Posted: 7/14/2010 3:21:48 PM EDT
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Ordered 100 6" to 8" catfish for delivery on the 23rd and purchased three food grade 55 gal. barrels and three bubble aerators capable of supporting 70 gal tanks. Three 55 lb. bags of floating fish food will be purchased in the next few days. Here are the directions I got off the internet. There are several different versions of this floating around so if you have any experiance please chime in. Thanks.
1 Set up tap assembly in the barrel. Mark a spot on your barrel approximately 8-inches up the side from the bottom. Drill out a circle just large enough to snugly fit the tap assembly. Smooth the edges of the hole with a file and insert the tap assembly with the tap facing outward. Attach assembly to barrel with marine sealant to create a water tight seal. Allow sealant to dry for 24 hours before adding water. Attach garden hose to the tap end of the assembly. •2 Hook up the aquarium oxygen pump according to the manufacturer's instructions. Seat the pump firmly into the barrel and make sure that the water intake into the pump is screened over so as not to accidentally suck up the fish. •3 Find a suitable permanent location for the barrel. Keep the barrel in a shaded location safe from raccoons, cats, and other fish predators. The barrel will have to be close enough to an electrical outlet for the pump to plug in. Under an overhang on the north side of the house would be an ideal location. •4 Fill the barrel with water. It is best to use tap water for this process as pond or lake water can contain toxic algae which can poison your catfish. When the barrel is full to within 8-inches of the top, allow the water to de-chlorinate for 24 hours before introducting the catfish. •5 Add your fingerling catfish. You can purchase fingerlings from your local Extension office or a local fishery. Add up to 40 fingerlings to your barrel. This number will allow the catfish to grow to eatable size (1 to 1 1/2 lbs) in 9 months. Allow the fish to acclimatize to their new surroundings for 4 hours before feeding. •6 Feed your catfish twice a day. You can purchase commercial fish food or you can raise your own worms or larvae to feed them. Feed until catfish begin to lose interest in eating. If you feed too much, food will rot in the barrel and cause the water to become cloudy and encourage the growth of algae. •7 Change out the water daily. Drain off 15 gallons of the pond water through the hose and tap assembly every day. Replace with 15 gallons of fresh tap water that has been allowed to de-chlorinate for 24 hours. Use the waste water as a nutrient-rich fertilizer for your garden. •8 Monitor the water temperature in the barrel frequently. The ideal temperatures for catfish are between 70 and 80 degrees F. In the north, this makes the ideal time to raise catfish from early spring until late fall. In the south, it is from early fall to late spring. Shade the barrel from the sun as much as possible in warm weather to moderate the temperature. Catfish can handle cooler temperatures but will grow more slowly. •9 Harvest your fish when they reach 1 to 1 1/2 lbs. You can either harvest them fresh as you need them or harvest them all at once and freeze them, either whole or filetted. When all of the fish are harvested, drain the barrel and wash with a weak bleach solution before starting the next batch of fish. Read more: How to Raise Catfish in a Barrel | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_4474959_raise-catfish-barrel.html#ixzz0thXkKUGs |
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Cats are tougher than most, but I find the "directions" sketchy at best.
What size is your fish food? I start 2-3" cats on 1.5mm slow sinking, then once they are 4-5", switch to 1/8", then slowly mix in some floating 3/16, and eventually get them on floating food: much easier to monitor/see what they are doing. That way, you aren't dumping feed in if they are off feed for whatever reason that particular day. Have a backup generator. 
I sometimes us an O2 cylinder, plumbed thru a normal off solenoid, to an O2 diffuser: that way, if you lose power, the valve will open, and the fish will get supplemental O2 until you can get things up and running again. Good luck and please post pics! |
| I already have my house setup on a backup generator. The fish I ordered are the largest available 6" to 8" in hopes of getting a quicker grow out. The price differance between the larger 6" to 8" and smaller 3" to 4" fish is only $9.00 per hundred. Aerators were purchased from Wal-Mart for $11.00 each. They are 2800cc bubble style rated for up to 70 gal tanks, one for each barrel. If I see the fish at the top gasping very much I plan on adding a small low amperage 110V continuous duty water pump I already have as a fountain or cascade to add more oxygen. For now I am going to skip tapping the sides of the barrels. I can see potential problems going that route, I intend on siphoning the water out as needed initially. If I change my mind later and want to add taps I will buy another barrel and rotate the fish out of each barrel to facilitate tapping them. I am also going to try placing a drop light over one of the barrels at night to attract flying insects to the surface of the water where the fish can feed on them. I am hesitant to do all the barrels with a light initially for fear that the light will disrupt the fish's natural cycles and stunt or kill them. A Google search on worm production has yielded a plan to raise "red wiggler" worms in barrels cut in half. If I am suggsessful with this first batch of fish I will try to get into worm production and reduce or eliminate the feed costs completely. |
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Sounds like you have a handle on it, but I'm still concerned about water quality.
A buddy used to have bug lights and maggot racks over his ponds. He'd pick up dead deer,dogs,coons,whatever, and put them on a screened racked over the ponds. Flys light, eggs hatch, maggots fall thru screen. I've raised fish on full 24hr light,with no problems. |
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Quoted:
Sounds like you have a handle on it, but I'm still concerned about water quality. A buddy used to have bug lights and maggot racks over his ponds. He'd pick up dead deer,dogs,coons,whatever, and put them on a screened racked over the ponds. Flys light, eggs hatch, maggots fall thru screen. I've raised fish on full 24hr light,with no problems. Brilliant idea, never thought of that. Might need ponds far away from the house due to smell! |
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Set up tap assembly in the barrel. Mark a spot on your barrel approximately 8-inches up the side from the bottom. Drill out a circle just large enough to snugly fit the tap assembly. Smooth the edges of the hole with a file and insert the tap assembly with the tap facing outward. Attach assembly to barrel with marine sealant to create a water tight seal. Allow sealant to dry for 24 hours before adding water. Attach garden hose to the tap end of the assembly. I thought this is where you started shooting. 
