Horizontal scheme My system

Message from Nigeria We recommend catfish cultivation

How To Differentiate Between A Male Catfish And A Female Catfish

Catfish have bony flat heads and cylindrical-shaped bodies. They live in freshwater in such areas as rivers and streams and are typically found near the bottom of the water. Catfish males and females, for the most part, look very similar unless you

become familiar with what to look for. If you are looking to raise these fish or catch them you may want to know the difference between the two. You may want to avoid

catching a female fish that is real plump since she is probably holding many eggs.

When raising catfish, you will need to know the difference between male and female in

order to make sure that they are able to procreate.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Look at the size of adult catfish. Male catfish are smaller and narrower than female catfish. The females can grow up to 1 inch larger than males.

2. Notice the width of the catfish body. Female catfish are wider than males by

1 1/2 inches in the belly area. The extra room is needed to carry many eggs. The female catfish is also rounder than the male catfish.

3. Analyze the size of the head of adult catfish. The head of male catfish will be larger and wider than the female catfish. The male catfish's head can be up to 1 inch larger.

4. Check out the dorsal fins of catfish. Male catfish will have longer fins than that of females. Males will also have brighter colored fins.

5. Look at the openings on the catfish belly. Both will have two openings at the lower belly, one for the anus and the other for the genitals. Male genitals are raised and shaped like a nipple. The female catfish genital area has an opening that is rounded. Right before spawning, the female genital area will be reddish and swollen

..................................

FISH FARMING FREE GUIDE...INTRODUCTION TO THE BASICS

INTRODUCTION TO THE BASICS

This post was written for you all who want to go into fish farming. I noticed a lot of people want to go into fish farming but don’t really know what it takes to start the business.

Have you always thought about starting your own fish farm but you are not so sure about how it works, what to do and how to start. Here is a guide to help you start your own fish farming business.

Things You Need To Start Your Fish Farming Business.

1. KNOWLEDGE

Knowledge is key in fish farming and without which you may end up loosing your money at the end of the day.

You need to know the following:

a. How to hatch if you are interested in hatching yourself.
b. Raising from fries to fingerlings or grow out
c. Managements practices
d. Culture Systems
e. Feeding e.t.c

2. CAPITAL

You need capital for the following:
a. Purchase of Land
b. Construction of Concrete Tanks, Earthen Ponds or Vats
c. Farm Materials e.g PH Meter, Nets e.t.c
d. Feed e.t.c

You can either start big or small. Staring big means you want buy a land, construct large concrete tanks and then go into grow-out production. Starting small means you want to use the available space in you compound, construct vats or small concrete tanks and then go into fingerlings production. Starting big or small depends on your present capital.
Your Knowledge of fish farming and Capital works together. If you have the capital without the knowledge, your capital may not be too useful. If also have the knowledge without the capital, then your knowledge may not also be too useful so the too factors work hand in hand.

CULTURE SYSTEMS

Fish can be raised in CONCRETE TANKS, EARTHEN PONDS, VATS, PVC E.T.C All these culture systems have their own management practices and its very important to note that your choice of production ( fingerlings production or grow-out production) will determine the type culture system to use.

HOW CAN I START MAKING MONEY.

You can start by buying fries, raising them to fingerlings or posts fingerlings and then sell.

You can hatch them yourself, raise them and sell at fries, fingerlings or post fingerlings.

As an experienced farmer, I prefer to hatch myself, raise and sell at whatever size I intend to sell them. Briefly, note that it is more expensive to buy, raise and resell while it is very cheap to hatch yourself, raise and then sell.

Fish farming is a very lucrative business. Fish is consumed daily and its demand is yet to be met so you can also be one of those making fish available while you make your money. People consume fish everyday, so the market is always available for you.

Have you always thought about starting your own fish farm but you are not so sure about how it works, what to do and how to start. Here is a guide to help u start your own fish farming business.

Fish farming involves raising of fish commercially in tanks or enclosures commercially for food. Fish farming is a form of aquaculture and the essence is to increase the number of fish available in the society because the increased demand of fish has led over fishing in the wild.

HOW TO GET STARTED IN FISH FARMING
STEP BY STEP

STEP 1.
You need A LAND. After aquiring the land, then you need to decide which culture system you want to use.

Types of culture system:
Pond.
Concrete tanks.
Vats.
Cage.
Pen.

