Corporate Fish Farm Nigeria

• FOREWORD
• CONSTRUCTING YOUR VATS
• Cost Implication of Construction
• CONSTRUCTING YOUR CONCRETE PONDS
• The Step By Step Procedure
• PREPARING TO FERTILIZE THE EGGS
• The 19 Items Required & Their Uses
• SPAWNING
• Preparing Your Vat
• Choosing Your Male & Female Brood Stock
• Injecting The Female Fish
• Getting The Male Sperm
• Stripping The Female Fish
• Mixing Sperm With Eggs & Spreading Inside The Vat
• MANAGEMENT OF FRIES
• Preventing Early Mortality
• Feeding The Fries
• Water Management: Key To Survival of Fries
• Spacing Out For Quick Growth
• Sorting: A Necessary Factor
• MANAGEMENT OF FINGERLINGS
• Sort More Thoroughly. Why?
• Take Them Out, Make Them Strong
• Bringing Anti-fungus & Bacterial Medicines To The Rescue
• Right Transfer Method
• MANAGEMENT OF JUVENILES
• Follow The Basic Principles
• Identifying Runts As Fingerlings So You Don’t Waste Money Raising Them To Juveniles
• Avoid The Careless Mistakes
• MANAGEMENT OF TABLE SIZES
• Still Follow The Basic Principles
• Why Some Farmers make Losses
• High Feeding Cost: Assuaging The Headache
• Spot Feeding: Best Serving Method For Local Feeds
• Changing From Foreign Feed To Local Feed
• Compounding A good Local Feed
• MARKETING
• Buy Manual and Get Free Listing @ www.fishfarmersmeetbuyers.com
• To Meet Big Fish Buyers,
• Fingerlings, Juveniles, Table-size & Brood-stock Producers Nationwide
• Advertise Your Product or Service Free of Charge on the Website
• CONCLUSION

FOREWORD

This Manual titled “The A-Z Of Catfish Farming With Low Start-Up Funds” is an A-Z Manual according to our experience at Corporate Fish Farm. The manual is not contesting its’ claims with anyone or any other book or “authority”. It is derived and limited only to what we have practised and found beneficial at our farm.
You may call us “laymen”; but we have “learnt to walk the ropes” from successful fish farmers and we are practising the methods learnt successfully and have decided to come to the aid of other “laymen” with a simple, easy-to-read manual, free from unnecessary hard-core scientific explanations but inclusive of all the essential things they need to know to run a profitable fish farm.
The principal author of this Manual did not study Fisheries in the University (he studied Economics 28 years ago), so we are no “professionals” to contest our claims with anyone. We also know that different fish farms adopt different methods in the management of their farms and a lot of these methods contradict each other – and yet each claims to be the right method because each has experienced good results from practising its’ method. For example, some believe that only deep green or brown eggs are the ideal signs to watch out for in order to identify a good female brood stock (i.e. matured female fishes that produces eggs used for hatching), others believe golden eggs are the ideal sign; some believe there is nothing wrong in fertilizing eggs of small-sized female fish, others believe in using only big-sized female fish to ensure the fries also grow big; some believe you can’t make profit feeding fishes to table-size with imported feeds only, others claim they make good profit using only imported feeds...etc.
At our farm, we practise a particular method which we have found to be successful and which we have painstakingly put together in this manual titled “The A-Z Of Catfish Farming With Low Start-Up Funds”. IT IS OUR OWN A-Z MANUAL BECAUSE IT INCLUDES EVERYTHING WE KNOW ABOUT CATFISH FARMING – NOT BECAUSE IT INCLUDES EVERYTHING THERE IS TO KNOW ABOUT CATFISH FARMING. We do not know everything about catfish farming but you are invited to visit our farm for the confirmation of our modest success.
In the manual, we endeavoured to cover topics from the beginning to the end of catfish farming i.e. from pond construction (indeed from vat construction which is a cheaper type of pond, using planks and water-proof tarpaulin) to the marketing of the fishes. We discussed on how to identify good male and female brood stock, how to inject the female fish, remove the male sperm and fertilize the female eggs with the male sperm, how to prevent early mortality with the fries, water management to ensure rapid growth, how to feed and manage fries, fingerlings, juveniles and table sizes; the basic principles you must follow to ensure good harvest and lots more. Every topic is discussed in simple English and technical terms explained in ways that carry along every educated person regardless of his or her discipline and every activity discussed is supported with relevant pictures. In one word, we prepared the manual in a way that laymen in fish farming will find interesting, easy to understand and most importantly...........easy to practise.
Finally we have a popular online Business directory www.FishFarmersMeetBuyers.com
for fish farmers, fish buyers, fish consultants, brood-stock, fingerlings and juvenile producers, dealers in fish feed/tools & machines used in fish farming etc where you can register your business FREE (to be visible online 24/7) and also access the contact details of other players in the industry, as part of the total package we offer you.

