Thursday, March 28, 2024
Fishery

The Quantity of Feed Catfish Eat at a Given Time

The quantity of feed to feed your catfish at a time varies from time to time based on their age. The older they grow, the more the quantity of feed they take. Averagely, to reach 1kg weight, it is expected that a fish would have consumed 1kg of feed.

Thus, to know the amount of feed to give at a time, you have to divide 1kg of feed into the number of months you want to raise them and then spread it into each day bearing in mind that you will start from small quantity and then increase the quantity daily. Your expert should be contacted for help as regards to this.

Meanwhile, here is how to know when to stop feeding your catfishes:

How to Know When to Stop Feeding Your Catfishes

The Quantity of Feed Catfish Eat at a Given Time

Knowing when to stop feeding is something the inexperienced catfish farmer has to deal with; it took me months to know when my catfishes are well-fed, and I only truly mastered this after around a year.

Knowing when your catfishes are okay becomes a bit tricky once you switch to spot feeding, but you don’t have much to worry about.

If using floating feed, try to avoid having excess feed on the surface of the water; carefully observe your fishes to see what will satiate them.

If floating feed must remain on the water, it should be something that the fishes can finish within 5minutes of you stopping their feeding; anything more is potentially a waste.

For sinking feed, carefully observe the response of your fishes; they will eat excitedly while their reaction reduces as they start to get satiated, but it’s safe to stop if you can barely see them pop their heads out of the water to eat. If you stocked 1,000 fishes into a pond and can only see 5 – 10 fishes eating after awhile, it is safe to stop; with sinking feed, anything more could be a waste.

Catfish feed requires certain nutrients that will help the farmer optimize the growth as well as increase the profit on their catfish farming business. Below are the 4 classes of nutrients, in order of importance, essential in any feed formulation:

  • Protein: This class of nutrient is required for building body tissue and replacement of damaged tissue. It contains physiological molecules such as hormones and enzymes. It can be obtained from plants and animals.
  • Energy (Carbohydrate): This nutrition provides the energy needed for catfishes. Grains of cereals and cassavas are the major source of this nutrient.
  • Vitamins and minerals: Growth, health, and body process are controlled by this class of nutrition. For example, organic and inorganic chemicals are found in vitamin and minerals.
  • Fat: Fat contains vital fatty acids and also enhances energy delivery in feed.

There is a need to understand nutritional contents of available feed ingredients so as to understand and select appropriately ingredients that will meet the nutritional needs of your catfish.

Read Also: Meaning of Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) in Fish Farming

The Quantity of Feed Catfish Eat at a Given Time

Ideally, your choice of feed ingredient and formula should be guided by the following;

  • Nutritional requirement of your fish stock
  • The presence or absence of anti-nutritional or toxic factor
  • Availability of preferred ingredient
  • Palatability of available ingredient
  • Cost and benefit of the available ingredients
  • Available processing technology or method

Nutritional requirement of your fish stock: Adequate knowledge of ingredients and nutritional value of various ingredients, coupled with the nutritional requirement of your feed at various stages, will help you as a farmer to formulate a quality feed.

From ingredients combined, it is possible to calculate the crude protein, energy, and fat in your feed either manually or by inputting it on a dedicated computer program.

The presence or absence of anti-nutritional or toxic factor: Some ingredients are better not used due to presence of certain anti-nutritional element(s) in them.

For instance, Soya Beans grain must be well processed to remove some anti-nutritional elements in them. Some ingredients like GNC can also encourage the growth of Aflatoxin, although this may not be a major concern in catfish farming business unlike in poultry.

Availability of preferred ingredient: Certain ingredients are preferred over others. This might not be unconnected with cost and availability of such ingredients. When such ingredients are not available, a farmer is saddled with the responsibility of choosing from a wide range of similar ingredients.

For instance, when flour or dough is not available, a farmer is faced with the challenge of choosing from energy grains or processed tuber crops to complement the energy requirements of the fish.

Palatability of available ingredient: An experienced catfish farmer understands that catfishes have taste preferences, and he will ensure that he chooses from a variety of ingredients that will suit the taste of his fishes. For instance, GNC has better taste and aroma over its substitute Bernseed, and soya meal is preferred above cotton seed.

Cost and benefit of the available ingredients: Cost factor, as well as benefit of the cost, is an important factor that must be well considered in feed formulations.

The cost of 72% fish meal against its benefit might not make it the best alternative where local fish meal is available, especially in a situation where most of the imported fish meals in the market are adulterated.

Also, there may be many ways to meet up with the protein requirement for your fish but animal protein, especially protein from fishes, must not be totally removed from the feed; the quality and quantity must be well sustained regardless of your choice of ingredient.

Available processing technology or method: This is a crucial factor to be considered when formulating your feed. Some ingredients should not be used at all due to crude processing method which might have led to the loss of essential nutrients.

Maize should not be used at all if the feed miller does not possess the technology to powder it because experience has shown that fish might not be able to fully digest maize grain that is not well milled.

Read Also: The Common Flagellated Protozoans that Infest Fishes

Agric4Profits

Benadine Nonye is an agricultural consultant and a writer with over 12 years of professional experience in the agriculture industry. - National Diploma in Agricultural Technology - Bachelor's Degree in Agricultural Science - Master's Degree in Science Education... Visit My Websites On: 1. Agric4Profits.com - Your Comprehensive Practical Agricultural Knowledge and Farmer’s Guide Website! 2. WealthinWastes.com - For Effective Environmental Management through Proper Waste Management and Recycling Practices! Join Me On: Twitter: @benadinenonye - Instagram: benadinenonye - LinkedIn: benadinenonye - YouTube: Agric4Profits TV and WealthInWastes TV - Pinterest: BenadineNonye4u - Facebook: BenadineNonye

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