If you will use a pond, the land should not just be any land. The soil on that land should be clayey, or most importantly, it should be such that can hold water. On this land, you will either have A POND, OR A CONCRETE TANK. If you want to go into Grow-out production, you can use both the concrete tanks and the earthen pond. But if you want to go into fingerling production, you will have to use the concrete tanks. You may want to ask if you can’t use the earthen ponds for fingerling production. Yes you can, but for proper management reasons, you cant. You will get to understand the management reasons as we go along. So, your earthen pond should be constructed by experts who can do the job properly. In selecting your pond site, avoid areas that are usually flooded and ensure the area is such that you can drain your water easily. Your pond should be constructed in an area where there is availability of water because NO WATER, NO BUSINESS AND INCONSISTENT WATER SUPPLY = FRUSTRATION IN BUSINESS. So, water is one major factor to consider when choosing your site location. In constructing your site, get an expert and not just any body who can just dig the ground for you

These experts should be familiar with the following:

 The land has to be properly cleared of its weeds and hard roots.
 After excavating, the dike with a gentle slope should be built in such a way that the water will not seep into the soil.
 The inlets and outlet should be built.
 The pond dike should be protected.
 The pond should be fertilized before filling it with water.
 The pond should be left for about a week before stocking with fish so that the water condition will be in it normal state and natural food production will have evolved for the fish to feed on.

STEP 2.

When your pond is set, purchase your juvenile or jumbo sized fish and then stock. Ensure you cover your pond with net to prevent predators from coming in to eat up your fish and for those that can not eat up your fish, they will compete with your fish for food and this means your fish will not grow as they aught to because their food is been limited.

Get someone to construct your concrete tanks for you. For proper management, it should not be too big. And after constructing your concrete tanks, you will have to wash off cements. In doing this, you will have to spread farm yard manure into your tank for at least 3 days, the manure will decompose and reduce the effect of the cement. Clean and wash out the pond with water, then stock. Or you could just fill the tank with water and leave it for 1 week, flush the water out after one week, wash and fill with water again for another one week, flush and then stock your fish with a fresh water.

FEEDING.

As a fish farmer, especially for someone who is just going into the business, you need to understand that close to 50% of your investment goes in feeding. Feeding takes a whole lot especially if you are into grow out production. Just imagine feeding 1000pieces offish for 5 month and one bag of imported pellet feed now is about N4200. All of this is not to scare you but to prepare your mind for the task ahead of you.

You can reduce your cost of feeding by giving them a locally formulated feed. There are several places where you can buy the feed ingredients and then grind and pellet for your fish. In feeding your fish with the local feed, be careful not to waste you feed. Watch your fish as they feed and then stop feeding immediate the fish has stopped rushing for the food. The reason why you should stop feeding is because the local feed will eventually sink later n it will pollute the water which will cause trouble for your fish. But with the imported floating feeds, you will still see the remains of the feed on the water floating.

MANAGEMENT

Management covers all the operations which are required to keep the pond operating at maximum efficiency. For earthen ponds:
 Check your pond often for leaks.
 Remove undesirable aquatic weeds.
 Always watch fish behavior while feeding.
 Fertilize your pond when necessary.
 Watch for predators.
 Cut grasses on pond walls.
 Periodically, clean the bottom of your pond as this will control the PH of your water.

General Management.
 Change your water periodically.
 Feed well.
 Observe fish for signs of disease.

How do I know the number of fish to stock in my pond or a tank?
The size of your pond or concrete tank will determine the number of fish to stock. Some usually stock between 2 to 10 juvenile per meter square, and some other will stock between 5 to 7 juvenile per meter square. The most important thing is do not over stock and do not under stock. Infact, it is better to understock than to overstock because the fewer your fish, the faster their growth.

What happens when I overstock?
Firstly, Your fish will not grow as fast as they should.
Also, there will be reduction of oxygen in the culture system and when the fish have less oxygen available for them, they will be stressed and stress in fish will lead to disease outbreak.

What should be the size of my pond?
The size of your pond will depend on the purpose for which it is to serve. But it is better to have a pond that can be easily managed. For instance, you can have 2 – 3 ponds on 1 plot of land. It all depends on your capabilities.

FINGERLING PRODUCTION
With fingerling production, you do not need months to raise your fish. You can start selling your fish at 6 weeks old depending on their growth rate. Sales of fingerling should not be more than 6 – 8 weeks.

Step 1.
Get your culture systems ready ( A CONCRETE TANK OR A VAT). I have explained that of the concrete tank earlier. The Vat is usually constructed with planks and a carpet or tapeline laid on the wall and the floor of the wood after constructing it. Also with a vat, you do not stock your fish immediately. Fill with water and leave it for at least one week before stocking. Do not construct you Vat where direct sunlight reaches.

Step 2.
Buy your fries and transfer them to you farm. Ensure you transfer them early in the morning. And when you get to your farm, do not pour them into the water just like that. Lower you container close to the water and then pour gently. Do not feed immediately. Feed several hours later. Management is still the same as mentioned above.
As you manage and feed you fish daily, you will notice that some of the fish are growing bigger than the rest. At this point, remove the bigger once and take them to another vat. If you leave them there, they will eat up the smaller once. This is called SORTING. Sometimes, you will have bring out all the fish and sort them, leaving fish of the same size in a Vat.

