It is very important we drain our catfish pond of old bad water and refill it with fresh water at regular intervals so that the pond has enough dissolved oxygen that is necessary for proper respiration for the catfish. Freshwater helps regulate the water temperature and reduce pollution in the pond that can result in the catfishes being exposed to various types of diseases and other things that will affect the growth of the catfishes.

We should have a good drainage network that will remove the water from the pond and channel the wastewater to external drainage where it won’t be a source of worry to you and your neighbours’. There are cases where neighbours have been known to report fish farmers to local authorities because of the odour oozing out from the catfish farm is becoming too unbearable to them.

Some of the Importance of Draining and Refilling of your Pond Water Are:  

1. It helps to remove the foul smell that oozes out of the pond if the water is left for too long. This smell isn’t good for the fish and human beings living in the same environment.

2. It removes excess nitrates and other harmful compounds that increase in concentration due to holding bad water in the pond for a long time. Draining the pond and refilling it will help flush out those harmful compounds in the water.

3. Another good thing draining of ponds does is that it helps improve water turbidity which results from lack of visibility when the pond is dirty. If the water is clean the catfishes are able to feed find as their sense of smell and sight is improved in a clean pond.

4. Draining and refilling the catfish pond helps reduce the growth of algae and other organic matters that are harmful to the catfishes in the pond.

Frequency of Draining and Refilling of Pond Water?

I am sometimes asked how frequent the ponds should be drained and then refilled and the simple answer is that it depends on a lot of factors. The age of the fish, the size of the pond and the volume of water it holds and also the number of fishes in the pond.

Whichever scenario you’ve got going for you, you should know that when the fishes are smaller they emit less waste and it takes a longer time before the colour of the water starts showing that it is dirty, so at that early stages, one can drain and refill pond water every 3 to 5 days depending on all the factors I’ve already mentioned.

As they get towards the maturity stage, draining and refilling of water can be done 1 to 3 days intervals again depending on the factors I’ve already mentioned.

Some Useful Tips

You should always examine your catfish feeding habits, their growth smell of water and the colour of the water in the pond as well. When hungry, they rush for food when it is thrown inside the pond, if they’re not rushing for the food and it is taking them a long time to eat it, then you need to change that water.

You should avoid draining your pond to the extent that there is no water in the pond, especially for a long time. This could affect the health of the fish as they struggle to breathe without water. You should start letting in freshwater before the pond is empty so that it can help flush out the remaining bad water.  

You should avoid filling the water to the brim of the pond, Catfishes are known to be good jumpers and can jump out of the pond if the water is close to the edge of the pond.

You can check out our YouTube video above, it gives more visual exposure to the draining and refilling of water in a catfish pond.

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