Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - how to get baby fry

is it possible to get the hatched eggs of a flathead catfish for stocking? since catfish mostly get eaten after they hatch due to swimming in big schools id like to try and get a few hundred or so baby flatheads and raise them till they get about 4 t 6 inches then turn them lose


curious how i could go about doing it it would be so easy if the females eggs would just hatch but it needs a male maybe i could catch like 4 flatheads put them in a small pond and maybe they will reproduce then could watch the surface for the fry and collect them that way? its a stretch but anyone have any other idea?

As J.Wetzel mentions,, what you are doing is likely illegal. Also there is very likely natural reproduction and needed habitat already occurring in your local stream fishing area. The balance of species and ecology in that stream determines the survival rate of fishes due to competition and space (habitat & food availability). So if more FH could survive they would survive in that stream. The nature of that stream and current fishery balance controls who survive in your favorite angling stream. You adding more juvenile FH would very likely not increase the natural numbers because of the natural ecology and fish balance that already occurs for flat heads. If more of them could survive they would survive. That is how natural populations work in natural habitats such as a river or stream.

I suspect that current predation and proper habitat of young juvenile catfish controls the number of adults in your favorite stream. Now if you were doing this in a controlled pond then your success will be a lot higher because YOU control and MANAGE the numbers in the CONTROLLED pond habitat and rely less on all of nature's influences on that stream. Feeding the fish is one good example of this self control. If you could feed the FH in the stream, add to their habitat, and reduce their competition then your chance of success of your plan would be much better.

IMO your time is much better spent and more successful doing something else that has a better use of your time. Doing your plan would give you fish raising experience that could get you a job at a fish farm that deals with catfish.

First check with conservation department on legalities. If legal, my first approach would be to catch half dozen broodfish and stock them into a pond with a good forage base and no bass. Other option I can do in farming setting is to noodle taking egg mass rather than father. Then incubate egg mass and spread brood out before they start feeding on fish to control losses to cannibalism. A friend of mine that breeds flatheads says cannibalism is still the biggest bottleneck to raising them them. I assume release is into private waters, not waters of the state which in most locations is now illegal unless you are the state.