Step 3.
Start marketing your fish before they are ready for sale.

HOW TO START SMALL
You do not need N500,000 to start your fish farming business. You can start small by constructing a Vat for fingerling production. Four Vats of about 11ft by 3ft is enough to start you business. You can even have just two. For instance, I started with just one Vat. I will not advise you to start with one vat because you will need another vat for the sorted fish. Grow your business from using 2-3 vats and you can then expand.

Signs that your fish are in trouble.
 Slow swimming.
 Floating at the surface of water, gasping for air.
When you notice this, change you water first and then watch them for that day. Sometimes, it’s as a result of low oxygen in the water. Ensure you seek professional assistance from time to time.

Very Important.
 Fish requires a PH of 6.5 – 7.5. Although they will still survive in a PH of 6 – 8
 Test your water and ensure it is okay for the survival of your fish.
 Handle your fish with care.
 Water, Feed, and Management, when all these are in their proper state, you will have very little or no problem in fish farming.
How to make your customers come back again.
Your customers will always come back if you supply them with a good, healthy fish. This is why you can’t afford to buy you Broodstocks or Fries anywhere.

You will notice I only discussed about Earthen ponds, Vat, and Concrete tanks, this is because those culture systems are used by 75% of Nigerian farmers while that of the Cage and Pen are used by the other farmers.

FINAL WORDS.
If after reading this e-book, you do not take any step, then you have only wasted your time on this book. You can start by getting funds, visiting farms around you to see how they run things, just start somewhere. You may be discouraged at the initial stage, but my advice for you is don’t be discouraged because I was never discouraged by what people said to me and all the loss I went throgh. And now, am enjoying myself and people are now happy with my decisions.

If you are interested in learning how to hatch yourself “BREEDING CATFISH”, I am available to teach you for N10,000 instead of N20,000 which is my usual prize. This will be your starting point where all the .....hatched fish will be yours and not mine. Imagine having 10,000 to 20,000 pieces of fish to sell for a start.

Aquaponics Guides: Growbed Advice

Types of Growing areas used

Aquaponics systems use several common components and the growbed (the hydroponic part of the system) is obviously one of the most crucial. The choice of growbed is also much debated, with newcomers to aquaponics often wondering what they can use, repurpose, build, scavenge or buy for use in their backyard aquaponics systems. Before looking at some of these choices we should note that there are three main types of growing systems that are usually used:

• DWC or Deep Water Channels, which are long, deep troughs that hold floating rafts

• NFT channels (Nutrient Film Technique) which are usually found in hydroponics setups.

• The final type is the media filled growbed, and this is the type that we will concentrate on in this article.

Types of Filtration

An aquaponics media filled growbed is simply a suitable container that is filled with a growing media such as gravel, hydroton or lava rock, and is the most commonly used type of growbed as it neatly performs four separate functions in an aquaponics setup. Firstly and most obviously it provides support for the plants up and provides somewhere for the roots to take hold. In addition to this, the media provides three separate filtering functions:

• Mechanical Filtration - the media helps to filter the solid waste in the water and to trap it in the bottom of the growbed.

• Mineralization - this is the process whereby the solid waste breaks down and is returned to the water so that the plants can use it.

• Biological filtration - the media provides extensive surface area for the beneficial bacteria to colonise.

As the media filled growbed performs all of these functions in one single place, it is one of the easiest, most space-efficient and also one of the most cost-effective ways to set up a new system. This is of particular concern to newcomers to aquaponics who may not feel comfortable with more complicated filtration systems, or who want the most hassle-free way to start supplementing their diets with fresh, nutritious produce grown via aquaponics.

So what can you use for a growbed?

The short answer is almost anything, but there are a number of things you should take into consideration, including whether your growbed will be located inside or outside. It goes without saying that the growbed needs to be waterproof, but you need to make absolutely certain of this.

It also needs to be strong enough to hold the media and the water - depending on the size of the growbed this could equate to a fairly significant amount of pressure... an important consideration if you decide to make a growbed yourself.

Any watertight, food-safe, fish-safe container can be used, and depending on the size of your whole aquaponics system that will leave you with several choices.

•Small systems can use food containers, plastic containers from the DIY store or IKEA, wooden boxes with a suitable liner - almost anything that will fit the size of your fish tank.

•Medium sized systems can use cut up IBC totes, Rubbermaid-type water troughs, animal feed troughs, concrete mixing troughs and similar things.

•Larger sized systems can use multiple units from above, hand built and lined wooden growbeds, and of course, commercially available aquaponics growbeds.

