Pond Culture

Culturing Fish in Ponds

Vanessa Weldon, Extension Associate, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff

Feed blower blowing feed into a catfish pond (photo courtesy of David Cline, Auburn University).

Pond culture is a very popular aquaculture production method with many aquatic species cultured in ponds. To have successful pond production, ponds must be properly sited and built, with careful assessment of water availability, quantity, and quality. There are two main types of pond systems: watershed and levee systems (Whitis 2002). …

Raceways

Gary Fornshell, Extension Educator/Aquaculture, University of Idaho


Flow-through tilapia farm near Boise, Idaho (photo courtesy of Gary Fornshell, University of Idaho).

A raceway in its simplest form is just a flume for carrying water. Raceways for fish culture are tanks which are relatively shallow and rely on a high water flow in proportion to their volume in order to sustain aquatic life. Flow-through fish culture systems pass water through the systems once, provide waste treatment as required, and then discharge …

Recirculating Systems

Vanessa Weldon, Extension Associate, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff

Contents


Advantages and Disadvantages of Recirculating Aquaculture Systems

For commercial aquaculture, recirculating aquaculture systems have certain advantages and disadvantages over other production systems such as ponds and raceways. The main disadvantage is that they are more costly …

Cage Culture

Growing Fish in Cages

David Cline, Extension Aquaculture Specialist, Auburn University

Common cage materials (photo courtesy of David Cline, Auburn University).

Many landowners who are interested in aquaculture may not have the financial and physical resources or the practical experience to start a large-scale aquaculture operation. Growing fish in cages can be a means for landowners with existing ponds to produce fish for supplemental income and to gain experience in aquaculture. Cage culture is an intensive form of aquaculture …