time, brood fish held in ponds randomly mate and the
fertilized eggs are collected from
spawning containers and moved to
a hatchery. Eggs hatch after 5 to 8
days of incubation and fry are
reared in the hatchery for an additional 4 to 10 days. Fry are
then transferred to a nursery
pond, fed daily through the
summer, and harvested in autumn
or winter as fingerlings. Fingerlings
are then stocked into fish growout ponds, fed daily, and
harvested when they reach 1 to 2
broodstocks. Roughly 18 to 36 months
is required to produce a food-sized
channel catfish from an egg.
Food fish are harvested year- around to meet the needs of
processing plants, so ponds on a
given farm usually contain fish at
various stages of grow out
throughout the year. Maintaining Brood stock Channel catfish brood stock are
easy to maintain in pond culture,
and spawning efficiency is
reasonably good without any
special manipulation of
environmental conditions or the need for hormone treatments.
Although channel catfish may
mature at 2 years, they must be at
least 3 years old and weigh at least
3 pounds for reliable spawning.
Fish 4 to 6 years old, weighing between 4 and 8 pounds are
considered prime spawners. Older
fish produce fewer eggs per body
weight and larger fish may have
difficulty entering the containers
commonly used as nesting sites. Brood stock are maintained at
relatively low standing crops (less
than 2,000 pounds/acre) to provide
good environmental conditions
and minimize suppression of
spawning by over crowding. Brood fish are seined from ponds and
inspected every year or two. Large
fish, which may be poor spawners,
are culled and replaced with
smaller, younger brood fish.
Periodic inspection of brood fish also provides an opportunity for
adjusting the sex ratios within
brood populations. Spawning activity will begin in the
spring when water temperatures
are consistently around 75º F.
Spawning occurs over a period of
several hours as several layers of
adhesive eggs are deposited in spawning containers. Females
between 4 and 8 pounds typically
lay between 3,000 and 4,000 eggs
per pound body weight. Spawning
success (percentage of females
spawning) ranges from 30 to 80 percent each year, and depends
mainly on the condition and age of
the female brood fish and water
temperatures during the spawning
season. Nesting containers are checked
every 2 or 3 days for the presence
of eggs. The eggs collected from
the brood pond are placed in an
insulated, aerated container and
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transported to the hatchery.

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