aquatic1: All my fellow farmers, or newbie in the business that need the formula, try and send a mail, requesting for the formula, and I will send it to your mail free, without collecting a dime. And if you need fingerlings or juvenile to stock to your pond, mail me. The formula is open from now till friday 8th june 2012. Thanks.

excelsiorfarm: i sent u an email & will sen

digi101: Hello all, i have the following items for sale in ibadan anyone intrested can give be a buzz

4 nos plastic tanks used for hatchery along with 2 aluminum framed hatching nets - N25,000
1 nos 1000L water storage tank (geepee) - N11,000
2 nos 2000L fibre tanks for grow out - N40,000 each

Obviously this is for farmers based in ibadan, items are located at ashi, if interested give me a call on 08021159092
Thanks

Stevoaustine: Greetings. of the season I currently joind the thread. I am jst new In cat fish buiz based at Enugu And I want to started wit harching of fingerlins,I need A manual and Advice that will serve as a guid for me.Thank u all.

Stevoaustine: Greetings. of the season I currently joind the thread. I am jst new In cat fish buiz based at Enugu And I want to started wit harching of fingerlins,I need A manual and Advice that will serve as a guid for me.Thank u all.

Stevoaustine: There ar farms here but I just need a manual for a better guid. u can reach me on stephenchukuokike@gmail.com

pumppie: Hello nairalanders,

I must commend you all for a great job. I have personally followed this thread for a while. I was also into fish farming and i must confess i made so much money from it to afford my master degree in the uk where i presently live.
Following this thread got me thinking again and the opportunity came in form of a joint venture with my uncle who is a permanent sec with the ogun state government and who is also seriously considering retirement. The idea is to start the project growing out between 10,000 – 30,000 grow out within 2 months to be smoked and packaged for exportation (basically to the UK).
Of course this is a bigger project than i under took while in Nigeria. It also requires the construction of more ponds to accommodate the projected scale at which we intend the business to drive towards. So, i thought my uncle will need someone like a consultant to work with. Thus,

i gave him aquatic1’s details (bb pin and phone nos) not because he has impressed me in any way on this thread but because the project is located in ogun state.
I was told he was contacted by my uncle’s secretary to schedule an appointment 2 days before hand. And on the day of the proposed appointment my uncle was rebuffed by the attitude of acquatic1! Well, i actually didn’t know what transpired but i was told aquatic said he was fixed for the day because he wanted to do business with other people. The man was angry and asked if he thought he was coming for an excursion when he asked to see him? I was also told he called the man a boy and said he meets people like him everyday etc.
Please, I’m not here to castigate aquatic cos its possible he has done good deals with people on this thread and I’m sure they will have good things to say about him. But i feel its important we all understand `and inculcate the ethics of good customer service in our business dealings.

You don’t know what your unruly behaviour has caused me cos this man is at the moment contributing the bulk of the money needed for this project. And I’m finding it quite hard to convince him to forge ahead with the business without me necessarily coming to naija for now. The secretary said he even went as far as telling him to go do business with chi or durantee for all he cares!!! People, this is not the best way to attend to people and I’m sure not the best way to do business. All the while, you where dealing with the secretary and he was reporting to the man....

I don’t want to believe that everyone on nairaland are unruly business men and scammers too. I am not particularly happy at this recent development but will strive towards ensuring this guy does not ruin this project with what he has done........aquatic1, even if you have made so much money, you should still keep your head down....

Tmany: hi. Some years back we tried catfish production small scale hoping to go big if the small scale worked but didn't work out. When i saw this thread today i felt i could get answers to issues we had.
1)bigger once eating the smaller one.
2)every few out growing the pack.
3)cost of feeds(cause when it go to 4 months of feeding the over head cost of feeds had surpass what we could get if we sold the fish at hand)
4)and some times the fish just wouldn't eat like they lost their appetite or somefin(Then we got a chemical that we put in their water but it was recurrent)
the reason am asking is that am thinking of giving it a try again but this time want to be more equipped than before

aquatic1: Be very patience in reading this

I started fish farming business some years ago, and am proud of myself and my farm, am still in the business and am really doing great, and am making my money as expected.

MY STORY

I visited a fish farm at alagbado area of Lagos state Nigeria, so few years back, where i discover that the man that owns the farm feed is fish from juvenile to standard table size with local feeds, he feed them 4times a day and in 6 to 7 months he harvest nothing less than 1kg to 2kg, what surprise me is that he use local feed all-through, which i confirm from some of his staff and i was so shock, because its hard for catfish farmers to use local feed although without using the foreign feed for some months, i consult the man to give me the formula he use, but he said no, this make me to sit down, think and do some more research on how to minimize feeding cost in Nigeria catfish farming since it take up to 70% of the investment.

MY DISCOVERY

I started by stocking 1000pcs of post fingerlings in a 15ft by 7ft by 4ft concrete pond, i feed the fish with coppens, twice a day, and they eat 4bags in the first month, which i weigh them and see they are 150 - 200grams, i was happy my idea is working, so i put more effort, the second month, i feed them with 6bags and the 3rd and 4th month i spent 27,000 in  milling local feed for them, when i get to sell them, i see 1kg to 1.3kg at the 4th month, i was very happy that i got the idea, this apply to my fingerlings production too, i get 0.5 to 1.5gram of fish at 3weeks, and i feed them twice a day.

