FISH FARM MANAGEMENT

Fish farming in Nigeria is currently
a very lucrative business and it is
mainly boosted by the continuous
rise in the demand for catfish. This trend therefore makes catfish
culture the most popular form of
fish farming in Nigeria and it is
therefore where the discourse of
this article is going to be centred. Whether you are just starting out
in aquaculture with the hope of
making just an extra income or to
go into full scale commercial
production, Here you will discover
the prospects and the challenges facing the catfish industry in
Nigeria. OVERVIEW OF FISH FARMING IN
NIGERIA Let me start by giving you a quick
overview of the state of fish
farming in Nigeria. The most common species found in
Nigeria are; Clarias gariepinus, Heterobranchus bidorsalis, Clarias X Heterobranchus hybrid (Heteroclarias) and Clarias nigrodigitatus. Heterobranchus sp are very
common in the south eastern part
of Nigeria with clarias spp
dominating in the west. Despite the popularity of catfish
farming in Nigeria, the fish farming
industry can best be described as
being at the infant stage when
compare to the large market
potential for its production and marketing. This is mainly due to
unavailability of fingerlings owing
to lack of adequate infrastructure
for hatcheries for fingerling
production. BREEDING If you intend to go into catfish
farming in Nigeria, the first thing
you have to get hold of is the
fingerlings. The fingerling can be obtained
mainly through artificial
propagation in the hatcheries
through hormonal induction. If you intend to produce your own
fertilized eggs, you can make use
of the homoplastic pituitary gland
suspension. In Nigeria, It is usually more
affordable than the imported
hormonal analogues. Fish Farmers
also say that they are more
reliable. And I seriously don’t
doubt them. But despite the beauty of induced
spawning, there the challenges
which you must face: both biotic
and abiotic challenges. These problems all have there root
in the extra care needed to be
given to the fry during the first
week of life. In this regard, you
have to battle with provision of
zooplankton which serves as Feeds for the purpose of feeding of the
larvae, fry and fingerlings thus
playing a major role on their
growth and survival. There is also the problem of
cannibalism, heavy predation by
frogs/aquatic insects and the
abiotic challenges such as water
temperature, dissolved oxygen
(>4.5mg/L-1), levels of ammonia. The brood stock to use for the

purpose of breeding should be
between 0.3kg and 2kg. CULTURE SYSTEM Next thing on the line is the culture
system you will use. First and foremost, you have to be
aware that these African catfishes
(especially Clarias gariepinus) are
cannibals as such you should take
great care in sorting them
according to size. If you intend to culture the
fingerling outdoor, you should
take into consideration the
prevalence of predatory insects in
Nigeria. Therefore ensure you
cover the tanks with mosquito nets so as to keep the predatory insects
away. For the adult, poly culture of clarias
gariepinus with tilapia spp is very
common in Nigeria and have been
known over the years to be
productive. This is carried out
using mainly concrete tanks which allow supplementary feeding thus
ensuring higher fish yield. Some few farmers also use indoor
water re-circulatory system (WRS).
But it is costlier so most simply use
the concrete tanks
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