HATCHERY SETUP IN FISH FARMING

Hatcheries used in producing catfish are simple facilities that use
flow-through tanks holding about
90 to 100 gallons of water for egg
incubation and fry rearing. The
most critical factor for a successful hatchery is a dependable supply of
high-quality water. Egg hatching tanks are equipped
with a series of paddles spaced
along the length of the tank to
allow wire-mesh baskets to fit
between them. One or two egg
masses are placed in each basket and the paddles gently rotate
through the water to provide
water circulation and aeration. The
incubation time varies from 5 to 8
days depending upon water temperature. At hatching, the fry (called sac-fry
at this point) fall or swim through
the wire-mesh basket and school in
tight groups. Sac-fry are siphoned
into a bucket and transferred to a
fry rearing tank. Aeration in fry rearing tanks is provided by
surface agitators or by air bubbled
through airstones. Initially, sac-fry are not fed
because they derive nourishment
from the attached yolk sac. Over a
3- to 5-day period after hatching
they absorb the yolk sac and turn
black. At that time fry (now called swim-up fry) swim to the water
surface seeking food. Swim-up fry
must be fed 6 to 12 times a day for
good survival and growth. Fry are
fed nutritionally complete feed for
2 to 7 days before they are transferred to a nursery pond. Fingerling Production Culture practices for fingerling
production are relatively
standardized across the industry,
especially when compared to the
wide variety of production
strategies used to grow food-sized catfish. Fry grow faster when
stocked at lower densities but
more space is required to grow
larger fingerlings at lower
densities. Stocking rate is therefore
a compromise between benefits of producing large fingerlings for
foodfish growout and the
economics of producing more small
fingerlings in less space. Fish are
fed a manufactured feed and
grown to fingerling size (3 to 8 inches long) over a 5 to 10 month
period. Fish are either allowed to
continue growing in their original
nursery ponds or are harvested
and transferred to other ponds for
growout to stocker-sized fish of 0.1 to 0.25 pounds or to food-sized fish
of 1.2 to 2.5 pounds. It is important to fertilize nursery
ponds so that they contain
abundant natural foods to promote
growth until the fry are large
enough to switch to manufactured
feeds. A finely ground feed should be offered once or twice daily to
train fish to accept the feed. As the
fish grow, feed particle size is
increased. A month or so after
stocking, the fish (now called
fingerlings) are fed once or twice daily to satiation, using a small
floating pellet with 45 to 65
percent crude protein. Because fingerling populations are
particularly susceptible to
infectious diseases, disease
management takes on added
importance in this stage of
production. Survival of catfish fry to fingerlings varies greatly from
pond-to-pond depending on the
initial condition of the nursery
pond, losses to bird predation, and
the incidence of infectious diseases.
Average survival from fry stocking to fingerling harvest in excess of 60
percent across all ponds on the
farm is considered to be very
good.
FOR ULTRA MODERN HATCHERY SETUP, FISH FARMING SETUP, FEED PRODUCTION AND FEASIBILITY STUDY .. CALL US ON 08032861326 FOR HELP AND CONSULTANCY.



 

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