How does the catfish spawn? Features of life activity

Most often, mentioning a fish called catfish, we mean a species of European (or common) catfish. However, it should be taken into account that in addition to it there are more than 100 species of fish that are members of the catfish family and have similar characteristics.

In fact, catfish are a large predatory fish, the main feature of which is the absence of scales. Most often it can be found in warm freshwater reservoirs. An adult can eat not only fish, but also frogs, rodents and poultry. If the catfish does not find a living prey, it can even eat carrion.

Basic data

The meat of the catfish is white, has a very rich taste, due to which this fish is not only mass-captured, but also specially grown in captivity. This is possible due to the fact that the catfish is an unpretentious fish that does not need extensive reservoirs, therefore, it allows to significantly save space in industrial breeding. It is noteworthy that in natural conditions the time of spawning of catfish (late May-June) is the only period when it is possible to catch several individuals in one place at once.

In winter, the catfish falls into hibernation and stops hunting. This allows you to move it to specially equipped ponds for the winter period to other fish, for which in normal times the catfish would be a very significant threat.

When does spawning begin?

The beginning of spawning of catfish directly depends on the climatic conditions in the area, which the fish chose as their main habitat. As soon as the water warms up to the required temperature (above 15 degrees), the catfish starts to throw the eggs.

For catfish throwing catfish fall into groups conventionally divided by age criteria. Due to this, larger fish during this period practically do not hunt their fellow humans. The sex of catfish at this time is quite easy to determine: males are slightly smaller than females in length and are much thinner than them. In addition, the males are knocked around the females and begin to hit the water with their tails, as a result of which, when the spawning spawn starts, loud enough slaps are heard in the water.

Methods of growing catfish in captivity

Due to its unpretentiousness, the catfish have become quite widespread as a fish that can be grown without difficulty in captivity, simply by creating suitable living conditions. There are four ways to raise catfish in captivity.

1) The cage method. Spawning of catfish takes place in specially equipped cages. After the eggs spawn from the eggs, they are planted from adults.

2) The pond method. The fish is placed in a limited pond space and is grown almost in natural conditions. In this case, all the young are caught and grown in factory conditions or spawning growth zones.

3) Basin method. Using it, catfish can be successfully grown even at home. At the same time, the sizes and types of pools do not play a special role and can vary significantly.

4) The feeding method. The only way in which the catfish is grown together with other fish species. At the same time, it is used not so much to obtain meat in the future, but rather as the main assistant to reduce the excessively large fish population in the reservoirs. In the event that this procedure is not required, the catfish should be selected in such a way that its dimensions do not exceed the size of other fish and it could not hunt them. However, it must be borne in mind that in such conditions, after the spawning of the catfish comes to an end and the fry appears from the eggs, they are in serious danger of being eaten, if not by catfish themselves, or by other fish that live in the pond.

Features of catching catfish

The catfish keeps an active way of life during the warm season. It is best to start fishing several hours before sunrise or sunset, when the fish is at the peak of its activity. Another burst of activity can be seen if the water is very turbid and the sun illuminates it badly. Then the catfish can peck throughout the day.

Also worth noting is the excessive gluttony of this fish after a warm summer shower. At this time the catfish can swim to the shore in the hope of detecting snails, worms or even rats that have been washed away by rain streams into the reservoir.

To ensure successful catfish catching, it is necessary to wait in close proximity to places in which he prefers to stop for rest. It would be superfluous to pay attention to the places of accumulation of small fish, on which the catfish will open the hunt, as soon as it rests. The chances of catching it there are increasing if there are deep places nearby.

Also, we should not ignore the places where the catfish spawns, where, beginning in May, several animals can be caught at a time, protecting their eggs from other aquatic predators.

Main habitats

Most often catfish can be found in close proximity to snags, deep pits, as well as under the branches of trees hanging over the water. However, it must be borne in mind that he prefers to feed in completely different places.

The lower the temperature of the water, the more soms will begin to transfer their activity to daytime. And with the onset of the first frosts, it swims to deeper places, in which it practically ceases to feed, preparing for winter hibernation.

Preparing catfish for reproduction

It is noteworthy that soms reach sexual maturity approximately in the third year of life. In this case, the sites for the spawning of the roe directly depend on the location of the catfish. Its spawning grounds can be found in different places.

• In the rivers. Here, the catfish chooses a place in the immediate vicinity of the pit in which he spends most of his time. Even if the river is shallow, he will not swim away from it and begin to spawn in the reeds nearest to the pit.
• In the lakes. The spawning here is less noticeable than on the rivers, since it can be carried out throughout the lake. Soma stray into flocks, surround females and begin to produce bursts of tails. The female, having chosen herself the most suitable partner, breaks caviar. In the event that there are more males, one female may have up to 4 partners, of which only the strongest will remain. After completing the selection, the female and the selected male together run the remaining applicants and deepen into a place suitable for throwing caviar. Further, using the pectoral fins, they dig a hole, the depth of which sometimes reaches 1 m, and throw caviar there. Despite the fact that the caviar itself is not too much, it is large enough and needs space.

• In a fishing pond. Here spawning begins only after the water warms up to 20 degrees. The site chosen for this purpose must necessarily be overgrown with grass, and the water must be either in a standing state or be weakly flowing.

If spawning is performed in artificially created conditions, females and males need to be divided before the start of spawning, otherwise they can significantly injure each other.

Spawning process

The female, preparing for spawning, creases under the grass in such a way that it begins to visually resemble a bird's nest. The period of spawning of catfish begins from the time of warming up to 20 degrees and is performed during several visits to spawning. At the same time the catfish produces a fairly dense layer of eggs.

On average, one female is able to reproduce about 20 thousand eggs. After the completion of this process, the female and the male are kept in close proximity during the day, protecting the eggs from the enemies. At the end of this period, the female swims away, and the male guards the eggs until the larvae immediately appear from it.

Fry

Small creases appear from the caviar no later than 10 days from the beginning of spawning. In this relatively long period, the main source of food for them are mud and algae. The catfish after spawning returns to its natural habitats and the previously chosen pits.

It is noteworthy that a large number of young fishes die, never reaching the size of an adult, from birds and adult catfishes that are constantly hunting. Only a small part of the fry grows to a year-old age and turns into adult fish.