I need serious advice. I have access to almost half plot of land belonging to my mum in Ikotun,lagos with a borehole and 3 fish ponds(block) though needs to be renovated. I equally have about N500K CASH.

What i need is if i should employ somebody with experience on catfish farming. I would like to go into fingerlings hatching and also the grow-out . There is free accomodation for the person employed. OR i should use the N500K to venture into another business since i observe catfish is no more lucrative. But, i am still employed in a medium-sized company.

Thanks for your advice.

What makes you think Catfish farming is no longer profitable

I know nothing of fish farming but  will throw in my "two cents worth" because you said "OR".Besides all knowledge is power.
N500K in biz terms is a relatively small amount. Having said that, there are many market men and women who have funded entire family endeavours with smaller amounts.
I make the "market" analogy because with ur capital of N500K you should be realistically be looking at small scale ventures. You should be aiming at a biz you can start up with N200K,N300K or N350K Max. Why? Simple = Running Costs & Overheads.Trust me on this one. "Start up" and "Running costs" are two very different animals!! You will often find your running costs will exceed initial outlay. What you don't want is to run out of cash just as you start!!

You say you have access to land.Whilst i don't necessarily advocate it,you may (if possible) use it to secure sizeable venture capital.This is of course a very high risk strategy.
You may also use the land in another way as you automatically have a free storage point for goods,why don't you look at contracting in any type of distributorship where storage might be useful. Good luck.

Krucifax:

I know nothing of fish farming but  will throw in my "two cents worth" because you said "OR".Besides all knowledge is power.
N500K in biz terms is a relatively small amount. Having said that, there are many market men and women who have funded entire family endeavours with smaller amounts.
I make the "market" analogy because with your capital of N500K you should be realistically be looking at small scale ventures. You should be aiming at a biz you can start up with N200K,N300K or N350K Max. Why? Simple = Running Costs & Overheads.Trust me on this one. "Start up" and "Running costs" are two very different animals!! You will often find your running costs will exceed initial outlay. What you don't want is to run out of cash just as you start!!

You say you have access to land.Whilst i don't necessarily advocate it,you may (if possible) use it to secure sizeable venture capital.This is of course a very high risk strategy.
You may also use the land in another way as you automatically have a free storage point for goods,why don't you look at contracting in any type of distributorship where storage might be useful. Good luck.

@ Krucifax
I really appreciate ur sincere advice. The land does not have certificate yet , so using it to secure additional fund is out of it. I just feel the land, borehole water, the three ponds and the N500K should be able to start something.

Will appreciate more advice and suggestions.

Guy wat u av is an asset.we av fishpond in our house just look for agric institute around u,like nihort and oda agric institute seek for info there.we r rearing fishes too and exporting smoked fishes.safe.

what makes you think that catfish i s no longer profitable?do you know that the catfish available in Nigeria is not yet sufficient?there are are various aspects to catfish farming.,production and sales also smoking.People will come from any part of the country to buy from you.in my farm we no longer sell the grown outs but smoke them n package them for better profits.At 3 months we smoke them and seal them for consumption,people come from parts of Nigeria to buy from us.Also we are a major distributor of catfish nutrition and feed additives from India that can give your fish a growth of about 1kg in 4 months.call me on 08181290616

Catfish farming really doesn't seem to be as easy as a lot of so called "fish experts" are making it out to be. Am currently thinking of setting up a fish farm so i decided to do a trial run at the back of my house first. Got to fibre glass tanks, fixed the plumbing, stocked the juveniles, then the challenges started showing up!
-Catfish are territorial and damn aggressive! one of the major problems i have to date is mortality, no matter how much i feed them they keep on eating and attacking each other! The tank was recommended to grow to table size 500 catfish, i currently have just 400 2month old juveniles in each and they are still killing each other
-At my current calculation the return on investment over 5 months wont really be worth it. you'll probably get between 10-15% ROI; but unfortunately a lot of your cash would have gone into fixed tied down assets
-Middle men make all the money in this business! Except youre ready to create your own marketing channel you're at the mercy of middle men for the sales of your grown stock.

Thank God i ran this experiment first! Do your study first before you dive in

Thanks digi for that info. I'll be glad if an expert can tell us what digi could have done differently. I know some expert talk about sorting, that is separating the bigger and the smaller ones.

Pls thread carefully with catfish, my wife invested about N1m in it and lost everything. in fact, experts advice against it. i dont know why?

Catfish farming like any other business can be profitable or unprofitable, but it will be profitable if all factors are constant. If you feed your fish well and the space is wide enough, they will hardly cannibalize, in any case there are no "so called fish experts" we have professors, doctors and other experts in fisheries it will be unfair to refer to them as "so called", we have many fish farms thriving in the country, since its not your line, be humble to call an expert as people also call you as an expert in your field and you will see changes, or you dont want to pay consultancy?

I was quite busy during the weekend, so could log on. I saw a lot of useful and reasonable responses from everybody. I really appreciate and thank all those that have contributed.

I must confess that i have learnt to be careful and do my feasibility study before going into the business. I hope my final decision will be right. I want the one that will reduce my risk to the minimum. Some of the confessions here are shocking like the one below. Anyway, thanks to all contributors to my request.

jjjkkkooo:

Pls thread carefully with catfish, my wife invested about N1m in it and lost everything. in fact, experts advice against it. i dont know why?

shanda:

Thanks digi for that info. I'll be glad if an expert can tell us what digi could have done differently. I know some expert talk about sorting, that is separating the bigger and the smaller ones.

