I decided to go into catfish farming last year (2014) but couldnt because my work schedule was just way too tight. in 2015, it eased up alot and I decided to take advantage and begin planing and learning as much as I could. I visited various farms and researched as much as i could. In March of 2015 i felt i was ready, and needed to make my first major decision: Location of my farm. After thoughts and a lot of consideration, I decided to set up in my village which coincidentally happens to be where I work. this choice was made because it is a place i have to be in on a daily basis being that i do not live there and its about 30 minutes driving at 120-130km/h away from my residence... this decision would give me time to tend to the fish needs in the morning before work and evening after work.. plus i could always run there when i have free time during the work day. Now that was decided the question where there as i do not have land of my own in it and didnt grow up in the community. I decided to approach my grandfather who gave me permission to use a plot of land he had used as an oil mill when i was younger and had left fallow over the years. i was overjoyed that things seemed to be falling into place. Shortly after, my grandfather passed away and the entire family, me included turned our attention to his funeral. he was buried a month after he died as per his wishes.

That done I went back to continue my site preparations (there was a building on the site with a previously sunk bore hole). i refreshed the borehole installed new tanks and started work on renovation of the building with the intention of incorporating a hatchery inside. After completing roofing work, an uncle claimed the plot as his and property disputes began in the family. i decided to abandon the land since i was a grandchild and never in contention of ownership. That took me back to my original problem, where to situate my farm. I approached my father who said i should use one of his lands ... virgin property with trees and massive bush. and a partial fence about 3 coaches high. i felt daunted at the enormity of the projected expense..the land was bigger id have to raise the fence, build a hatchery from scratch, sink a borehole connect power before i could even begin putting in my tanks. i began by clearing the site which cost me 100,000 naira (like i said, its a big place, about 3 acres). my office began having problems and the company was closed down temporarily. this put me in a fix since i have responsibilities to my wife and kids plus the idea of being incomeless wasnt encouraging. i had already dipped into savings with my first site. i decided to look inward and realized my mother-in-law had space in her back yard. I Quickly revised my plans and decided to start with the hatchery there. i took advantage of the fact she already had running water, and semi structures used for storage. clearing out the contents i commenced brick work and casting bases. i built my hatchery and brood stock ponds and did my plumbing by hand. two days ago i commenced operations and attempted my first hatching since learning how to.

this diary is me attempting to vent my frustrations, mistakes and joys with the world and my fellow nairalanders in hope that my travails and triumphs will help teach, and inspire others.

this is the ongoing story of S&R farms

NICE

Good one op!!! All the best

l have to admire your tenacity...humble beginnings keeps one grounded.

PLS DONOT STOP AS WE ARE LEARNING. I WANT TO START A HATCHERY IN OCT. I HAVE LOADS OF QUESTIONS TO ASK YOU. THANKS

thanks for the encouragement, my intention is to update as the farm runs on a day to day basis. Any questions i can answer will be answered, any i cant answer i will assist seeking for answers so we can all grow

Ok this is noted

It is well with U broda!

This is what I call no retreat no surrender. We are solidly behind you boss.

Go on bros....I want to learn


We need ABC.....Z of the information


Welldone.

i went to check the hatchery today, to be honest i was disappointed i didnt see any sort of movement at all in the water. i decided being that every opinion was either i had hatchery failure or what survived wouldnt be much to start afresh.

So far all i can see for the failure was a spike in water ph, probably caused by mortar leeching (ph level rising from absorbing minerals in the mortar mix used in plastering and block setting) i do not expect that to happen using a tarpaulin hatchery, i went about constructing my hatchery of tarpaulin today, got wood for the frame and nailed the tarpaulin on/in it.

Needing to buy a new set of brood stock.. dont know if that'll be possible tomorrow... maybe on monday.. thinking of designing a spread mesh thats compact and mobile

ohh yea... one draw back i envisage with this tarpaulin thing is the limited space.. i may need to consider making more, or maybe i should experiment using one male and one female... i'll sleep on it..

advice for the day.. in a virgin concrete pond, be wary of ph spikes ... it can happen over night and you find yourself in my shoes..(hopefully better looking ones though)...

