Tachysurus sinensis is a nocturnal catfish that lives in China, Laos, Vietnam, Korea, Japan, India, and Russia and has been introduced in Germany. It is cultured mostly in China, but also in Southeast Asia, and is consumed in China and other Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea. T. sinensis reaches marketable size at 2 years (first year as FINGERLINGS/JUVENILES, another 8 months of growth in the second year until market size). It is sometimes polycultured with Erythroculter ilishaeformis. Males grow 30% faster than females and reach bigger sizes, and so the farming industry tried to focus on creating a breed of only males. There are many types of breeding technologies available for this species: selective breeding of broodstock from natural waters, cross‐breeding with other species such as Pelteobagrus vachelli, cell and genetic engineering breeding (which generates an all-male breed), and molecular marker‐assisted breeding.

However, there is little information available about their breeding behaviour, other than males provide parental care, and so natural breeding is not performed in farms. There is no information about migratory patterns, which could mean that there are none, however, further research is needed to confirm this hypothesis. There is also a lack of information about their social behaviour, including aggregation and aggressiveness, about the situations that cause them stress, and about the level of malformations found in farms. Stunning and slaughtering protocols are not developed yet for T. sinensis, but there are available high-standard methods for other catfish species that could be studied in T. sinensis. In general, more research needs to be carried out in order to establish the biological needs of T. sinensis.

Many species traverse in a limited horizontal space (even if just for a certain period of time per year); the home range may be described as a species' understanding of its environment (i.e., its cognitive map) for the most important resources it needs access to.

What is the probability of providing the species' whole home range in captivity?

Likelihood

Potential

Certainty

Given the availability of resources (food, shelter) or the need to avoid predators, species spend their time within a certain depth range.

What is the probability of providing the species' whole depth range in captivity?

Likelihood

Potential

Certainty

Some species undergo seasonal changes of environments for different purposes (feeding, spawning, etc.), and to move there, they migrate for more or less extensive distances.

What is the probability of providing farming conditions that are compatible with the migrating or habitat-changing behaviour of the species?

Likelihood

Potential

Certainty

A species reproduces at a certain age, season, and sex ratio and possibly involving courtship rituals.

What is the probability of the species reproducing naturally in captivity without manipulation of these circumstances?

Likelihood

Potential

Certainty

Species differ in the way they co-exist with conspecifics or other species from being solitary to aggregating unstructured, casually roaming in shoals or closely coordinating in schools of varying densities.

What is the probability of providing farming conditions that are compatible with the aggregation behaviour of the species?

Likelihood

Potential

Certainty

There is a range of adverse reactions in species, spanning from being relatively indifferent towards others to defending valuable resources (e.g., food, territory, mates) to actively attacking opponents.

What is the probability of the species being non-aggressive and non-territorial in captivity?

Likelihood

Potential

Certainty

Depending on where in the water column the species lives, it differs in interacting with or relying on various substrates for feeding or covering purposes (e.g., plants, rocks and stones, sand and mud, turbidity).

What is the probability of providing the species' substrate and shelter needs in captivity?

Likelihood

Potential

Certainty

Farming involves subjecting the species to diverse procedures (e.g., handling, air exposure, short-term confinement, short-term crowding, transport), sudden parameter changes or repeated disturbances (e.g., husbandry, size-grading).

What is the probability of the species not being stressed?

Likelihood

Potential

Certainty

Deformities that – in contrast to diseases – are commonly irreversible may indicate sub-optimal rearing conditions (e.g., mechanical stress during hatching and rearing, environmental factors unless mentioned in crit. 3, aquatic pollutants, nutritional deficiencies) or a general incompatibility of the species with being farmed.

What is the probability of the species being malformed rarely?

Likelihood

Potential

Certainty

The cornerstone for a humane treatment is that slaughter a) immediately follows stunning (i.e., while the individual is unconscious), b) happens according to a clear and reproducible set of instructions verified under farming conditions, and c) avoids pain, suffering, and distress.

What is the probability of the species being slaughtered according to a humane slaughter protocol?

Likelihood

Potential

Certainty

Teletchea and Fontaine introduced 5 domestication levels illustrating how far species are from having their life cycle closed in captivity without wild input, how long they have been reared in captivity, and whether breeding programmes are in place.

What is the species’ domestication level?

DOMESTICATION LEVEL 225, level 5 being fully domesticated.

450-1,000 milliard wild-caught fishes end up being processed into fish meal and fish oil each year which contributes to overfishing and represents enormous suffering. There is a broad range of feeding types within species reared in captivity.

To what degree may fish meal and fish oil based on forage fish be replaced by non-forage fishery components (e.g., poultry blood meal) or sustainable sources (e.g., soybean cake)?

All age classes: WILD: omnivorous 21; insectivorous 10. FARM: fish meal and fish oil may be partly* replaced by sustainable sources 2627, but no data found yet for ADULTS and SPAWNERS.

^{partly = <51% – mostly = 51-99% – completely = 100%}

How much is this species farmed annually?

509,610 t/year 1990-2019 amounting to estimated 2,148,000,000-7,160,000,000 IND/year 1990-2019 28.