or leveed type. Your Soil Conservation Service (SCS)
District Conservationist and other specialists should be
consulted for resource analysis, planning assistance, and
standards, regulations, and specifications pertaining to
pond construction.

 A few general recommendations should be followed
when considering building a catfish pond for commer-
cial production. Because of weed control, high water
temperatures, and other management problems, large
ponds would generally be more difficult to use for cat-
fish culture in Florida. Consequently, ponds in the '/,o- /4
acre size range are suggested for use. The depth of the
pond should be planned so that there will be a minimum
water depth of 4-6 feet during the driest time (survey in
April or May). This may mean that a basin depth of 8-12
feet is needed in regions where water levels fluctuate
widely. Much greater depths are discouraged because of
the danger of oxygen depletions during hot weather.
Ponds should have gently sloping basins and well-
vegetated shorelines to prevent erosion. If possible, pro-
visions should be made to allow for complete draining
of the pond for harvesting and prior to stocking.
Harvesting will also be easier if there are no stumps, logs,
and debris present. The pond must have an acceptable
spillway and overflow drain if runoff discharge is ex-
pected. The overflow pipe can be fitted with a sleeve of
larger pipe and the spillway should be wide enough so
that the maximum flow is less than 3 inches deep in order
to prevent fish from escaping. In extremely permeable
soils, plastic or rubber pond sealants or liners may be used
to eliminate water loss from seepage, but use of such
sealers can be relatively expensive for larger ponds in
terms of installment costs for labor and materials. Some
ponds and natural lakes, particularly in central and
northern Florida, are poor in nutrients and have relatively
low productivity. Artificial fertilization of these waters
to improve productivity and enhance food availability is


Raceway culture system.


generally not recommended, due to associated problems
with weed control and oxygen levels. Feeding catfish with
prepared feeds is strongly encouraged to promote optimal
growth and eliminate the need for supplemental fertiliza-
tion of a pond.

Alternative Facilities
 Because of various contraints that limit the efficiency
and desirability of constructing ponds in many areas of
Florida, use of other facilities may provide great poten-
tial for raising catfish in certain regions. Raceway systems
have been successfully used by some producers, although
they require more intensive management than pond
culture. Raceways consist of series of long, narrow
earthen or concrete channels through which there is a
continuous flow of water. They may be either open
systems, in which water flows through the raceways and
waste treatment facility without recycling, or closed
systems, in which water is recycled through an auxiliary
storage reservoir, the raceway, and the waste treatment
pool. Raceways require a ubiquitous supply of high-
quality water. Construction of raceway systems should
be done under the supervision of experienced profes-
sionals, due to their complex design and operation. They
should be trapezoidal or parabolic in cross section, with
bottom widths of 4-15 feet and a grade of 1-3 feet per
100 linear feet (1-3% slope). Each section should be no
more than 100 feet long (sections may be constructed in
series by installing earth or concrete check dams or
bulkheads at the lower end of each section). Water depth
should be about 3 feet at the upper end and 4 feet at the
lower end of each section. A settling basin (lagoon) is built
below the last section of a raceway to collect organic
wastes. Size and depth of the lagoon must be determin-
ed after considering the number of sections to be installed
and the size of the water reservoir. The lagoon should
be wider and deeper than the raceway sections so that
water movement will be slow enough to allow suspended
wastes to settle, and should be drained and cleaned after
each crop of fish is harvested.
 Cage culture of catfish represents a second potentially
good alternative to pond culture in Florida but still lacks
the technology that provides all growers with consistent
results. Some of the advantages to this method are: (1)
cages can be put in many types of water, such as ponds,
lakes, canals, borrow pits, etc., some of which might not
otherwise be especially suitable for aquaculture; (2) cages
allow for a combination of cultures in ponds, such as rais-
ing catfish in cages with bass and bream in open water;
(3) cages can be used to rear small fish to large enough
sizes to escape predation before releasing into a pond;
and (4) cages allow for easy and complete harvest, by
either removing fish all at once or periodically. The ma-
jor disadvantages of using cages are that (1) fish are under