FISH BIOENERGETICS AND GROWTH IN AQUACULTURE PONDS .3. EFFECTS OF INTRASPECIFIC COMPETITION, STOCKING RATE, STOCKING SIZE AND FEEDING RATE ON FISH PRODUCTIVITY
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A simple pond environment model linking stocking rate, feeding rate and initial size distribution to environmental factors was developed. A population growth model was also developed from the individual fish model in a previous paper by including social interactions. The pond environment model was linked with the population growth model to develop a pond culture model which was parameterized with channel catfish data. The pond culture model predicted a growing season of 230 days from 10 April through 27 November for channel catfish raised in College Station, TX, U.S.A. Feeding fish as a function of appetite was superior to feeding them a fixed percentage of body weight. Under the regime of food competition among catfish, fish weights were more variable, yield was less, and the culture period to market size was longer compared with the regime of no food competition. Increasingly higher yields were produced by successively optimizing growth factors as they became limiting at certain levels of production. A factorial experiment involving stocking rate, initial size, and feeding rate was simulated using the pond culture model. The relationship of market yield to stocking rate, for any given feeding rate or initial size, was described by a downward opening parabola. Hence, an optimum stocking rate exists, where yield is maximum. 1985.
