Sorting catfish is an effective Farm management practice required for a profitable venture in the catfish farming business.
What are farm management Practices?
These are day-to-day activities carried out on the farm during a production cycle to ensure quality output.
What is the SORTING of catfish?
This is also commonly referred to as grading, which means separating the fish based on their different sizes as they grow.  Due to fast growers referred to as jumpers or shooters the catfish don’t grow at the same rate, we also see this in humans also two persons living under the same condition tends to have different growth rate same applies to catfish, so it’s common to see the variation in their sizes that where sorting of the catfish comes in.
Why do you sort your sort catfish?
Sorting and grading need to be done to avoid cannibalism, select out fast-growing fish and give the fish bigger space. Most often diseased fish is sorted out from the healthy ones to avoid the spread of the disease. Sorting help for adequate feed ratios for all sizes.
How often Should sorting be done?
The rate of cannibalism is rapid when the fish are still small (Post fry -juveniles’ stages), so at this stage, sorting should be done weekly until the stocked fish reaches 50-80 g. for bigger sizes sorting could be done monthly, the pond capacity also determine how often sorting should be done, when the fish are overcrowded then it necessary to sort them into the different pond to enable them to eat well for fast growth.
What is the best time for sorting catfish?
It’s advisable to carry out sorting during the morning or evening hours when the temperature is very cool and the sun hasn’t set out. during the sorting process, you don’t want the fish to be very stressed. Most farmers lose fish during sorting due to stress.
How is sorting done for catfish?
Material and equipment to be used for the sorting must be disinfected before use. Graders should vary based on fish sizes and should not injure the fish, you will need assistance because it requires more than one person to sort. The process of sorting includes:
draining the water from the pond to a very low level not completely, always ensure that there is little water to hold the fish during the process.
Scope the fish in batches with a net into a basin, you can make use of a grader bowl or sorting table to do sorting based on the size of the fish.
After separating, they transfer back into the different ponds prepared for the fish.
Note: you won’t have to feed your fish before or immediately after sorting
Benefits of sorting/grading catfish
- Help to reduce cannibalism
- Enhance feeding efficiency through adequate feed ration (the fish eating the appropriate size by time)
- Increasing the accuracy of stock estimates for monitoring
- Help to reduce the proportion of undesirable or unwanted sizes
- Increase the growth of fish due to better space.
- To improve profitability in sales during harvest.
Why most farmers don’t sort their fish
- The process labor intensive
- Requires much time
- Grading equipment needed
- The techniques required to avoid high mortalities
 Things to note when sorting fish
- Sorting should be done during the morning and evening periods
- Grading equipment to be used should be disinfected with saline solution
- Scoop little fish at a time to grade
- Fish must always be in the water during the process
- reduce stress by avoiding excessive handling of fish
- Use gloves to handle fish
watch some practical videos on how sorting is done in various types of catfish ponds
Learn more about the catfish farm operation by downloading the Ebook on the guide to starting a successful catfish farm using this link. Get our Automated farm record sheet
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