Catfish 101 — The Basics
This is just a brief introduction for people who want to have a general idea of what it takes to breed catfish. From my experience, there are three main factors you need to get right for you to successfully breed catfish with low mortality. They are:
1. Fish specie
2. Environment
3. Feed
However, this doesn’t mean that there aren’t other factors that can affect your catfish farm.
Fish Specie
This is probably the most important part of the catfish business. If you get the wrong specie of fish, no matter what you do in terms of feeding and water management, they won’t grow big and you’ll incur losses. To avoid this, make sure you source your catfish stock (fingerlings, juveniles or post-juveniles) from a reputable farm in your area.
There are 3 major species of catfish in Nigeria. They are: Clarias gariepinus, Heterobranchus bidorsalis, Clarias & Heterobranchus hybrid (Heteroclarias). One advantage of the Clarias is that you can stock a lot of them in a pond at once and this specie is ideal if you want to go into mass production either for selling fresh or smoking. Clarias are also more resistant to diseases than Heterobranchus. The Heterobranchus on the other hand do not survive very well in crowded spaces. However, one advantage of Heterobranchus is that they can grow and weigh as much as 10kg or more, depending on how long and how well you feed them. The hybrid catfish is a mixture of the Clarias and Heterobranchus species. They can get big in size (bigger than the Clarias) and you can stock more of them in a pond than the Heterobranchus but not as much as the Clarias
Environment (Ponds)
Catfish are freshwater aquatic fish and this means that the water you put them into very important. Catfish are usually bred in ponds and in Nigeria, the three commonly used types of ponds are:
1. Plastic or Tarpaulin
2. Concrete
3. Earthen
Your choice of what type of pond depends on a number of factors that include startup budget, access to fresh water supply, available space amongst others.
Another important factor while breeding fish is the amount of Dissolved Oxygen (DO) that is available in the water. DO is simply the amount of oxygen that is found in water and is available for respiration for the fish. High DO is to fish like fresh air is to humans. Low amounts of DO will lead to high mortality rates if not reversed. One way to increase DO levels is to change the water regularly. The amount of times that you will need to change the water depends mainly on the quantity of fish that you have and the size of the pond. One way to know that your pond has low DO levels is from the smell. If the water in your pond begins to smell badly, then it is time to change the water.
Another factor that is necessary when breeding catfish is the pH levels of the water. Catfish are freshwater fish so any environment that is too acidic or basic is not good for their growth.
Also, when choosing a pond, you must bear in mind that at some point, you will have to sort the fish. Sorting simply means that you separate the big fish from the small ones. Catfish by nature are cannibalistic and if the food you give them is not enough, the big fish will prey on the small ones. After about a month or 6 weeks after stocking (depending on what size you bought them as), you will need to sort so as to ensure that you do not have any case of cannibalism.
Feed
This is one area that many catfish farmers misunderstand. If you feed your fish with low quality feed, they will not grow well! I have heard of some catfish farmers who feed their fish with leftovers. While this is not bad in itself, the problem arises when these leftovers become substitute for quality fish feed. At the fingerlings, juvenile and post-juvenile stages, catfish need to be fed properly with quality feeds. When they become adults, then you will be able to try certain meal combinations to save cost.
Also, as catfish grow bigger and become adults, they will consume much more than when they were juveniles. This is one fact that many catfish farmers are reluctant to admit especially as it usually means more cost to them. But feeding them more means that they will grow bigger.
Market and Marketing
After harvest, you can either sell your fish fresh or smoked (dried). With a population of over 170 million people, there’s very good demand for catfish in Nigeria. In most areas, catfish is sold by weight (Kilograms)
Before you start marketing your catfish, make sure that you carry out a feasibility study on the market in your area. You can start by marketing to your friends, family, retailers, etc. Bear in mind that different consumers will require different sizes of fish. For example, restaurants generally prefer large fish to small ones. Also, the market dynamics for fresh fish is different from that of smoked fish. As stated earlier, a research should be done to properly understand how best to market in your area.
