CATFISH-ONLY (Ictalurus punctatus) STOCKING RATES FOR FERTILIZED FARM PONDS: WHAT DO SNAKES, SNAPPERS, AND OTHER PREDATORS LEAVE BEHIND?

C. Bauer Duke and Kayla McCoy*
 Aquaculture/Fisheries Center
 University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff
 1200 North University Drive
 Pine Bluff, AR 71601
mccoyk@uapb.edu

Small farm ponds less than 0.2-hectare in area are best suited for monoculture of fish like channel catfish. The current recommended stocking rate for catfish in fertilized ponds is 500 fingerlings per hectare (catfish only option). Small fingerlings are vulnerable to an assortment of predators, extra fish should be stocked to compensate for anticipated losses, but stocking at high rates could slow growth. This study was conducted to examine the variability in catfish fingerling survival and growth when stocked at two rates at two initial sizes in small ponds.  On April 13, 2014, small channel catfish fingerlings (average length of 6.9 to 14.1 cm or 8.7 kg per 1,000 fish) and large channel catfish fingerlings (average length of 13.5 to 20.7 cm or 35.4 kg per 1,000 fish) were stocked at rates of 494 or 1235 fish/hectare into 0.10-hectare ponds (6 replicates per treatment) at the Aquaculture Research Station, UAPB. Individual ponds were fertilized when the Secchi disk visibility exceeded 61 cm, except when submersed weeds became established. Ponds were subsampled by seine pull after 127 -128 days (Aug 18 - 19), bulk weights of fish and the number of fish captured was recorded. The ponds will be totally harvested in November 2015.  Survival at subsampling averaged 49.9% across all stocking densities.