5 Precise and Careful Ways to Prevent Losses in Catfish Cultivation

Know in advance the potential losses catfish farming before starting is an advantage for you. This is because you can be more alert and careful about the bad possibilities that will happen. Moreover, if you also know how to prevent and overcome it.

Come on, see this article to find out 5 potential disadvantages of catfish farming and how to overcome them!

Various Disadvantages of Catfish Cultivation and How to Overcome Them

1. Unexpected Increase in Pellet Prices

Price of fish pellets, incl catfish pellets, can go up at any time and without prior notification. This can be a serious obstacle if in the middle of a catfish farming cycle you don't have extra capital to keep up with the increase in pellet prices. To overcome this often unexpected increase in pellet prices, you can prepare an emergency fund, replace pellets with natural feed, or buy feed for 1 cycle at the beginning of cultivation.

2. Pest Threats

In catfish cultivation, pests that often lurk are weasels, leeches, cats, frogs, eels, and snakes. In fact, fellow fish such as cork and tilapia are also categorized as pests for catfish because cork and tilapia can breed in ponds through the inlet or outlet of the water. However, pests can be overcome by installing fences on the edge of the pool, nets at the entrance & exit of the water, and paranets to cover the pool.

3. Frequent Larvae Death

The loss that you must avoid next is the death of catfish larvae which often occurs. When it dies, catfish larvae that have complete organs will lie on the surface of the kakaban, the bottom of the pond, or hapa. Dead catfish larvae often cause a foul odor in pond water which disturbs the lives of other larvae.

Usually, the death of these larvae is caused by male and female parents who are not old enough when spawned, poor water quality, and low oxygen content in the water. However, usually this only happens to sangkuriang catfish. 

To overcome this, you can take early prevention by using broodstock that are old enough during the spawning process. For catfish, parents who are old enough are male parents aged 10 months and females aged 12 months. Apart from that, you can also provide a stream of water in the egg hatching pond to get rid of the smell of water due to eggs that don't hatch. This is because the flow of water can increase the oxygen content which can help the growth and development of catfish eggs and larvae.

4. Stump mustache

Fortunately, the whiskers on catfish are very dangerous because they can reduce their appetite. The catfish mustache stump event can be caused by poor pond preparation, so that the pool water conditions are not suitable for catfish life. In addition, catfish mustaches that are stubby can also be caused by the amount of dirt and leftover feed in the pond that accumulates, causing the smell of water and becoming a nest of various diseases.

To overcome this, you can prepare a good pool by fertilizing it. Fertilization is done by drying the pond for several days, and sprinkling the bottom of the pond with fertilizer and bran when the pond is dry. In addition, stump whiskers can also be overcome by replacing some of the pool water with new water, but the water that must be disposed of must be water from the bottom of the pond.

5. Inappropriate Seed Spreading

High seed mortality rates are often caused by cultivators who fail during the stocking process. However, these deaths can actually be minimized by sowing seeds with a minimum size of 5–6 cm to 10–12 cm. In addition to the right size, the seeds used must also be superior, healthy and not sick.

In addition to the quality of the seeds, you must also pay attention to how they are spread. The seeds that are stocked must be fasted for 6-8 hours beforehand so they don't get drunk and vomit. Then, the seeds must also be carefully scraped and soaked in salt water for 3 minutes.