Our Pond as a Sustainable Food Source-Growing Catfish

Our small lake/big pond has been stocked twice with young catfish. We feed them on a regular basis with floating catfish food. Managing our pond is an important part of a sustainable plan for living and eating on our homestead. We strive to grow as much of our own food as possible and endeavor to be self sufficient.
Ending Music by Knobtown Skiffle Band: "I'm Satisfied"

[@AidenCooney]

I am atarting..juat bought my lans w a small pond to start my homestead. Thank you

[@johndouglas7787]

My Uncle had a sand pit on his farm in Nebraska and as a city boy from Southern California I would spend 2 weeks of our family vacation every year fishing that pond and helping on the farm. That was back in the mid 1960's. As I became an adult, got married, and had a family of my own vacations there were not very often. I am now 63. I am thankful to have had that experience. The 3 biggest fish I have caught in my life came from that small lake. 10 lb. Blue Catfish in 1971, 8 lb. Northern Pike in 1989, and a 16 lb. Big Mouth Buffalo in 2003 that earned me a Nebraska Master Angler award. The Big Mouth Buffalo was reproduced from measurements I took by my Taxidermist and proudly hangs on my office wall and the Blue Catfish was brought back to California in a dry ice container where my dad made a mold in sand and cast a beautiful replica in plaster. I carried that ceramic fish with me 40 years before I finally had my Taxidermist paint it going by an old faded photo I had. They are 2 of my most treasured possessions. Keeps my memories of that magical time alive. Sorry this is so long. I really enjoy your videos.

[@TheNealsHomestead]

It's a wonderful story! Thank you for sharing it with us.

[@KP-gc7fd]

ok boomer

[@fredflintstone1547]

After having aquariums I learned that it takes A LOT of various vegetation to support the lives of very few fish. It would be wise to stock forage fish that are less aggressive than your classic bluegill and other types of creatures, amphibians, crustaceans, etc... I've always wanted to have my own little, deep pond with a variety of plants and forage fish and creatures where catfish were the apex predator

[@craiggodbey8561]

Love catfish, we raised catfish when I was growing up and I'm living on my home place where I was raised and I'm getting my pond in shape, it's about a quarter acre. I have a tip for freezing your catfish.... place in freezer bags or containers and cover the fish with water, then sprinkle some salt on the top....be sure to get all the air out while sealing. Your fish can stay in the deep freezer for several years, we always set out a container to thaw a couple days in the fridge. I like your video and keep on keeping on.

[@donnaweeks1311]

Great planning! Thanks for all the info.

[@TheNealsHomestead]

Thank you, Donna!

[@snackymcgoo1539]

Interesting and educational, thanks.

[@ritcheymt]

Thanks for sharing, Mrs. Neal, particularly the graphic at 4:23 showing feed conversion of fish vs. chickens, pigs and cattle. That was a real eye opener. I looked up rabbits too because I'm experimenting with Rex rabbits right now, and found their feed conversion is about 20% higher than pigs. This is very useful information.

[@WendyK656]

Good information! Good video Janette and Old Guy, Love this!

[@TheNealsHomestead]

Thank you, Wendy!

[@nutran5534]

thank you this is so helpful might buy a land with very large pond that’s been neglected

[@gaiterat6187]

Great video

[@WildcatHollowFarm]

Great video! Thank you.

[@TheNealsHomestead]

Thank you for coming around! I hope you enjoy your pond, too!

[@WildcatHollowFarm]

@@TheNealsHomestead I am having fun with it so far.

[@danwalsh3755]

Extremely helpful thank u!

[@TheNealsHomestead]

Glad it helped!

[@robertscott2210]

Looks like you have a nice system laid out there. I don't care for catfish myself though, much prefer bass or trout, even bluegills and sunny's. Keep up the great work. 🐟🖒

[@TheNealsHomestead]

Thank you, Robert. Our favorite is Bluegill.

