Tips & Tricks for Faster Catfish Growth

The process of cultivating catfish is quite easy and the large demand for catfish is a lucrative business opportunity. It's just that many cultivators fail to harvest because of the disproportionate growth of catfish. 

There is an understanding that is quite distorted if the growth cycle of catfish only depends on the fish feed. Even though there are quite a lot of factors that influence it, some of which are the quality of pond water and the selection of superior quality catfish seeds.

Ideally, the process of catfish farming from the smallest size when it is still a seed, namely 2-3 cm, takes up to 3-4 months until the catfish is ready to be harvested. However, if you don't pay attention to the growth of catfish per day, it is quite difficult to get the ideal body weight for catfish.

To answer all these problems and questions, here is a complete explanation of the factors that affect catfish growth, the causes of slow catfish growth and how to speed it up.

Factors Affecting the Growth of Catfish

To maintain the growth cycle of catfish, you must know what factors can affect the development and growth of these freshwater fish. There are 3 important factors, namely fish feed, quality of cultivation media, and quality of seeds.

1. Proper Feeding

Fish feed is a factor that is quite crucial to help the catfish growth cycle. Meanwhile, from the business side, fish feed requires quite high operational costs, ranging from 60-80 percent. Therefore, you need to know what feed is right for catfish in order to increase catfish growth hormones. 

The nutrients needed by catfish include 30-40 percent protein, 9.5-10 percent crude fat, 0.25-0.4 percent vitamins and 1 percent minerals. Specifically, the following are the protein requirements for catfish based on their growth phase, including:

• The seeding phase, catfish seeds require high protein of 38-40 percent.
• The growth phase, catfish requires moderate protein of 30-33 percent.
• The final phase of growth, catfish requires low protein less than 30 percent.

Meanwhile, the best time to feed catfish is in the morning around 7-9 am and in the evening from 4-6 pm. Give the catfish food 2-3 times a day with a dose of 3-5 percent of the fish's body weight.

2. Catfish Cultivation Media

The next factor is the fish cultivation media. There are 3 media that you can choose, namely a tarpaulin pool, an earthen pool or a concrete or cement pool. Whatever choice of cultivation media you choose later, you must pay attention to the standardization of pond development and maintenance, including the quality of the pond water, to make the catfish comfortable so they can avoid stress.

The standardization referred to, for example, is the location of land selection, pond size, oxygen level, water temperature, water pH level to the ideal color for catfish ponds. Some cultivation experts say that green ponds are good for catfish because this color indicates the growth of phytoplankton or moss which is good for catfish. However, the color of the pond is not always green. In the adult catfish phase that is ready for harvest, pond water generally turns red. 

Then, the standard pool depth is 80 cm. If evaporation of pool water occurs, immediately refill the pool water according to the standard depth. Because if the pool water continues to recede until it is shallow, this condition can make the catfish die quickly from overheating. To maintain water quality, you can spread water hyacinth or taro over the pond. Both of these plants function to absorb toxins in the pond as well as being a shelter for catfish.

3. Selection of Catfish Seeds

The last factor is the selection of catfish seeds that have superior catfish DNA. Cultivation experts advise buying catfish seeds through a hatchery whose quality is guaranteed because they have a CPIB certificate or Good Fish Hatchery Practice and a CBIB certificate or Good Fish Cultivation Practice.

The criteria for superior quality catfish seeds include:

• Uniform size
• The seeds are healthy and not blemished
• Move or swim agile and active
• It has a black or dark brown body color
• Have a clear medical history of the mother

The last criterion is quite crucial to find out because if catfish seeds have carried disease or bacteria since they were small, the disease has the potential to infect other seeds that are in the same pool as the seeds. In addition, pay attention to genetic diseases originating from catfish broodstock that are of poor quality or through the inbreeding process.

Catfish Growth Table

To find out how the effect of feed on the growth of catfish, the following table shows the growth of catfish based on age, body weight and body length.

Specifically, the following is a simulation of feed doses for 1000 catfish in the morning and evening, including the following.

You need to underline that the 150 gram measure in the table is equivalent to half a glass of bottled mineral water. In addition, the calculation of these levels may change depending on the conditions and weight of the fish being cultivated.

Causes of Big Trouble Catfish

The problem with cultivating catfish that is commonly encountered by cultivators is the fish growth which is so slow that it slows down the harvest time. This non-optimal growth will have an impact on business calculations. Therefore, know the causes of slow catfish growth.

1. Poor Pool Water Quality

There are two ways to determine the quality of aquaculture pond water, namely by looking at the quality based on the physical or chemical elements and the chemical side. In terms of physics, you can pay attention to the color and temperature of the aquaculture pond. Ideally the catfish pond temperature ranges from 26-30 degrees Celsius and the color of the pool is green or dark brown.

