Fish farming

Fish farming has to do with all the activities concerned with the production of fishes .
In fish farming there are some terms that we used such as aquaculture , fingerlings , hatchery , gears , pond aquarium and harvesting .
There are two major breeds of fish , these are bony fish , and cartilaginous fish . Examples of bony fishes are tilapia ,mudfish carp , trout , cod(stock fish)cart fish , salmon , electric fish . while example of cartilaginous fishes are shark ,dog fish e.t.c
For this study we are going to look at how we can raise fish ,the prospect and how you can obtain loan from the bank.
In Nigeria cat fish tilapia fish is the most common one that thrif raise by fishermen for sales ,just because highly consumed by large population and even export to other neighboring countries .
What are the necessary conditions for establishment of fish ponds ?
1. available of water .
2. availability of fingerlings i.e the small fishes.
3. availability of feed .
4. location of hatchery.
5. Availability of market
6. size and location of the pond.
7. Availability of labour.
There should be availability of water because fishes are aquatic animal as their life depends entirely on water , the water must be free from pollutants color , smell and taste . the source maybe streams , river , borehole or springs.

Availability of fingerlings
Fingerlings simply means newly hatched fishes .The fingerlings to be used must be the fast growing type ,they must have high feed convertibility. Ideally the fingerlings must be ready to be harvested at about seven months from the time of hatching. Light vegetation is ideal but preferably to use a grass land ,this will easy to clear ,stump and excavate before siting the fish pond.
The land must be flat but must allow the gentle flow of water from higher region to a lower region . The area must not be floody.
The floor of the area must contain clay soil because this help to retain water and the soil must be rich in order to survive the fingerlings . The size
depends on the availability of money and the type of fish farming to be practiced ,for commercial farming .

Hatchery
This is where the fish eggs are incubated and hatched into fish. This place should not be too far from the fish pond . This is because fingerlings are very fragile and die off easily hence when released from the hatchery must be sent immediately into the pond .
For peasant farmers the distance from the pond to the market must near because of the adequate of storage in commercial farms the distance between the market and the pond does not matter since storage and processing unit are always available.

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