Chapter 1:
■ Health Benefits of The African Catfish:
Many people enjoy the flavor of catfish, but it offers a variety of health benefits as well. Including the nutritious fish in your diet helps you meet your protein needs and boosts your intake of vitamins and healthy fats and fatty acids. Consider catfish regularly in your meal planning.
♥ Low in Calories and Fat: A 85g serving of catfish introduces 122 calories and 6.1 g of fat into your diet. The low amount of calories in this fish make it a popular choice for a healthy meal plan – women generally require approximately 300 to 500 calories per meal, and men need around 400 to 600 calories, so it fits in well and allows you to serve several healthy side dishes with it. The fat content is also relatively low, and little of it is saturated fat -- 2 g. Avoid consuming more than 16 to 22 g of saturated fat per day; too much in your diet can trigger health problems.
♥ Contains Healthy Fatty Acids: Eating catfish is a tasty way to boost your intake of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. One serving of this fish provides 220 mg of omega-3 fatty acids and 875 mg of omega-6. You will not find federal guidelines on the consumption of these fatty acids, although the American Heart Association suggests including fish in your diet several times each week to increase the amount of fatty acids you eat. Both of these nutrients play a part in heart and cognitive health.
♥ Provides Complete Protein: The 15.6 g of protein in a serving of catfish provides you with all of the amino acids your body needs. This high-quality, complete protein helps your body build lean muscle mass, and it also helps improve the effectiveness of your immune function. You may also rely on protein to provide energy, especially if your body has used all of the carbohydrates you have eaten for fuel.
♥ Source of Vitamin B-12: Consume a serving of catfish, and you take in 40 percent of the daily recommended intake of vitamin B-12. As a B vitamin, the vitamin B-12 in catfish is critical to aiding your body in the breakdown of the foods you eat into usable energy, but this vitamin has other functions as well. Without enough vitamin B-12 in your diet, your nerve function suffers, and you might become lethargic.
♥ Low in Mercury: Almost all fish contains mercury, a contaminant that may impact your nervous system, but you may safely eat catfish unless the waters in which it is caught are particularly high in mercury. The Environmental Protection Agency lists catfish as one of the mostly commonly consumed, low-mercury fish. Despite this, limiting your consumption of fish to 12 oz. per week is recommended to decrease your exposure. This is especially important if you are pregnant, since high levels of mercury may harm your fetus.
♥♥ Guide: livestrong.com
■ Characteristics of the African catfish (Clarias gariepinus):
The rearing of the African sharptooth catfish in Africa started in the early 1970s in Central and Western Africa, as it was realized to be a very suitable species for aquaculture, as:
♥ It grows fast and feeds on a large variety of agriculture byproducts.
♥ It is hardy and tolerates adverse water quality conditions
It can be raised in high densities, resulting in high net yields (6–16 t/ha/year).
♥ In most countries, it fetches a higher price than tilapia , as it can be sold live at the market.
♥ It matures and relatively easily reproduces in captivity
It tolerates difficult conditions in aquaculture.
♥♥ Guide: Wikipedia.
Chapter 2:
■ Frequently Asked Questions and Answers on Fish Farming in Nigeria:
♥ What is the cost of the pond?
♡ This is totally dependent on the cost of materials, size, labour, site location, fish seeds, consultancy fee, e.t.c.
♥ How much will the 1000pcs fish cost?
♡ Fingerlings is usually sold at 8-10naira, juveniles 17-20naira. For 1000 juveniles, the cost is around 17000 to 20000naira depending on the size. Note that fingerlings are still very fragile and its management requires greater skill and experience. It is advisable for beginners to try with juvenile fish.
♥ How long does it take for the fish to grow to marketable size?
♡ It depends on the duration of the program, and the target market. Some farmers rear fish for 3months and attained an average weight of 500g, some also reared for 6months and attained the weight of 500g - 1kg. So, it depends on interest and choice of the target market, it is advisable to embark on a thorough market survey to determined the specific demand of fish in weight and size before going into production.
♥ How much will it cost to feed 1000fish till they are ready for sale?
♡ Assuming a bag of coppens feed cost N6000 (2mm), and a bag of local feed cost N3500 (4mm). 6bags of coppens cost N36000 and 18bags of local feed cost N63000.
The total amount is N99000, plus transportation and miscellaneus lets say N10000 then the cost of feeding 1000fish to attained an average weight of 500 to 800g is N109000.
Note that this calculation goes in line with current price of feed and fish in the market, it is adviceable to always carried out a thorough market survey on feed and final product of fish before going into production.
♥ How much will one catfish be sold?
♡ The catfish per piece in relation to sizes and weight is sold at the rate at which it was priced at the current market and sales outlet. Prospective catfish farmers should ensure to go on a thorough market survey to know the trends in price change in the market over the past 3months.
♥ What is the difference between fingerlings and juveniles?
♡ Fingerlings are around 4-5weeks old and are about 0.5 to 1g. Juveniles are around 7-9weeks old, and are about 5 to 10g.
Some miscreants may sell over age runts as fish seeds, standard seeds are mostly shiny black, and very active in swimming. Always buy quality seeds from a reputable and trustworthy hatcheries.
