BEST BREEDS FOR YOUR CATFISH FINGERLINGS.

Catfishes of the family Claridae
comprise the most commonly
cultivated fishes in Nigeria. The
growth of aquaculture in Nigeria
now is largely being boosted by a
steady rise in catfish culture. Since the culture of Clarias gariepinus
through hypophysation was
initiated in Western Nigeria in
1973, the procedure has been
widely practiced through out
Nigeria thus leading to increase of farm-raised catfishes from the
80’s to date. The favoured catfish
species in Nigeria aquaculture
include: Clarias gariepinus,
Heterobranchus bidorsalis, Clarias X
Heterobranchus hybrid (Heteroclarias) and Clarias
nigrodigitatus. Heterobranchus sp
p the more commonly cultured fish
in the South Eastern parts of
Nigeria. LARVAL PRODUCTION :Despite the popularity of the African catfish
and its great market potentials, the
production is still basically at
subsistence level due majorly to
inadequate availability of seed for
stocking and feed problems. In Europe, about 75% of Clarias
fingerling demands are supplied by
a few producers. In Nigeria
however, the fingerlings supplied
from both the government and
privately owned hatcheries are not enough to meet the catfish
farmers’ fingerling demands. Artificial propagation of C.
gariepinus is now carried out in
hatcheries with hormonal
induction. Farmers have found the
homoplastic pituitary gland
suspension cheaper, practical and more highly reliable than the
imported synthetic hormonal
analogues. The C. gariepinus
broodstock weight used for
artificial breeding ranges between
0.5 and 2kg (kingsway 2000). Despite the break through with use
of hormone in induced spawning;
fry survival is still be set with a
number of biotic and abiotic
factors. The biotic factors include
cannibalism, heavy predation by frogs/aquatic insects and the
abiotic factors include water
temperature, dissolved oxygen
(>4.5mg/L-1), levels of ammonia.
During the first week after
stocking, the most critical factor for the successful nursing of the catfish
larvae is the availability of
zooplankton. Feeds and feeding of
the larvae, fry and fingerlings of
the catfishes have been most
studied and shown to influence the growth and survival of the fish.
Studies have revealed that live
zooplankton is the preferred larval
food. Many small holdings merely
rear larvae to fingerling size in
organically fertilized ponds at a density of between 30-1000 larvae/
m2 . Fingerlings are stocked into
rearing ponds at a rate of 50-75
fish/m3 under good management. THE CULTURE SYSTEM : Because of the cannibalistic nature of Clarias
gariepinus, multiple sorting is
essential. For outdoor fry/
fingerlings rearing, screening of
the tanks with mosquito nets is
recommended to prevent dragonfly and other predatory
insects from breeding in the ponds.
Poly-culture of Clarias gariepinus
and Tilapia species is practiced. A
poly-culture of Clarias gariepinus
and Oreochromis niloticus, integrated with poultry with some
supplementary feeding had been
shown to be viable. FEED AND FEEDING: Feed and feeding of catfishes in grow outs
ponds are perhaps the most
documented in literature. Various
efforts have been made to
establish the crude protein and
amino acid requirement of C. gariepinus. (kingsway)
recommended 35% and 40% crude
protein (Cp) for raising table size
and brood stock respectively. Of
the 10 essential amino acids (EAA)
required by warm water fish species, only 3 EAAs studied have
been documented and these are
arginnie, methionine and lysine. In
order to formulate and compound
aqua feeds that will meet the
nutrient requirements of the catfish at affordable cost, several
conventional and non-conventional
animal by-products and plant
residues have been tested to
substitute or replace fishmeal
. Feeding development has moved from the use of single
ingredient, broadcasting un-
pelleted meal to pelleting and in
fact the use of pelleted floating
feed which has made a big
difference to aquaculture development in Nigeria as C.
gariepinus is being raised to
maturity within 6 months. HYBRIDIZATION OF Clarias gariepinus x Heterobranchus longifilis :The yearnings of farmers and scientists to have a
farmed catfish that combines the
fast growth traits of
Heterobranchus spp and early
maturing traits of C. gariepinus led
to the development of a hybrid ‘Heteroclarias’ spp. The
technology was widely accepted a s
it gave 58% internal rate of return
(IRR) on investment. CULTURE SYSTEM MODIFICATION :In the review of Oresegun et al (2007), it was stated
that early fish farmers in Nigeria
raised their fish in burrow pits,
abandoned minefields and in
earthen ponds on extensive
production system. The introduction of concrete tanks
allows for manageable pond size
and modification of the
environment through a water
flow-through system and
supplementary feeding thus allowing for higher fish yield. The
advent of the indoor water re-
circulatory system (WRS) has
ushered in a new prospect for
aquaculture. The introduction of
WRS has created a turning point in the production of catfish in
Nigeria. PROSPECTS AND PROBLEMS OF CULTURE: The story of aquaculture in Nigeria is essentially the story of
catfish culture and the hope of fish
supply in Nigeria hangs on its
development and culture. Recent
trends all over the world, point to
a decline in landing from capture fisheries, an indicator that fish
stocks have approached or even
exceeded the point of maximum
sustainable yield. Aquaculture
therefore remains the only viable
alternative for increasing fish production in order to meet the
protein need of the people. It was
observed that of the over 30,000MT
of various freshwater and brackish
water fish species caught in the
year 2000, catfishes were more abundant next to Tilapines . FAO (1993) reported that
27,488MT of catfishes produced in
1990 were consumed locally. This
implies that there is still great need
for higher production for both local and international markets. Interested in fish farming
manual, and start your fish
farming business today, if yes is
your answer, why not place an
order now by following the
ordering instruction below. call us on 08032861326,'for your best breeds of fingerlings and other services.

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