Fish Farming Business

Good day catfish farmer/intending farmerAm here to break down the catfish farming business, because a lot of story surround the business, some are making cool cash, while some are making big lose, some are jumping inthe business while some are backing out of thebusiness.What is catfish farmingA commercial facility consisting of tanks or ponds in which fish are raised for food.As we all know fish is the cheapest source of animal protein and because of its low cholesterol level it is medically recommended as a good food for both the young and elderly.Fish farming in Nigeria is currently a very lucrative business and this is boosted by the continuous rise in the demand for Catfish. It is an Untapped Goldmine waiting for those who can see.But before you venture in the business because of the profit you heard is on the business, have you consider the below point listed by arramyjay in one of his post,ManagementDo you already have suitable ponds or a pond site?Do you have most of the equipment ( pumps, etc.) needed?Do you have the necessary financial resources?Have you made an estimate of investmentcosts and annual cost and return?Have you estimated the impact of changesin fish prices and feed costs on projected income?Will the expected profit provide an adequatereturn for your labor, management and risk?Can you afford to forego income until you sellyour stock (usually 4-6 months after starting)?Can you afford to absorb occasional losses?Are you willing to devote the time and effort required?Do you know of an established market for your fish?Is there a market for your fish at the time of yearyou plan to sell them?Will you have harvesting and transport equipment,or do you have a suitable arrangementfor harvesting your fish?Do you have an alternative marketing strategy?Is the water quality suitable for your fish farming? This is very important.Is the pond area protected from flooding?Are the drains in existing ponds adequatefor rapid draining?Is there daily access to the ponds, regardless of weather,for feeding, treating, and harvesting?Is the pond bottom suitable for harvesting(smooth and stump free)?Will someone live close enough to the pond to allowfrequent observation and necessary management?If you have check all this, and you meet up, then you can proceed.Firstly, your pond, are you planning on a concrete pond or earthen (will advise this if its a permanent place), plastic pond, or tarpaulin pond, you have to consider this four major types of ponds, the ones you consider ok for you. The earthen pond are ponds dug close to the river or stream area, which u have to consider the topography of the land so that flood won't sweep away your fish, the concrete pond are the ones build with bricks, which u have to be caution when constructing it for it not to leak after construction, then d plastic tank, its a mobile tank, and its very durable but it need a slab for easy drainage of water, also the tarpaulin tank, some are constructed with wood, while some are constructed with metal, but there are some imported from china, they are very good and durable, but you have to be caution of small children not to take sharp object near it.Secondly your water, without good source of water, your fish won't grow well, or when your pH is not stable, the water pH for fish should be 6.5-8.5. While 7.0 is the best water pH. You will also have to consider the ammonia level ofwater, what really increase your water ammonia level is when the water is dirty and you don't change it on time, your pond is not located in a clean environment, this makes your die often.Thirdly your fish, you really need to be very caution of where you buy your fish from, buy fish from your close people or someone a friend recommend you to that he or she has a good stock, or better still you go to the person farm to see his or her facilities and see thefish you want to buy, because this is where most people get it wrong, they buy a runt fish and they keep feeding, and it wont grow, when you are buying fish, be sure of the person, because most farmer has sweet mouth to sell their product, they will be calling a 10weeks old fish for 5weeks, because it refuse to grow well in their farm, and when you buy from them it won't grow well. Please when you are buying a fish make sure they give u fingerlings ranging from 3gram to 4gram, and average length of 3cm to 4cm 4weeks plus and juvenile ranging from 5grams and average length of 5cm to 7cm 7weeks plus, but if you are just starting, I will advise you go for the juvenile.Fourthly feeding, feeding takes 70% of the totalinvestment of the business, when feeding your fish, you don't try to cut too much corner, because its like starving the fish and the fish won't grow as expected. All you can is get good source of protein to supplement your fishfeed, and reduce the cost of the fish food. Catfish eat 2% to 10% of their body weight, which meansif your fish weighs 10 grams requires a ration of 8% of its body weight,Amount of feed to be fed per day = 10 grams x 8/100= 0.8 grams feed per fish per day.If there are 1000 fish in the pond, then;= 0.8 g x 1000 fish= 800 g of feed should be given to your fishes per day. That's how you do the calculation on aweekly basis, so as to meet up with their feeding terms, and you can plan to feed them 2or 3 times in a day, but their must be a fix time for the feeding.Fifth you grade or sort your fish every 3 to 4weeks to avoid serious canibalism and also not to make the fish grow normally, because the big will oppress the small from feeding, also change their water every 3 days, but you can change your water everyday if you are using recirculatory system, or doing constant flow through.Six is marketing, who are the people that will buy my fish, we have the market women though they buy ridiculously, but they can clearyour pond in 1 or 2 visit, also hotels, but they don't really buy in large quantity or if they do, they come back maybe after 2 to 3months to buy more, but you can tap into the smoking part, it really boost the profit. Please don't be decieve by the popular saying that a fish sells for 600, presently in lagos and ogun state, the big size sells for 490 to 450, while d medium sells for 440 to 400,and the small sells for 380 to 320.Seven, I will ask myself, which month is the best for me to raise my fish to, is it 2months which I will sell a kg of fish for 320 called melunch, those EGUN at makoko of yaba comes to your farm and clear this set of fish orthe mallams at ibadan express road close to sat gurumaraji camp to clear your fish onces, they smoke this set of fish, and sells out to nigerians who doesn't eat the fresh ones, this fish weighs 200grams to 250grams at 2 months, and maybe like 4 to 5 makes a kilo that sells for 320 in the market the demand for this is very much and brings your money back in a very short time, the 4months set is where 50 to 60% of the fish weigh a kilo, and the rest weigh 800grams below. Then the 6months fishis where 80 to 90% of the fish is 1kg and above.Am analysing this because most people think by 4months their fish should be 2kg plus.The demand for fish according to the federal department of fisheries (FDF) was 2.1 million tons in 2007 while domestic production was 600,000 tons.This deficit was partly augmented by massive importation of fish of about 900,000 tons valued at over $800 million dollars. This is a big drawback on our scarce foreign exchange.This still left a huge deficit of 600,000 tons, hence the concerted effort to ensure self-sufficiency in fish production through aquaculture in Nigeria.The demand for Fish in the country is currently estimated at about 2.66 million tons annually, as against the local annual production of just 780,000 metric tons, giving a demand-supply gap of about 1.8 million tons. It is very clear that the demand is far higher than supply. What do you see as an entrepreneur? Businessopportunity!According to the Norwegian Ambassador to Nigeria, “Nigeria imports fish especially stock fish from Norway, worth over N109.2 billion Naira ($700million dollars) annually”.In a May 2012 report, the Chairman of Fisheries Society of Nigeria (FISON) Rivers State chapter, Dr. Awoteinm George revealed that “Nigeria produces just 40 percent of the total Fish consumed in the country”. In other words, a 60 percent local production market is waiting for entrepreneurs to fill.Aquaculture has been estimated to have the potential of producing 2.5 million tons, which if fully harnessed will almost satisfy the local demand for fish in the country. You could take opportunity of this high demand for fish and start a fish farm today.This could be that business that would make you a millionaire.The truth is agro-based businesses are very profitable because they meet man’s basic need-Food. You could start and operate your fish pond right in your backyard, compound or garage. What are you waiting for? Culture Fish and Grow Rich this yearThe above is very true, but please, before you venture into this business,make a lot of research apart from the ones written on this post, also avoid laptop catfish breeder, they breed their own fish from the laptop, they don't have a farm they practice the business, but they have sweet mouth to convince people in the business and at the long run, its a big loose.