CATFISH FARMING: SETTING UP A HEALTHY AND SUITABLE NATURAL POND

There are different ways of setting up a fish pond. There are both natural and artificial fish ponds but we prefer to use the natural ponds due to the additional nutrients the fishes can get from the pond when it’s a natural pond unlike the artificial ponds. Unlike the artificial ponds, natural pond allows you to add water plants like
Java fern

and the Marimo ball

under the water While plants like Water Lettuce

and Duckweed

would be on the water surface.

We all know that generally, plants make use of carbon dioxide and releases oxygen so that would be the exchange between the fishes and the plants. These plants also serve as an organic form of fish food and maintain the water quality for the fishes. For the floating plants like the Water Lettuce and Duckweed, they can also serve as a form of security against human predators for those of who have our ponds located away from us. These weed multiply in millions on their own so they can cover the entire pond.

  STEP 1 

Dig up the ground up to 3ft down and width should be 9ft and 15ft by length. If it’s a swampy area, you would need to clear the mud and then place bags of sand by the edge of the pond to avoid it from breaking and sinking.

  STEP 2 

Create inlets and outlets to enable the flow of water (if it’s a water logged area) and change of water if the water supply is done artificially.

  STEP 3 

Line sticks to the ground round the top of the pond, get rope (light bag ropes) and tie it from one stick to another there by connecting all the stick, and rope which will form the skeletal part of the pond.

  STEP 4 

Get net (fish net), then lay over the pond to cover the pond properly while its held by the edge with the sticks and rope. This net prevents the attack from predators like birds and bats from attacking your fingerlings at young age.

Photo credits: Alamy stock photo, feedipedia, and Ebay