CATFISH FARMING

 Catfish Farming:

This is the most popular aquaculture business in Nigeria, because of the popularity of the breed of fishes grown. Catfishes are the most common fishery products used in African meals at various households, restaurants, events, hotels, and a lot more. Their ease of cultivation and demand makes most aquaculture farmers to focus on growing catfishes instead of other breeds.

6 Things You Need To Know Before Starting A Fish Farm

 

1     1.  Location of the Fish Farm:

When selecting the location for your fish farm, you need to consider its proximity from the nearest town, the security in the vicinity, the presence or absence of fish prey, and more.

Ensure the environment for growing your fish farm is ideal for your business to thrive.

A poor fish farm location can impact negatively on the farm’s full potential for growth. Due to its difficult inaccessibility to a city area, sales may slow down drastically for the farm owner. Therefore your fish farm must not far to the market.

     2. Land Mass:

You need to consider the size of the land you intend to use to grow your fish farming business. Usually, a plot of land or two is great to start out a fish farming business. But where you don’t have the luxury of land space, you can start out in your backyard, and grow from there.

Acquiring the land mass to set up your fish farm should be strategically done. You need to get an affordable property in a not-so rural area, but still close to a major city. This way, you can purchase the lands a lot cheaper than you would have in a city, and also have the luxury of purchasing as many affordable plots of lands as possible.

 3. Pond Planning, Size, Design, Construction, and Consideration:

You need to determine the type of pond that you need constructed. For a levee-type pond, a flat area that has access to a well could be used. But for a watershed pond, steeper areas near a natural source of water are to be used.

It’s usually best to contact the services of an aquaculture consultant. They we get you the full requirements, examine your goals, determine what you truly need, and ensure the construction work and general requirements of the fish ponds are properly met. A poor pond planning and design

fish farm can lead to leakages, disorganization, and several other factors that eventually pile up unwanted expenses.

    4. Source of Water Supply:

The source of water supply to the fish ponds is important to proper development and maturity of your fish farm for commercial use. It is important to have a proper borehole system built in the vicinity to ensure a reliable source of water supply. This gets even more crucial with the fact that the water would have to be changed on a regular interval, and a  proper adequate water supply to ensure the survival of these fishes,You must know that rain water and chemically treated water are totally out of the fish farming process. They are unsafe for the fishes, and cannot be recommended for standard use. Get a steady flow of fresh water, so your pond can thrive. Adequate water supply is the lifeblood of fish farm and lack of it may result to disaster because water need to be changed on regular interval. Naturally available sources of water such as borehole and river water are the most suitable. 

   5. Storage System:

How the fishes feed and other items are stored, has to be considered and set up right from the onset. Ensure the feeds are stored in a cool and dry place. Also ensure they are not exposed to little farm animals that could make holes in the bags and feed on them.

6. A Good Knowledge Of Running The Farm:

This is probably the most important thing to know. You must have a sound knowledge of how to run a fish farm business. Attend a lecture or a seminar on fish farm, so you can learn a lot more about the rudiments of fish farming. Equipped with this knowledge, you had gain valuable information about fish farming, and everything it takes to turn out successful. Not the kind of training you get from one day seminars; you need to get attached to a fish farm for proper apprenticeship. For you to properly learn this trade, you need at least two months training on this. Remember that your investment is at stake, trial and error is not good in business except you have unlimited funds to experiment with.

You must have a sound knowledge of how to run fish farming business. Attend a lecture or a seminar on fish farming, so you can learn a lot more about the rudiments of fish farming. Equipped with this knowledge, and everything it takes to turn out successful.

7. The Risks And Challenges Of Fish Farming

You have to feed your fishes once or twice a day. Feeding carries the bulk of the operating cost. Catfishes in hatcheries are to be fed meals that are properly ground, or feeds that that are flour-like, and contain 45 to 50 percent of protein. Small floating pellets (about 1/8 inch diameter) containing about 35 percent of protein should be fed to larger fingerlings. Floating feed of approximately 5/32 – 3/16 inch in diameter containing about 28 to 32 percent of protein should be fed to advanced fingerlings (which are about 5 to 6 inches long). Proper feeding intervals can get the fishes to weigh as much as 1.5kg after five months of adequate care.

