How to Start A Profitable Fish Farming Business In Nigeria (2019)
What is Fish Farming?
Fish farming is the practice of rearing fish for personal consumption or for a profit-making purpose. It involves watering and fertilizing the ponds, feeding the catfish, Mackerel, or Tilapia up to a profitable size, stocking the fingerlings in cool water, as well as building the concrete pond.
Although there are hundreds of fish species around the world, only a very few of them are suitable for business or marketing purpose.
Fish farming involves the artificial means of rearing, breeding and transplantation of fish at home or in the farm for business purpose.
How do you Start Fish Farming Business in Nigeria?
The following steps will help you launch a fish farm successfully in Nigeria, be it a small scale or large scale farming system:
- Find a suitable location for your fish farm
- Provide a cool and consistent source of water
- Choose the most comfortable pond for your fish farm
- Identify the right fish species for your fish farming business
- Get healthy and sound juvenile fish
- Learn and master fish feeding
- Advertise and promote your fish farming business before they reach the marketable size
- Be business-oriented
- Receive practical training on fish farming
Find a Suitable Location for Your Fish Farm
The location of your fish farm depends on whether you’re running the business on a small scale or large scale. If you’re running a fish farm on a small scale, you may just need to get a plastic tank and put that somewhere at the back of your house.
If you’re rather running the fish farming business on a large scale, you’ll need a concrete or earthen pond with a stable source of water. This scale of farming should be done outside your home.
Provide a Cool and Consistent Source of Water
Just as we need a lot of oxygen to breathe and live, a fish needs a lot of water to live. If you do a practical exercise by bringing a fish out of the water, it begins to die gradually and will surely die shortly unless it’s taken back into the water.
You must also understand the fact that some fish can cope in rough water and live comfortably in it, whereas, there are other fish species that will die if they’re kept in rough water. Such fish can only live well in clean water. Understanding this fact will help you run a fish farm successfully without becoming bankrupt.
You must equally note that the kind of pure water we drink joyfully is not the kind of clean water a fish may need for healthy living. Such water might be so unfavorable for a fish and could lead to its premature death. The chemical that is added to the pure water we drink may be quite poisonous for a fish.
As a matter of facts, the amount of water you’ll need for your fish farm will depend on whether you’re running the farm on a small-scale or on a large scale. The well at your backyard may be sufficient to run a small scale fish farming business while you’ll have to build a standard pond if you’re running on a large scale.
Choose the Most Comfortable Pond for Your Fish Farm
Just as we live healthy lives when we live in a comfortable home, a fish also needs to live comfortably simply by being kept in the right and most appropriate pond.
As you know, we operate a fish farming system in two ways such as the (i) pond and (ii) backyard plastic tank.
For a beginner in the fish farming business, the backyard plastic tank is suitable. It helps a beginner in the field to master the system of fishery before extending to a large scale.
Because fish ponds vary in terms of sizes and costs, you need to find out by visiting other fish farmers and make inquiries. Go to sellers of fish feeds or pond builders and ask further questions on everything you’ll need to be familiar with before starting up.
You must visit experienced fish farmers so you can learn a lot from them which will help you run your fish farm successfully.
Now that you’ve learned how you can build a comfortable pond for your fish, what comes next?
Identify the Right Fish Species for Your Fish Farming Business
As we mentioned above, there are hundreds of fish species around the world, and it’s your duty as a professional fish farmer to decide on which fish species you’re going to deal in.
Out of these fish species that we have in the world, it’s rare to find an environment that will not be suitable for Tilapia. If this interests you, you may go for it and later add other species as you deem fit.
Get Healthy and Juvenile Fish
Juvenile fish are the small fish you’ll grow to a marketable size in a pond or backyard plastic tank yourself.
The Juvenile is the development stage of fish after Fingerling, while, fingerling is the development stage of fish after the Fry stage.
Because you may possibly experience so much mortality from Fingerlings, it would be good to begin your fish farming business with Juveniles.
When buying your fish, make sure to buy only juveniles that are healthy.
The most usually-found species of catfish in Nigeria are Heterobranchus, Clarias gariepinus, and many others.
Learn and Master Fish Feeding
Photosynthesis helps our plants produce new organic materials using the simple nutrients, whereas, fish can never do this at all. Animals including fish can only feed on organic materials such as ready-made foods that may contain plants or animals or both.
- Perfect Feed: This is a completely-made fish feed. These feeds are made of nutrients mixed together by fish feed producing experts.
- Locally-Made Feeds: These are the supplementary fish feeds made from by-products, the wastes that come from the kitchen, and others.
- Natural Feeds: These are the feeds you can naturally find right inside the pond.
Advertise and Promote Your Fish Farming Business Before They Reach the Marketable Size
Right before your fish grow up to a marketable size, you can start marketing them. People will have booked for their fish long before they grow.
Be Business-Oriented
If you really want to be a successful fish farming entrepreneur in Nigeria, you need to run it with the spirit of an entrepreneur. You must not forget that you’re into an entrepreneurial business. So, becoming a successful fish farmer should not rest only on feeding and selling fish.
Receive Practical Training on Fish Farming
Before you venture into fish farming at all, you must ensure you receive proper training lest you have common challenges in the long-run. You can either learn either by buying eBooks or consulting an expert around you.