Alright, officially ive decided to try again, tomorrow, ill be buying new brood stock either pure clarens or Mozambique minimum weight should be between 2.5-3kg per female with an average of 2 ft + for length withe male being 2ft minimum length and 2.3-24 kg minimum weight. hormone of choice for induction is ovaprim 0.5 kg of female body weight administered via intramuscular injection about 1 inch from start of dorsal fin above the lateral line, at a 45 degree angle from the fish body. still thinking if i should use an anesthetic for them before surgery. spent today preping my self made tarpaulin vats (its just a small tarpaulin pond with wooden frame) however i did decide to make my personalized spread nets rather than suspend them by tying (me being vain). im also going to attempt hatching in big 70 litre capacity bowls as a side project. going to bed now.. tomorrow is.. "showtime" not so enthusiastic though.... come to think of it, im downright apprehensive... hope i can sleep.

oh... lest i forget..
advice of the day.. when selecting brood stock, look for a male with the most elongated Instruments (they usually have a fuller sack of the good juice for fish) and a female with a redish opening just beyond the anus.. mods sorry if thats an offensive word.. just cant think of a better one to use right now..

bout to be on my way to get new brood stock for hatching.

Awesome!

I have plans to start my hatchery in the following months as well, am sure learning from this!

Before, buying the brood stocks,have you done your researches about their parents. Besides,I believe because you're a green horn,that was why you failed during your hatchery. Mind you,pH of water is very important as it must not be too acidic or alkaline. The cementing that polluted your water had increased the level of base thereby causing the fragile about-fingerling of dying.

well,we all learn by mistake......

To the poster above thanks, and I had stated that... anyways, I have hatched successfully using tarpaulin and plastic buckets. Brood stock research was done by asking the reputation of a farm that specialises on broodstock production.

As of this morning, I have sacfry I net has been removed and we have success for now...

Advise of the day.. the milk sack should not come in contact with water when extracted.

row2ray:
To the poster above thanks, and I had stated that... anyways, I have hatched successfully using tarpaulin and plastic buckets. Brood stock research was done by asking the reputation of a farm that specialises on broodstock production.

As of this morning, I have sacfry I net has been removed and we have success for now...

Advise of the day.. the milk sack should not come in contact with water when extracted.

PLS CAN U PLS UPLOAD PICS. PLS ALSO TELL US MORE. WHAT IS SACFRY I NET ABOVE I DONT REALLY UNDASTAND. THANKS

row2ray:
To the poster above thanks, and I had stated that... anyways, I have hatched successfully using tarpaulin and plastic buckets. Brood stock research was done by asking the reputation of a farm that specialises on broodstock production.

As of this morning, I have sacfry I net has been removed and we have success for now...

Advise of the day.. the milk sack should not come in contact with water when extracted.

How is it possible that the sac fry will not be in contact with the water?

Accordingly,,the fingerlings have to feed from the sac for some times before even separating the two. That's even the reason you shouldn't feed them anything athemia or what have you this time.Though,i haven't started mine, let me continue learning from you.
I hope you'll be of help when I'm in dire need during my production too?

nikaShow:
Awesome!

I have plans to start my hatchery in the following months as well, am sure learning from this!

All the best bro.

Continue bros....I'm following too

GSK

More pictures, pls!!

Seun:
More pictures, pls!!

Oga Seun,I sight u

Nice one! @op

Sorry I have been offline and unable to follow up, lost my phone. What I'll do is take detailed pics of the step by step process for this month's hatching..

I'm folkowing

row2ray:
Sorry I have been offline and unable to follow up, lost my phone. What I'll do is take detailed pics of the step by step process for this month's hatching..

#patiently waiting for ur updates

finally back again. i will be hatching in about two weeks... this time we'll have pictures ... i dont knpw if i can upload videos on nairaland...would love to do that

pic of fish currently bening raised to fingerlings