Feeding the catfishes is generally about 60% of your entire farm costs. Most of these catfish feeds are imported into Nigeria and cost an average of 5,500 Naira per bag 15kg bag. The ways the meals are fed to catfishes have to be carefully executed because 700 two months old fishes can finish a 15kg feed bag in just 10 days! This high cost of catfish feed can greatly affect your profitability.

Another alternative is to source locally made fish feeds. These usually cost about 3,500 Naira per 15kg bag. With fewer individuals producing locally made catfish feed, finding and gaining access to these can pose a big challenge.

You have to feed your fishes in such a way that you don’t pollute the water. This can be achieved by practicing spot fishing. You shouldn’t also change the water immediately after feeding, to avoid the fishes vomiting their meals. And you should constantly apply supplements like Livestovit and Aquapro to protect your fishes from diseases.

As your fishes grow, you need to constantly sort them to avoid larger fishes feeding on the smaller ones. This is best done by putting fishes of the same size inside a pond together to reduce their cannibalistic instincts. This doesn’t just ensure a bulk survival, but also ensures adequate growth and development because; they can equally compete for food, water, and space.

Change the pond’s water on a regular basis to improve the fishes longevity, and reduce the chances of diseases springing up on your fish farm. Clean water should be used to replace the existing water every 2 to 3 days. Without proper water management, most of your fishes wouldn’t live to maturity.

With the cost of catfishes at about 500 Naira per kilogram in Lagos, 650 Naira per kilogram in Makurdi, and 750 Naira per kilogram in Abuja, Nigeria, you need to do a really good market feasibility study to understand the type of buyers that’d most likely patronize your own fish farm. 

Ideally, this should be the very first thing you do before even starting a fish farm, but assuming you’ve already done this, contact potentially identified buyers, and offer to sell your fishes to them on more favorable terms. Make sure your buyers are aware of your fishery products about 2 months before they’re fully grown, to increase your chances of selling out most of your merchandise quickly.

The ultimate goal of every fish farmer is to grow their fishes to achieve a body weight of 1kg within the shortest possible time. If this is managed and done right, the fishes can achieve this size in four to six months.

8.Benefits Of Fish Farming

1. Fishery products is by far the most popular animal products in the market, constituting more than 60% of meat produce in the Nigerian market.
2. Fish is one of the highest sources of protein. Fish is a low-fat high quality protein that is filled with omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins such as D and B2 (riboflavin). Fish is also very rich in calcium and phosphorus and is equally a great source of minerals, such as iron, zinc, iodine, magnesium, and potassium.
3. Fish sells faster than any other animal products in the market and is relatively cheaper than meats, making it the number one choice when it comes to affordability.
4. Fish grows very fast as practices in fish farming makes it possible for farmers to increase the fastness of their fish growth by giving them certain feeds, ensuring that you harvest and sell within short period of time.
5. Fish is the biggest source of Omega-3 fatty acids which is extremely beneficial to human heart; Omega-3 helps to keep our heart and brain very healthy. Since human body doesn’t produce Omega-3 fatty acids, the only source through which we can get it is by what we eat, that is where fish comes to the rescue.
6 Fish farm does not cause any environmental hazard. Unlike poultry farming, you can setup fish farm anywhere, including residential areas. If you have a specious compound, you can easily setup a small fish farm within your backyard without any regulatory precaution.   

                                                                                                                                                                     In conclusion...

For one to get the most profit for a catfish harvest, it is necessary to determine buyer requirements when planning the season’s production. Consider what buyers demand in terms of weight, frequency, size and price. One can sell the season’s harvest to fish processors or directly to consumers. The later results to greater return to the farmer.

 

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