CONSTRUCTING YOUR VATS

Fish ponds built with planks and water-proof tarpaulin are called “Vats”. This type of pond is cheap to construct and ideal for unemployed people who may have access only to a temporary space. Vat sizes for fries, fingerlings, juveniles and table-sizes together with their cost implications are discussed here.
Where to source the materials from, what the carpenters and plumbers must take into consideration, the minimum number of ponds to start off with, the necessity for that number, relevant pictures and much more on vats are all discussed in this chapter.

CONSTRUCTING YOUR CONCRETE PONDS

As the name implies, concrete ponds are fish ponds built with brick blocks and concrete mix. In this chapter, we discussed the step-by-step procedure of constructing a concrete pond with relevant pictures and the assistance of an experienced brick-layer even if he has never constructed a concrete pond before.
We stated the various materials needed to construct 2 fish ponds with size 12ft long, 6ft wide and 5ft deep and we also discussed what to do to prevent your pond from leaking from the bottom or collapsing by the walls or edges – taking into consideration the heavy nature of water.

 PREPARING TO FERTILIZE THE EGGS

Spawning is the production of eggs in large quantities at the same time by a female fish. To ensure a hitch-free fertilization of the female eggs with the male sperm, 19 items are necessary to have ready at hand. These items are stated in this chapter to serve as a check-list for you when the need arises.

 SPAWNING

How to prepare your pond before the fish spawns, the factors you need to consider in choosing your male and female brood stock, where to inject the female fish, the factors you need to consider in getting your male sperm, the factors you also need to consider in stripping the eggs of the female fish and those which you must also consider to correctly mix the male sperm with the female eggs are all discussed in this chapter.

MANAGEMENT OF FRIES

 Early mortality is the greatest danger farmers’ face in the management of fries. This is because at this stage, immunity level of the fries is so low  making them quite susceptible to high mortality rate; thus how to prevent high mortality, manage their water to guarantee a “friendly” environment, feed them and take necessary steps to ensure quick growth…………..plus much more are all discussed in this chapter.  

MANAGEMENT OF FINGERLINGS

In this chapter we discussed the basic principles of cat-fish management which must be held golden for all growth stages of cat-fish. What sorting is, it’s significance with fingerlings management, how to proceed after the fries stage, what to do when common problems associated with fingerlings begins and how to take them successfully to the juvenile stage………are also discussed in this chapter.

 MANAGEMENT OF JUVENILES

A lot of farmers can’t really tell when their fishes have reached the juvenile stage; so they end up selling young adults as juveniles - thus short-changing themselves. The conventional size of juvenile is defined in this chapter together with the basic principles you still need to follow to ensure a good harvest at the end of the day. Without the right fingerlings, good juveniles cannot be raised, so the six important points to note in order to identify runts so you don’t buy them as fingerlings with the hope of raising them to juveniles is also discussed. Finally how to avoid some careless mistakes farmers make at this stage plus other tips for successful farming are also discussed.

 MANAGEMENT OF TABLE SIZES

 Quite a lot of farmers prefer to stock fingerlings or juveniles and then raise them to table sizes because it’s fairly simpler to do and there is ready market for table-size fishes. However in spite of its’ simplicity, first timers in the business still burn their fingers.....because they do not know the basic principles to follow. These basic principles are again enumerated in this chapter together with why first-timer famers make losses in catfish farming. The high cost of feeding the fishes and how to “assuage the headache” is also discussed. The formula (i.e. composition) of a good local feed, where to get the materials and the unique method of dispensing local feeds (contrary to how foreign feeds are served) are all discussed in this chapter. What to do to ensure a successful switch from foreign to local feed is also discussed. 

MARKETING

Without a ready market, no investment is worth it. That is why we have developed a popular online Business Directory www.FishFarmersMeetBuyers.com for fish farmers, fish buyers, fish consultants, brood-stock, fingerlings and juvenile producers, dealers in fish feed/tools & machines used in fish farming etc where you are advised to register your business (and later edit your profile if you wish) as part of the total package we offer you – so you can easily contact any of these people if need be and vice versa. 

CONCLUSION

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Start thinking of running your own business now so you don’t retire or get fired one day and start regretting that you did not seize the opportunity of buying this Manual when it came your way.Cat-fish farming can guarantee your financial independence through self employment. Fish farming “has just started” in Nigeria; be among the pioneers to tell the success story in the very near future.