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Got a chance to start prepping the barrels today. I have changed plans slightly and decided to invert the barrels and cut the bottom out. This will allow me to use the bung holes in what used to be the top as a drain. Cut the bottoms out with a jig saw and installed the fittings for the drain in the bottom. Beveled the edges of the cut I made and smoothed the edges to reduce the risk of damage to the fish and my wifes arms as she helpes me with the feeding. pics for your viewing pleasure
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| Barrels have been setup and running since the 23rd. I decided to use three barrels, two with the drains at the bottom and one with no drain at all just to see how much more trouble and difference it will make to the fish size and mortality rates. Water will just be dipped from the drainless barrel instead of drained out of the bottom. Three barrels gave me 33 fish per barrel so I am below the number of 40 that seemed to consistantly come up in my searches for information prior to starting this project. Mortality so far has been two fish, one from the drainless barrel and one from one of the barrels setup with drains. I really need to number the barrels to help keep them clear. The deaths occured on the 24th so I figure tranportation and handling is to blame. So far I am feeding approx. 1/2 cup floating fish food per barrel in the morning and again in the evening, so one cup per day per barrel at this time. It is taking them approx 15-18 min to eat all of it so I am satisfied it is enough for now. I may try too increase a little next week. I have decided to change the water at a rate of fifteen gallons every five days. This will fit in well with my work schedule. So far so good. |
As I understand it temp either high or low will affect thier metabolism. Thier comfort range is from approx. 70 F to 85 F according to most literature I have read. On either side of that you will get decreased metabolism and feed conversion will suffer. Grow out times will also start to increase. Water temps just over 100 degrees or under 32 degrees and you are going to kill them. I selected my staging area for my barrels based on temp. I walked around taking temps at several different times of day and found one of the coolest places in my yard close to power and water. That ended up being under the awning of the front of my shop. Sheet metal roof roughly ten feet off the ground with three open sides. After setting up the barrels I let them sit to stabilize water temp for three days and monitored the water temp. It climbed to 80 F and has stayed close to that since then. I am seeing a temp change of approx three degrees up or down. The highs and low temps each day do make some difference. The fish came from a company in Cash Ar. They post a flyer at the local Co-Op and drive thier truck in to sell fish two or three times a year.
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| I have gotten several questions about why? I have no waterways close to my property so going fishing if our society took a turn for the worse would not be an option. These barrels and related equipment would be low profile and very easy to protect. At least more so than a herd of cattle or flock of sheep. I also intend to use this in part of my upcoming solar power project. Not to mention I will have fish waste to water my garden with. Catfish fillets are $5 a pound in Wal-Mart as of last night. If I can get these fish to the dinner plate cheaper than that I will be elated. |
If you have a compost bin, black soldier fly larve may be an optional food supplement for your fish. Google will yield lots of info, including one gentleman that will kindly sell you some . Mine showed up in the compost on their own. If I have a large active population, I will even put meat in the pile, something I would never do otherwise. No muss, no fuss, no smell. They are so active you can hear them going at their business in the pile.
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| 97% death rate last night. All but three fish belly up this morning at feeding time. Water temp 84' F slightly murky with no evidence of over feeding. Borrowed a ammonia test kit from a neighbor and it came out elevated but, within the range of survivable for catfish, tilapia etc. Not sure what I will try next. I have an old inground pool that could be used for fish with little TLC... |
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Crap losing fish is a bummer.
I respect your idea but I think your tanks are too small.. Stock watering tanks, typicaly plastic can be bought or order from any farm store. I am not talking about the oval less then 100 gal. type. I am talking the ones that are about three foot deep an round plastic. Filtering of the water must be done, this is where people want to sell you crap that costs money. Shop yard sales for people who are selling off a above ground pool. Those filters are to make the water people perfect, but the filter media maybe able to be changed to make it fish ok. I build my own filters from plastic storage boxes and pea gravel, and they function as bio filters. My containment is a in ground pond of about 6000 gal size. Right now I keep Large gold fish but one order of catfish would be all I need to switch over. I do have UV sterilzers th keep the water pretty for viewing, but not needed for cat fish. |
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Sorry.
I've been a little worried about some I have in a small,shallow pond. Lots of SAV growth and temps have been in high 90s-low 100s. Have hit surface temps over 90. Starting to see wide DO swings, (sometimes indicative of impending crash) mid teens late afternoon, low 5s at 0600. May toss an aerator in, but temps have moderated a bit last couple days. Still feeding like crazy though. Also have some fingerlings in an inside tank, but it's flowthrough, so no worries. (to continue my low buck theme, here's a tip: before I got aerators, I'd take a 5 hp, 2" trash pump, and neck the discharge down to 3/4", and blow the water up 50' into a fine mist, andback into the pond.Would run it a couple hours in the am, just before dawn, if DO was crashing) |
| I was running aerators continuously in all three barrels and had siphoned out and replaced fifteen gallons of water from each barrel a couple days prior. Replacement water was allowed to sit close to the barrels overnight to stabilize temps. Well water was used so chlorine etc should not have been a problem. |
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Are you testing nitrates and nitrites as well?
Fish can take some pretty substantial temps shocks, esp going to cooler. Same for saliinity, with SOME species. I've fooled enough with $$$, high tech systems (UV, ozone, mechanical,drum and bead filters,etc) that I much prefer low tech, KISS setups. Like I always tell folks, you have to get EVERY thing right for it to work, and yet only ONE thing to go wrong to kill them all. |