MY ARITHMETIC

Calculation for the feeding of the 1000pcs of fish is 73,000. Some catfish farmers believe fish should be feed a #120 feed to attain 1kg, and some say a 1kg feed equals to 1kg fish. Assuming you are using foreign feed which is sold for #300, that means you will spend #300,000 in feeding 1000pcs of fish and your turn over will be #420,000, u will also calculate other things the fish money, the fuel e.t.c or you are using the local feed which sell for #170 that means you will spend #170,000, or you follow the saying of @120 equals to 1kg, that means you will spend #120,000 in feeding 1000pcs of fish, but i spend #70 on each fish which make #70,000 on the total fish and i sold all the fish for #469,830, which make me make more than what i expect as profit, and i spend less.

MY SECRET

I started then as an experiment, now that's the method i use always, and i still achieve my aim.
The secret behind my success is that

1: I stock my own fish, which i know the source
2: I specify a permanent time of feeding my fish, i choose to feed them 7am in the morning and 7pm at night
3: I change the water every 3days, and i clean the pond always
4: I sort the fish every month
5: The most successful part is that i don't vaccine my fish, i really thanks GOD for that
6: I check them regularly to know their behavior
7: after the first two month, i switch to local feed, and i give them the right mixture, this is the money important of all, because all the ingredient must me accurate, it must not be too much and too less, because the fish will just be eating if for hungry sake, its like putting too much salt in rice or beans.

for any question
for good local feed formula
good health and fast growing catfish fingerlings, post fingerlings, juvenile
for consultancy in your farm

contact ARARAT NIGERIA ENTERPRISES
@ 35 olufemi street ikola ilumo ipaja Lagos state
or call 07089391123, 08053018934
or araratnigeria@gmail.com
or check www.araratnigeria..com

DAPMAN601: hello,if u have fish ponds,and also breed livestock like pig,poultry,ducks etc.I can help u create feed for your fish,such that you will buy almost no feed for ur pond and still be guaranteed a bountiful harvest.contact dapman601@hotmail.co.uk,08132409600. All doubting thomases can also call to see a demonstration.

ayosat: Hello fellow catfish farmers/ intending farmers. My name is ayo and i've been in dis business 4 a while now. What i always tell my customers/ intending ones is that 4 u to go into catfish farming u need space, constant water, and d capital to start d business. U can start small and latter expanding. The mistake many makes is that they focus on d end result without knowing what it takes or finding out how to get 2 d result/ target. Lets take 4 instance, u want to stock 1000 fingerlings, after 4 months you will be looking at a total sales of say N450000(at 450/1kg). Meaning your cost would not be less than N225000 (with other conditions put right) for u to get d target of realising N450000. If you know you dont have tha t kind money, them go lower cos you realy must watch out and not over stock aswell. For d feeds you dont have to pay anybody for formula, thanks to d likes of coppens, vital feeds, durante pellet(local) etc. Which i've tried with excellent results. There are fish plastic tanks that u buy to start up with (2000 litres is more ideal) to raise 250 fingerlings to table size with ease. I've seen site that claim u can stock 500 fingerlings in 2000 ltr fish tank, but believe me u won't get d desire result you want with amount. Remember to also disinfect your fingerlings / juveniles when u stock to remove unnecessary loss due to infections (cos u may be buying from farms that don't disinfect their stocks). Then u start with coppens for 2 months b4 local feed. With dis u will get your result (also with d right kind of fingerlings / juveniles). Now d best news i'm revealling to u now is that, for the best fingerlings / juveniles call Ayo on 08035193433. I tell u there are testimonies on the kind of fish we deal in. For further enquiries or questions call 08035193433 or drop your e-mail at ayo.tiamiyu@yahoo.com . Thanks

nuclearboy: @efe22:

Feed mornings about 8am. For the rest of the day, you can feed based on demand BUT once its 4.30PM, don't feed anymore.

Oxygen levels reduce at night and ur fish therefore come to the surface to aid breathing. Overfull fish are susceptible to death from lack of oxygen and are at greater risk from predators because they are sluggish - this is why many farmers find dead fish in the mornings and don't find evenings. 4.30 allows them digest most of the food in their system before oxygen reduces and keeps them healthier

ayosat: please you don't feed your fish with just anything. They will NEVER GROW. Catfish has its own feeds formula. I've seen people feeding their fish with raw maize, bread, gari, africa buscuit(kuli kuli) etc you name it. The issue there is that d fish will eat them because they need to survive but they will never grow! And 50kg of fish! My brother you watch to much of discovery channel, maybe in d ocean but not in anybody's pond.

Chux6203: Thanks for your enquiry on maggot generation. If you are using meat or animal offals, simply collect them daily from the abattoir into a covered drum with am opening for flies to go in and lay eggs and within 2-3 days you will get maggots. If you are using chicken intestines please endeavour to boil them before use to avoid transferring whatever disease that was in the chicken to your fish
For poultry waste, heap them in a enclosure that flies can enter and soak them with water within 2-3 days you will generate enough maggots to feed your fish

wolllexxx: Maggots are an excellent protein and fat source. Commonly called maggot meal, has almost all the components found in fish meal but with a higher fat content. In fact research has been done on its partial/total replacement of fishmeal in fish diet in Nigeria. But of note is the question of how many kg you can produce per volume of poultry waste (or offals) and how to manage the smell that follows the maggot production. And finally, how often you have to drain your pond water if not an earthen pond.

Still, they are a good feed for fish and can alternate with foreign and other local feeds.