Catfish production in Nigeria is hugely popular – with a booming domestic market as well as strong export sales – and currently accounts for over 80 percent of the country’s aquaculture output.
Catfish have widely been caught and farmed for food for hundreds of years in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. Judgments as to the quality and flavor vary, with some food critics considering catfish excellent to eat, while others dismiss them as watery and lacking in flavor. Catfish is high in vitamin D. Farm-raised catfish contains low levels of Omega-3 fatty acids and a much higher proportion of Omega-6 fatty acids.

Now apart from catfish being a major source of food that also contains both Omegas 3&6 fatty acids, It is also highly lucrative and can generate high income for those involved in the business. In other for it to be as lucrative and produce positive yield, certain factors come into play and this factors are; Feed, Pond type, fish health and water quality, genetic selection and feeding.

FEED
Catfish farmers are able to feed a nutritionally complete diet that provides required levels of nutrients and energy in a readily digestible form. It is essential to provide a complete diet because catfish can synthesize only a small portion of the required nutrients and the quantity of nutrients from natural food organisms in the pond is relatively small. Forty nutrients have been identified as necessary for the normal metabolic function of channel catfish. Based on current knowledge, a digestible energy to crude protein (DE/P) ratio of 8.5-10 kcal/gram is adequate for use in commercial catfish feeds. Ratios above this range may lead to increased fat deposition and if the energy ratio is too low, the fish will grow slowly.

As we know feed constitutes the most important cost in catfish production. Nigeria still imports feeds, but these are becoming extremely hard for local farmers to afford, due to the high cost of logistics involved in bringing them into the country, as well as the increasing depreciation of the naira against the dollar. Farmers who depend on imported feeds end up incurring so much cost.
According to an article written by a catfish farmer, farmers can use self-formulated feeds, sourced from local materials, particularly once the fishes are 2 months old and start consuming more, this drastically reduces cost he says. Now he went on to breakdown the locally sourced materials that he himself uses and they are: A combination of cassava floor, maize or wheat (25kg), 72 percent fish meal (25kg), soya bean or sunflower or maggot meal (30kg), 20kg groundnut cake (GNC), Fish premix (0.5kg), methionine (0.1kg), vitamin C (0.1kg), lysine (0.1kg) and table salt (0.2kg), bonemeal (1kg) mixed with blood meal at the right quantity can make a good healthy local feed at a much cheaper rate, compared to the branded ones. After mixing them together, you can tie them into small nylon bags and cook in a very low heat or bake in the sun, before cutting into the sizes you want.

FEEDING
Feeding is the most important work in catfish farming as it plays a major role in the growth and survival the fish. It requires both skill and time to get right. The key skill required is knowing the amount of feed required, without wasting any. You can feed according to the biomass of the pond or by the weight of the individual fish, but this application can be very demanding for large commercial farms with so many ponds and fish to feed. It is advised to always use experienced people to carry out feeding. Also, manual feeding is recommended to ensure a more equal distribution of food. Feeding the fish well, can get them up to 3kg to 4kg per fish weight within six months, and these grants a very good returns. You also need to ensure that the fish seed supplies come from good and reliable sources – those that use mature broodstock for breeding. Some farmers prefer buying cheap fingerlings. However, at the end of the day, you discover that the quality of the fingerlings isn’t good enough, resulting in stunted growth and high mortality rates of the fish.

FISH HEALTH AND WATER QUALITY
The fish’s health is also a very pivotal and crucial aspect of this business because the healthier the fish, the more the growth and the bigger they grow the more income you earn. So in other to breed healthy fishes, the first thing is to have a healthy pond and environment and this is because it’s easier and cheaper to manage a safe environment than it is to manage a disease outbreak. Fish grow better, reproduce more effectively and have a higher survival rate if the water quality is good and the pond is not overcrowded. Also, a flow-through water system is best recommended in keeping a clean and quality water. It is always good to ensure that the ponds maintain a pH value between 6.5 and 9.0. Always check the dissolved oxygen and impurities. A successful farm requires a dissolved oxygen concentrations of 5 ppm or higher. When you maintain a healthy breeding environment, your fish develops stronger immune systems, that can fight or withstand some minor disease exposures and stress. Maintaining fish health and water quality are vital to be profitable.

