A lot of fish farmers who are salary earners are struggling; with
their business bleeding seriously, but you won't know because the business
looks big and flamboyant. However, if you ask for their records
you'll see they are almost going bankrupt. As a matter of fact the fish farm
can't sustain itself and it will crash if they resign from their paid
employment. Some farms don't even see the need
to keep records so they don't even know if they are making
profit or loss.
Here are some reasons why farmers make loss or struggle to survive
the tilde of fish farming:
1. Seedlings:
Getting a bad seed has crashed your business right from start.
Getting a wrong breed will also cause problems for you in the long run. It is
important to know that clarias grows faster than hetero and hybrid and Dutch
clarias is better than clarias G and hybrid and hetero are stronger than
clarias and can withstand bad water conditions better than clarias based on
personal experience. However this is subjected to your market and customers preference.
If you need melange, clarias is better than hybrid. If you need big size hybrid
is better and if you have the market for hybrid breeders you can do hetero and
grow them into brood stock and sell. A two year old hetero might not be up to a
kg but it's a good brood.
2. Over
Estimating Your Profit:
This is one of the major problem of starters. I've heard it times
without number "how many fishes can my pond take," "how many
fishes can I rear in this size of pond to table size," but I'm here to
tell you today that success in fish farming won't start until you stop asking
those questions and start asking, "how many fishes can I rear to table
size with X amount," it makes no sense to stock 10, 000 seeds because your
tank can take them and then hang along the Line because you don't have money to
feed them. It is better to stock 1, 000 and feed them well than stock 3, 000
and starve them. The reason why people stock beyond their capacity is due to the
fact that they want to make profit. If I do 1, 000 fishes I make ₦150, 000
profit. If I do 10, 000 I'll make ₦1.5 million or even more but truth be told
it doesn't work that way. The fact that you spent 10 naira to breed a fish
doesn't mean you'll spend ₦20 to breed 2 fishes. Half the expenses isn't double
the profit too. So, the first question to ask is how much do I have? Second
question is how many fish can I raise with it?
3. Effective
Management:
I hear a lot of people saying I want to do fish farming but I don't
have time, if you don't have time just leave farming because trustworthy people
are very rare. They'll mismanage your enterprise and they'll leave.
Under management we have:
a. Water
Management: Ensure there is clean water and all parameters are okay to give
great growth. If you have the capacity to run flow through from a good water source,
you'll be amazed at the growth you'll get.
b. Feed Management: Do not cut
cost thereby underfeeding your fish. Feed with quality feed not expired feed.
Remember because the feed is expensive doesn't mean it is better. Don't buy
name, buy quality.
c. Space: Give your
fishes quality space. Catfish has the capability to hibernate growth if they
sense the space won’t take them...and once they activate that hibernation
they'll only eat to survive not to grow. Make sure your pond is at least 3 feet
water level. Also catfish prefer a rectangular pond to a circular or square
pond... The length enables them to have space to swim to and fro giving them
great growth and also make sure not to overstock the pond, make sure a fish has
at least 15 to 20 litres of water for optimum growth and lower FCR. Remember it
is better to rear 1, 000 fish and get an average of 3kg than to rear 3, 000
fishes and have an average of 1kg size within the same period of time.
- Faustina Ezinne
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