Milt of the catfish was stripped into immobilizing solution containing 175 mM NaCl and 30 mM Tris at pH 7.8 and was successfully cryopreserved after a stepwise freezing procedure. After stepwise thawing, motility of spermatozoa was slightly lower than that of fresh sperm. Batches of 40-80 eggs were fertilized with cryopreserved spermatozoa, after thawing and activation in solution containing 50 mM NaCl, 20 mM Tris and HCl at pH 7.8; this resulted in 62.2% fertilization success, compared to 70.6 % with fresh sperm.