[@JohnnyAnderson1]

Awesome video! thank you very much for taking the time to make it. I would like to do this on my much smaller pond in Tennessee, about 1/4 acre in size in and have ONLY catfish in it. Do you think it would be possible to allow the catfish to spawn if there were no other fish in the water to eat there eggs? Im really interested in having it completely self sustaining, if I have to stock it every year then it would kind of defeat the purpose for my particular planning. Seems hard to find any good information on this.

[@pamwagner5225]

Another great video 👍 I do eat larger catfish, I soak it in evaporated milk for an hour or so then dump it, bread it up and fry it. Thank you.

[@TheNealsHomestead]

Hmm. I'll have to try the evaporated milk idea. I've also heard of doing this with chicken before frying it. Thank you, Pam!

[@Evie170]

4:18: Kitty is ready for a fish meal. 🐱

[@bornfreeprepperthailand]

Nice and informative thank you. I think I'm going to modify my pond to keep catfish. At the moment I have only Tilapia so I don't want them to eat them.

[@TheNealsHomestead]

I hope it works for you. We are glad we have catfish in our pond.

[@linzwalker436]

Fishing off your porch for fresh dinner. Yes... Great idea for a good source. Catfish have omega-3s right? 🥪🎣

[@henryoranwa1362]

Where can one get trained or do short coutse on csrtfish farming in the usa. Thanks

[@diasporareturnee]

How big is the pond and what is it's water source rain only? thinking of doing a 1 acre pond and diving into food independence from it

[@TheNealsHomestead]

It might be a little over one acre. It is fed by rain water only. I hope you can make a pond for yourself.

[@felonebike9859]

What would you feed them if the shtf type of situation? Pretend feed wasn't available. Do you have some type of backup?

[@seanbailey8545]

Not sure how long the feed lasts but you could always stock up on a few 50lb bags.

[@tylerpoteet972]

In the process of buying my neighbor's mini farm, there's a small pond (approximately 200ft round), spring fed, never goes dry.... Was interested in stocking it with a variety of species of fish--especially crappie (love crappie)--for the same reason: food supply and entertainment (especially when shtf). Any advice?

[@TheNealsHomestead]

I love crappie, too. It's generally advised against stocking a small body of water with crappie. They overpopulate to easily.

[@marcusmorris2597]

what about catfish, I also have a springfed pond about four feet deep that never dries?

[@TandTfishpro]

Well hey the World is falling apart as we speak great choice

[@sumerbc7409]

Stock blue catfish instead of little channels cause they get bigger faster for more meat.

[@TheNealsHomestead]

Our local supplier only has channel cats.

[@henryoranwa1362]

Where can I do trainning or short course on cartfish farming

[@TheNealsHomestead]

I don't know. The only thing that come to mind is searching for pertinent KZbin videos

[@estebanmiguel6019]

If you only stock catfish, will they reproduce? I just built a pond and am considering what to put in it.

[@TheNealsHomestead]

We were told that catfish almost never successfully reproduce in a pond situation. There are videos and other intent info that tell about placing clay tubes in your pond where the catfish can lay their eggs and tend them. We didn't do anything like that.

[@estebanmiguel6019]

@@TheNealsHomestead Thanks. Funny though, I live near a large Arkansas reservoir which has a flat bottom, yet it’s full of catfish which reproduce

[@TheNealsHomestead]

Does it have flowing water?

[@estebanmiguel6019]

@@TheNealsHomestead No.

[@richiehembree9618]

If I get pinned I will post this every where ...

[@josephmclennan1229]

Can you just feed them dog food?

[@TheNealsHomestead]

We have. The fish food is similar to dog food

[@curtisdrakesr4900]

Catfish not quite as tasty as those bluegills.

[@TheNealsHomestead]

Bluegills are the best! But I'm really enjoying the catfish out of our pond.

[@brodycampbell2990]

Not even close to what ingredients are in the higher end dog foods. Wheat, corn, “by products, etc are all fillers. Not good for dogs. Do some research on what are good ingredients before just feeding fish or dogs.

[@haroldhudzinski1352]

40 dollars + per bag in Mich