GENETIC SELECTION
It’s important to stock catfish that grow faster and convert feed more efficiently. Knowing the right genetic to select from goes a long way in the fish growth. Crossing channel catfish females with blue catfish males creates a hybrid strain that has been shown to be more profitable, with more desirable traits including their ability to adapt to high stocking densities, resisting handling and stress, tolerating poor water quality, and growing faster to reach market size. This hybrid is also known to eat different kinds of food, such as aquatic weeds and insects, other small fish and snails, making it easier to feed. Most successful fish farmers from the United Ufuoma Fish Farmers Association (UUFFA), in Warri Delta State, grow mostly hybrid catfish. Catfish farmers must keep track of pH, dissolved oxygen and water quality to ensure fish are healthy because of their high rate of growth and rapid maturation.

POND TYPE
Catfishes, being aquatic animals, are raised in water environment: Anywhere there is fresh water, catfish can be cultured. Over time, besides the natural habitat of fishes, researches have made us understand that catfishes are rugged type of fish. Catfishes can be raised in almost every object that can retain fresh water in a conducive atmosphere. However, the choice of pond type to use depends largely on factors like land availability, convenience, purpose of raising fish, water resources, and scale of production among others. The various types are:
Earthen Ponds: are artificial dams, reservoir, or lake constructed for different species of fishes in order to retain some features of the natural aquatic environment. Earthen Ponds are created manually or mechanically, in a carefully selected site with high water retention ability. The choice of land for earthen pond must take into cognizance availability of water, or at worse confirm wetlands in season and out of season. Other factors that must be considered include soil type, soil texture and soil permeability.
ADVANTAGES OVER OTHER TYPES
1. It is similar to the natural habitat of fishes.
2. Fishes grow better in an earthen pond than in every other type of pond.
3. Maintenance cost is cheaper.
5. It can support different kinds of feed.
6. It allows fishes to grow faster.
7. It allows easy water management.

Concrete Ponds: are usually constructed with concrete and sometimes reinforced to make them stronger. Construction of concrete ponds is often handled by highly skilled professionals in civil/construction engineering. Concrete tanks for catfishes can be constructed below or above the earth surface.
ADVANTAGES OVER EARTHEN POND
1. It is easy to manage; e.g. counting, sorting, sales and other management practices.
3. It is better for production of fingerlings and juveniles.
4. It can be constructed on dry land.
6. It cannot be flooded.
7. Diseases are easily detected and controlled.
8. Growth of fishes can easily be monitored.

Tarpaulin/Synthetic Leather Ponds: are dug like an earthen pond but the walls are lined with a form of rubber/leather carpet to prevent water percolation. These kinds of ponds are excellent at raising juveniles and brood stock. They are usually constructed with flow-through system.
ADVANTAGES
1. They are easier to manage.
3. They reduce water waste.
5. They are easy to maintain.

Plastic/Rubber Tanks: are of different sizes specifically manufactured for raising catfishes. Some of these containers are constructed to accommodate as much as one tonne of table-size fish.
ADVANTAGES
1. They can be used to raise fishes almost everywhere.
2. They can easily be moved from one place to the other.
4. They can be used to raise fingerlings before they are transferred to the main ponds.
5. They are cheap and less expensive to maintain.

Fiberglass Tanks: are transparent tanks used to raise frys and fingerlings under a controlled temperature before they are transferred into the outdoor
ADVANTAGES
1. They are easy to manage
2. The activities of the fishes can be monitored at a glance
3. They are portable and movable

Cage Tanks: are constructed and placed inside fresh water. They are anchored to the surrounding pegs. Most of the times, feeding of fishes in the tanks are done with the use of a canoe because these tanks are placed in the middle of a large water body to replace their water environment in an enclosed cage.
ADVANTAGES
1. It can be used to raise large number of fishes
2. Water pollution is rare
4. Fishes grow better due to constant fresh water.
6. Availability of oxygen at all times.
8. Availability of other water organisms for fishes to feed on.
9. However, water pollution can lead to the death of all fishes in the cage.

I hope the above write up is as informative as it was intended. Now for those in the business or just breeding catfish for food that are having any problems listed above or problems like; un-uniformed growth, Oxygen not dissolving in water as it should, high PH levels, offensive odour and scurrying in the pond, fish mortality and cannibalism etc. I have a product that solves all these problems listed here. So if u are in this category and need help you can WhatsApp: +2348063737343 or call: +2349013911945 for more info.
Thank you for reading.