My Catfish in a Barrel Experiment

[clarkshomestead]

I have just started the catfish in a barrel experiment, mainly because I can't take one mans word for it and there aren't any others online that I have found that tried. So check out my site and follow my progress and please add suggestions. http://www.freewebs.com/clarkshomestead/

[sbemt456]

Can I come fishing at your house? Can I use a net? Dont like to touch worms.lol

[clarkshomestead]

well 999 i don't know much about those northern fish, but I think you would be able to do perch. I've never tasted them but I have a friend from the U. P. and he discibed them pretty well. I WANT SOME! I am logging all my ventures on my site so stay tuned LOL.
Sbemt, come on by around August. I grow worms too and I'll bait your hook. Like catching fish in a barrel (NO SHOOTING!!!).

[sbemt456]

What do they call it when you go feeling around under rock ledges for fish, is it tickling and noodling? No even sure if catfish was the ones they were after, but sounds like fun. No shootin? darn it. Ok you bait ,I'll fish, I might be a hillbillie but cant stand worms wiggling in my fingers. Oh, its Easter, we can take the jelly beans the kids get at their egg hunts and use those for bait for bluegill. They will tear them up. This is from experience.
Been several years ago, bout, 15 yrs I guess, after church we took our 2 boys fishing and ran out of bait, we used jelly beans from the easter baskets and caught a ton of bluegill. We had a ball.
Also you can sprinkle Rotenone on the water and the fish will come to the top. I have heard of people getting rid of fish in a stock pond with this method. Sounds like bad business to me.
By the way good luck with your fish project, I am curious to see how it goes.

[johnjmw]

My Aunt and Uncle use to have a fish farm near Kent Ohio. They caught all their fish out of the (I think) 5 acre lake to put into the stock ponds for raising. I know they raised Bass, Catfish and Trout. they had no die off from taking wild and putting them into the ponds. I don't see how putting then into any other type of container would really matter.
Good Luck and keep us posted.

[clarkshomestead]

Thats kool bout the 5 acre lake thing! In Alabam it is illegal to take wild fish from the state water for the sake of aquaculture. I don't understand why. I would think they would rather one take the native strain of a certain species and help it proliferate rather than possibly intruduce an invasive strain! But for those who must obey all laws due to some insane feeling of duty, there ya go. Me on the other hand. If I knew somewhere I could go catch 40 fingerlings BAM! I would have saved $10 and had a good time doin it!

[annabella1]

Clark you should paint your barrel black. This will reduce the amount of light getting inside and reduce your algae problem. This will also make the water warmer which will help the catfish grow. I would also cover the bottom and up the side to cover the bib with some of that cut to fit plastic furnace air filter stuff. That will keep the bib from getting plugged with gunk or fish.

[Docwaters]

My major professor had me try this when I was in grad. school at NC State in 1970. With the number of fish you started with it will not work. The volume of water is too small to support the fish, their excreta and the waste feed. There are several books on aquarium fish raising and one by Spot is very good (I will try to find the reference for you). I think, even if you had an undergravel filter, the tank would be too small. I will tell you that even with a extensive filtration system, closed system aquaculture is difficult and not economically feasible, in most cases. On the other hand, if you had an open system (clean water flowing through the barrel) you could literally pack the catfish in that barrel and rise them to 1 pound.

[clarkshomestead]

I did add a piece of canvas around to keep light out. There have been no more die offs. You may be right that this just will not work even with the exchange of about one third of the water daily, but I will have to find that out for myself. I do appriciate your knowledge and input though. How many did you stock your experiment with in the 70's? What was the out come and the cause for failure? What type of fish did you stock? How much did you feed? How did you remove the solids? How much fresh water did you use per day? Was the water declorinated with chemicals or aspiration? What kind of aerator did you use? Did they all die at once? Did they die off till you had a reasonable amount for that tank? Sorry about all the questions but you are the first real person that I have seen with experience on the subject. Please give me all the info on this experiment that you can. I could sure use some help here.

[clarkshomestead]

oh this isn't considered closed system since i transfer water but I plan to make one next year. I have put allot of thought and study into the next one. It should produce about 30 lbs. of fish every 6 weeks. Its a 4 tank "closed" system with solids removal, degassing, mechanical filtration, a large biofilter and allot of plant bed space. Once I get it all set up and operating properly, I'm going to try to make it solar powered. But 1st things 1st catfish in a barrel. I will say that if this one doesn't work out, it served well as a motivator for me to study more about aquaculture and aquaponics.

[jjspirko]

Clark Bud I love your posts and your blog, in fact I love your blog so much I have added you to my blog roll at my Survival Podcast.

I do have one suggestion for you here at the forums though with your links. I think you will get better results if when you post about your catfish in a barrel project you link directly to it such as,

http://www.freewebs.com/clarkshomestead2/catfishinabarrel.htm

I don't mean to tell a fellow his business or nothing but generally you get best results sending visitors to as specific a page as possible. I do sort of make a livin on this web site stuff ya know, ;)