Effects on Growth of Fingerling Channel Catfish of Diets Containing Two Energy and Two Protein Levels

Abstract

The feasibility of growing channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus (Rafinesque) to marketable size in fertilized and unfertilized ponds by supplemental feeding of dry pelleted feeds was reported by Swingle (1958). Tiemeier and Elder (1960) reported on the recovery of stunted channel catfish during supplemental feeding and Tiemeier (1962) obtained excellent results from feeding large numbers of fingerling channel catfish in small ponds. Phillips and Brockway (1959) presented data on dietary calories and the production of trout in hatcheries. Phillips et al. (1963) discussed the effect of diet mixture and Calorie source on growth, mortality, feed conversion and chemical composition of brook trout. Nail (1962), experimenting with channel catfish in troughs, found that a 25.3 per cent protein level produced optimum growth compared with diets containing 6.3, 15.8, and 34.8 per cent protein. Slightly better gains were also obtained from diets containing 18.6 per cent carbohydrates than with those containing 9.3 per cent. During 1963, 28 1/4-acre earthen experimental ponds were constructed below Tuttle Creek Reservoir' near Manhattan, Kansas, along with an observatory pond an a metal building, which constitute the Tuttle Creek Fisheries Research Laboratory. The laboratory was built on land licensed from the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers and funds to build and maintain the facility were and are being provided by the Kansas Forestry, Fish and Game Commission, Agricultural Experiment Station of Kansas State University, and the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife. Sixteen nearly identical polyethylene-lined ponds were stocked with approximately 2,000 fingerling channel catfish in April, 1964. Beginning 14 April, identical amounts of dry pelleted feeds were given to the fish in each pond the remainder of the summer. Four diets were used, each in 4 randomly selected ponds. Fish were fed 6 days each week and 50 fish were weighed from a seining of usually several hundred from each pond at 2-week intervals. Starting 2 June, each pond was given an amount of feed equal to 4 per cent of the total average weight of the