Production of Channel Catfish Ictalurus punctatus in Flowing Agricultural Waters in Arizona

Catfish were cultivated in 0.3 m³ site-specific cages built for fish culture in irrigation ditches. Poor growth (239 g ± 4.2) in 1989 was probably due to velocity of water and variability of fish size at stocking. Addition of baffles to the cages and hand grading of fish eliminated these problems in 1990. A power failure near the middle of the 1990 growing season forced the brief move of the fish from the ditch to a pond. Catfish reached an average weight of 465 g in 1990 over roughly the same growing season as in 1990. Before the cages were moved, fish at lower densities had significantly higher growth (588 ± 3, 515 ± 3) than those at higher densities (396 ± 4.6, 334 ± 4). However, at the end of the experiment, growth was not significantly different between densities (P > 0.05). Perhaps stress to fish caused by moving cages obliterated the previous density differences in growth.