Its not really about sorting, cause I've done that. The fact simply is catfish naturally are aggressive, and you will probably have a mortality rate of between 10-20% in each batch you stock.

jjjkkkooo:

Pls thread carefully with catfish, my wife invested about N1m in it and lost everything. in fact, experts advice against it. i dont know why?

Am really sorry to hear that. Catfish farming is not a "kick & start" business like a lot of self proclaimed fish experts are making it out to be. It requires a lot of Attention, Patience, Consistency. Its not a business that you set up and go do something else (at least at startup), it needs your continued attention.

What i find bad about it is the ROI for the time , energy and capital tied down; for me it just aint worth it!

My advice if you must try it out, start small.

TOKUGAWA:

what makes you think that catfish i s no longer profitable?do you know that the catfish available in Nigeria is not yet sufficient?there are are various aspects to catfish farming.,production and sales also smoking.People will come from any part of the country to buy from you.in my farm we no longer sell the grown outs but smoke them n package them for better profits.At 3 months we smoke them and seal them for consumption,people come from parts of Nigeria to buy from us.Also we are a major distributor of catfish nutrition and feed additives from India that can give your fish a growth of about 1kg in 4 months.call me on 08181290616

how do you smoke catfish. and do you feed them with loacal feeds?

jjjkkkooo:

Pls thread carefully with catfish, my wife invested about N1m in it and lost everything. in fact, experts advice against it. i dont know why?

Stop scaring people with some unusual situation of yours.
How can you lose all your investment of 1m? even if all the fish died, does it means the pond and other facilities also crashed at the same time? I hate pessimism and some unecessary exageration.
Catfish is one of the strongest fish breed I've ever seen in my life. It is almose impossible for you to lose all your fishes except they are poisoned or if you are carelessly careless. Most especially with the water. Even if you do not feed them for 3days, they will still survive, only that the smaller ones will be eaten by big ones.
However, it is very very important to have fundamental knowledge about any kind of business you want to invest such amount of money into. Also, be involved in it by yourself.
Women are not the best in this kind of business. They are fragile and when your staff realises that you depend on them for everything, they will take you for granted. That doesn't mean I'm putting them off. I'm only talking based on experience.
Catfish business is a very good and lucrative business. it is fun, that's the way I see it and I enjoy it.

@fm7070

Please can you give a brief me business scenario how one can make profit from catfish business? if possible from your personal experience. Thanks.

Its really funny the comments made by some people on this page. I know a lot of women who are into fish farming and are doing great, i am an example, started in february this year and even as much as the profit is low in the first year of production, its a business that can grow relatively well and bring much profit if only you are willing to be patient and do all things right.
I sell both fresh and smoked and in a couple of months would launch into hatching.
I employed just one person( hausa guy) and put him through all he needed to know
I also put record keeping into focus, he records mortality, number of feed eaten(bags) and i crosscheck. Though i do a 9-5 job , i still monitor my business. I even do sorting myself.
So its a matter of your motive for going into it, is it only for money making or to improve the industry while making your money?
A lot of people once they hear there is money in it to be made just dabble into it without first doing their homework, hence the high rate of failure experienced.

fm7070:

Stop scaring people with some unusual situation of yours.
How can you lose all your investment of 1m? even if all the fish died, does it means the pond and other facilities also crashed at the same time? I hate pessimism and some unecessary exageration.
Catfish is one of the strongest fish breed I've ever seen in my life. It is almose impossible for you to lose all your fishes except they are poisoned or if you are carelessly careless. Most especially with the water. Even if you do not feed them for 3days, they will still survive, only that the smaller ones will be eaten by big ones.
However, it is very very important to have fundamental knowledge about any kind of business you want to invest such amount of money into. Also, be involved in it by yourself.
Women are not the best in this kind of business. They are fragile and when your staff realises that you depend on them for everything, they will take you for granted. That doesn't mean I'm putting them off. I'm only talking based on experience.
Catfish business is a very good and lucrative business. it is fun, that's the way I see it and I enjoy it.

For you to succeed in catfish farming, u need every experience u can get. Many have lost big time because they fail to seek knowlege. Knowledge is power, get it first. Also women are very good in business. Especially if it fall within their passion. I've so far put about 3 women through in catfish farming and i tell u they are doing fine. These are women that their husband goes to work and d wife stays home but also busy with catfish farming at the back of the house. So women, enough of you being idle get something doing. Get yourselves fish plastic tanks and get busy with catfish farming. For the best fingerlings/ juveniles call Ayo on 08035193433 or drop ur e-mail @ ayo.tiamiyu@yahoo.com . Also feel free 2 call if you have any question on catfish, i'll be happy to answer it 4 u free of charge. Thanks

instead of the fish biz why not venture into poultry biz. i as an expert, i dont advice my clients to start with fish biz. if u start with poultry, u can later add fish to it. any way our organisation do help people to establish biz, for more info call:

RUKRIL FARMS
SP2002 POULTRY & LAND CONSULTANCY
IBEJU-LEKKI,LAGOS
08137775986
TJ.SP2002@GMAIL.COM
WWW.SP2002.GNBO.COM.NG

catfish business is good business if you know how to go about it. http://makemoneynigeria.com/catering-business-nigeria-step-step-start/

Catfish rearing is no longer lucrative my dear.
Don"t go near it at all.
Thank you!

Using this opportunity to wish everyone MERRY XMAS and prosperous NEW YEAR.