♥ Will those fish grow well in a brick constructed form?
♡ Catfish virtually does well in all rearing enclosures, they performed well in concrete tanks provided they are well cured prior to stocking.
♥ If the temperature is too higher, how can i protect water from being too hot for my fish?
♡ Fish lives permanently in water, and they are cold blooded animal. Water can never be too hot for catfish while in water except in some abnormal situation or occurrences.
♥ Are trully fish cannibalistic in nature and when can I start sorting my fish?
♡ Catfish are naturally cannibalistic, it is an instinct that cannot be eradicated but can be reduced to a minimal level. Besides, they feed hierarchically which resulted in irregular growth among the fishes.
The bigger and stronger fish eats first, while the smaller fish feeds on the remnants. To avoid these, monthly sorting should carried be out on a routine basis.
♥ How do I feed my fish, how do I know they are satisfied or not?
♡ This is the most important question for a newbie in catfish farming. Good feeding management plays a vital role to a successful catfish venture. I remember sometime around 2016, I supplied 3000 fingerlings to a farm at Ofada town on Friday.
I monitored the fish, and went back to school at Abeokuta on Sunday. On Tuesday, I started recieving ceaseles calls that the fish I left in good condition are dieing. I wonder what could have happened, albeit I was very busy at Abeokuta. I reported to the farm on Thursday, but to my surprise 2000 fish are already gone.
As a professional, and at first sight of the water I noticed there were oxygen depletion which leads to a secondary infections as a result of poor feeding.
After doing all could be done, I medicated the fish and within 2hours the whole system was brought back to normal.
How do you feed fish?
There are two major methods which are Spot and Broadcasting Feeding. Broadcast feeding is strictly to largescale farmers who have plots or hectares of ponds and thousands of fish to feed at a time.
To small scale farmers, the only method is Spot feeding. This will let you know wether your fish are eating or not, it will let you know the health status of your fish and will also ensure maximal feeding among the various sizes.
♥ How do I test the pH of my water, and how do I raise it if it is too low?
♡ A pH meter is an instrument used to measure acidity or alkalinity of the pond or tank water. pH is the unit of measure that describes the degree of acidity or alkalinity. It is measured on a scale of 0 to 14.
1-6Acidic, 7 Neutral, 8-14 Alkaline. The best range for a farmed catfish is 5-8, if it is too low water should be pumped and left for few hours in sun, or addition of alkaline element will do.
♥ Do fishes use drugs should incase they fall sick?
♡ Fish use drugs just like any other animal, but the method is slightly different. Catfish are freshwater fish, and freshwater fishes does not drink water because of osmo-regulation.
Drugs are ingested through their body surface, by the addition of it through the following methods - Dip, Bash and Flush Method.
♥ How many adult fish can my pond rear?
♡ Doing your assignment well on stocking density will help know how many fish your pond can rear at a time. Stocking densities varies with rearing enclosures - in earthen ponds it is usually low, compared to artifially made enclosures.
♥ What materials can I used to rear fish, aside from earthen ponds?
♡ There are various types of materials such as concrete tanks, plastic tanks, locally and imported vats, fibre tanks, e.t.c. This will be discussed fully in the next episodes.
♥ How can I evaluate if oxygen in water is reduced?
♡ If oxygen is reduced their will be bubbles all over the water, you will also see the fish hanging all over the surface of the water (discomforts). If you noticed and the water is still much clearer, try to aerate the water using a beating or striking object. Do this for some time, oxygen will be restored.
In an instance, when you noticed discomforts and the water is too greenish or brown just changed the water immediately.
♥ Is it possible to not to have an earthen pond in an area that is swampy or waterlogged?
♡ Yes, very possible but the soil must be able to hold water or you create an embarkment pond. Also, there must be unlimited availability of water from a dependable source such as borehole, nearby flowing river or spring.
♥ Pls what is this pipe i often see popping out of the fish tanks meant for?
♡ Lol... The pipes serves as verves to water outlet, when removed water flushes out.
♥ When do I switch to the different mm of feeds?
♡ You switched according to the mouth gapes at different stages of production. Fingerlings eats 0.5 to 1mm, Juveniles 2mm, Jumbos 2-3.5mm, Sub-adult to table size 4mm and above.
Chapter 3:
■ Job Opportunities in Catfish Farming:
The underlisted are the various potentials of catfish farming.
♥ Hatchery Services (Breed and sale)
♡ Fingerlings
♡ Juveniles
♡ Broodstocks
♥ Table-Size Production
♡ Melunch
(250 to 300grams)
♡ Table-size (500 to 1kg).
♥ Fish Processing Services
♡ Buy and smoked (catfish)
♡ Pepper soup making
♡ Fish grilling at bars.
♥ Tank/Pond Construction:
♡ Tank construction and repair
♡ Earthen pond construction and repair.
♡ Vats construction and repair.
These will be discussed fully in the next episode.
Continue same time nextweek!!!
Thanks for reading... Pls visit our blog for more quality info on Catfish Farming.
farmerswealth.blogspot.com
Like our page Farmers Wealth
Instag: @farmerswealthng
1 comment:
Nice write up
Post a Comment