Fortunately keeping catfish is this fish can live in water that is not clear. However, if the water is too cloudy or dark yellow in color, this condition can actually inhibit the growth of catfish. The deep yellow color indicates the presence of ammonia in the pool water in sufficient quantities that it can harm the growth of catfish.

The second method is based on chemical elements including the acid-base level of water (water pH), dissolved oxygen content, hardness level to carbon dioxide and ammonia levels. Good acid-base levels for catfish range from 6-9, while oxygen levels range from 1.5-5 mg/liter.

2. Seed Quality and Stocking Density

Cultivating low-quality catfish seeds, for example seeds from small catfish brooders, will produce seeds that are just as small, making it difficult or taking a long time to maintain until harvest. Therefore it is important to ascertain whether the seeds that you use are seeds that come from superior quality broodstock.

However, it is useless to use quality seeds if the cultivator pays little attention to the density or stocking density of the cultivation pond. The density of the pond can directly affect the growth of fish and disrupt the metabolic system. Catfish become difficult to move and swim freely. Under these conditions, of course it will be difficult for fish to get oxygen and feed.

Generally, the stocking density of catfish is 75 for a pond that has an area of 1 square meter and a height of 75 cm. The amount of fish density could be more if it is adjusted to the height of the pond. In a pond that has a height of 125 cm can accommodate as many as 150 fish.

3. Catfish feed does not comply with provisions

The effect of feed on the growth of catfish is quite important. There are separate rules regarding the nutritional needs of catfish from fry to adult catfish, including the amount of feed given for one feeding.

The impact if the nutritional content is not suitable can inhibit the growth of catfish. The stunted growth of catfish can also cause death due to insufficient feed doses or nutritional needs so that the potential for adult or large catfish to eat catfish puppies or small catfish.

4. Infected with Bacteria and Disease

The last cause of slow catfish growth is catfish exposure to bacteria, viruses and other types of diseases. These conditions can affect the catfish's body metabolism so that the fish will lose its appetite. Some common catfish diseases include smallpox, itching, white spots, parasitic and pest attacks.

How to Accelerate the Growth of Catfish

After knowing the fact that catfish growth may be slow, you don't need to worry because there are several ways to speed up the catfish growth process, here is the full description.

1. Perform Grading on Seeds and Adult Catfish

After making sure the seeds that you use come from superior quality breeders, there are several factors that can help accelerate the growth of catfish until they are ready for harvest. What cultivators need to do is pay attention to the stocking density of the catfish so that the catfish can freely get feed and oxygen.

In addition, do the grading regularly until the catfish are ready to harvest. Grading is an activity to separate certain goods or materials according to specific criteria, for example based on color and size.

You need to do grading at least once every two weeks until the catfish are ready to harvest. So it's not just when the seeds are planted or when moving the catfish seeds to the catfish rearing pond. The purpose of grading is to minimize cannibalism occurring. If in one pond there are large catfish, then these catfish can eat small catfish or large catfish can eat all the feed so that small catfish will lack feed.

2. Pool Water Quality Management

In order for catfish to grow fast during the cultivation period, you must pay attention to the comfort of the fish. One way is to monitor the condition of the pool water quality starting from the color of the water, water temperature, dissolved oxygen levels, water acid-base level (water pH), and other chemical constituents in the water such as ammonia. We recommend that you check the quality of the pool routinely 2 times a day.

If the cultivation pond has a pH that is too acidic, then you can spread lime to neutralize the pond, but if it turns out that the acid level is too high then the solution is to boil ketapang water or lemon water and dissolve it in the pond.

If the dissolved oxygen level is low enough, then you can use an aerator to break down the oxygen in the water and distribute oxygen evenly throughout the fish. Another water problem that can interfere with the growth of catfish is too much carbon dioxide and ammonia content. The solution to overcome this is to use a filter in the pool or regularly drain the pool water.

3. Catfish Feed Management

Giving food to catfish 2-3 times a day with an interval of 8 hours. Especially for catfish seeds that are still 3-7 days old, you need to soak the catfish feed in water first. If the feed looks a little fluffy, you can spread the feed into the pond. The goal is to prevent potential exposure to bloated catfish.

The feed for adult catfish must also be treated the same, namely by looking at the buoyancy of the feed. Fish feed that floats will make it easier for fish to eat it. Then, 10 minutes after feeding the fish, if you see some of the feed still on the surface of the water, immediately remove the feed so it doesn't settle and turn into ammonia.

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