Aquaponics Growbed Materials

A growbed can be made out of a wide variety of materials but care should be taken to make sure it fulfills certain criteria. A growbed should be safe to use first and foremost, and should be made of a materials that will not leak unwanted chemicals into the water, or that will affect the pH of the water.

A growbed should ideally be made of a material that blocks out the sun, as direct sunlight can promote algae growth and can be detrimental to plant roots. If the growbed is being used outside then it will also need to be UV stabilized to ensure that it will not degrade in the sunlight and leach chemicals into the system.

Commonly used materials would be certain plastics, wood, fiberglass and anything with suitable waterproof liners. Concrete can also be used but care needs to be taken to seal the concrete first as concrete can affect negatively affect the water chemistry of your system.

Growbed depth and Size

An aquaponic growbed needs to be the right size to fit your fish tank volume. It needs to be able to provide adequate mechanical filtration and biological filtration for the nutrient-rich water, and so you should always consider the growbed and the fish tank together and use appropriately corresponding sizes.

A common rule of thumb is to use a 1-1 ratio. The growbed volume should be equal to the fish tank volume. This is by no means a hard-and-fast rule but serves as an outline guide.

The plants in your system are also part of your filtration process and so you must ensure that you have adequate surface growing area relative to the same of your fish tank. As a rule of thumb, if 1000 litres of water needs approximately 1 meter cubed of growbed media volume for filtration, then if your growbed is 25cms deep you will need a surface area of approximately 1m x 4m to ensure that there is approximately 1 meter cubed of media volume.

•The surface layer (5cms) - this is above the waterline and should not be wet - this reduces loss of water through evaporation.

•The root layer (20cms) - this is where your roots will be growing and where most plant activity will take place. This is layer is normally regularly flooded and drained.

• The solids layer (5cms) - this is where the solid waste will collect in your system and which will usually be constantly flooded with water.

From these layers we can work out a kind of 'ideal depth' of 30cms or 12 inches. Whilst this depth has been proven to be highly effective it is by no means then only depth that can be used. Aquaponics systems have been shown to work equally well with growbed depths of as little as 10cms or so - but care needs to be taken to always ensure that you have sufficient volume to provide adequate filtration for your system.

...and finally...

At the end of the day, don't feel that you have to use a specific size and type of growbed. As long as it is safe, strong and appropriately sized for the system that you are building, then it will be worth trying out.

If you can build a growbed that is 30cms deep then you can be confident that this is a tried-and-tested depth that has been proven to provide very effective results - but you can also rest assured that a shallower or deeper growbed is also likely to give you good results.

Keep in mind that of the four functions that a growbed traditionally performs, three of those are related to filtration, and so your main consideration when choosing a growbed size, is to ensure that it is able to provide adequate filtration for your own aquaponics system, including adequate planting area.

Don't be afraid to be creative - as long as you can follow the guidelines noted above, then try anything that you have to hand - or anything that you think would look great. Put safety first and you can't really go too far wrong

Aquaponics Guides: Growbed Advice

Types of Growing areas used

Aquaponics systems use several common components and the growbed (the hydroponic part of the system) is obviously one of the most crucial. The choice of growbed is also much debated, with newcomers to aquaponics often wondering what they can use, repurpose, build, scavenge or buy for use in their backyard aquaponics systems. Before looking at some of these choices we should note that there are three main types of growing systems that are usually used:

• DWC or Deep Water Channels, which are long, deep troughs that hold floating rafts

• NFT channels (Nutrient Film Technique) which are usually found in hydroponics setups.

• The final type is the media filled growbed, and this is the type that we will concentrate on in this article.

Types of Filtration

An aquaponics media filled growbed is simply a suitable container that is filled with a growing media such as gravel, hydroton or lava rock, and is the most commonly used type of growbed as it neatly performs four separate functions in an aquaponics setup. Firstly and most obviously it provides support for the plants up and provides somewhere for the roots to take hold. In addition to this, the media provides three separate filtering functions:

• Mechanical Filtration - the media helps to filter the solid waste in the water and to trap it in the bottom of the growbed.

• Mineralization - this is the process whereby the solid waste breaks down and is returned to the water so that the plants can use it.

• Biological filtration - the media provides extensive surface area for the beneficial bacteria to colonise.

As the media filled growbed performs all of these functions in one single place, it is one of the easiest, most space-efficient and also one of the most cost-effective ways to set up a new system. This is of particular concern to newcomers to aquaponics who may not feel comfortable with more complicated filtration systems, or who want the most hassle-free way to start supplementing their diets with fresh, nutritious produce grown via aquaponics.

So what can you use for a growbed?

The short answer is almost anything, but there are a number of things you should take into consideration, including whether your growbed will be located inside or outside. It goes without saying that the growbed needs to be waterproof, but you need to make absolutely certain of this.

It also needs to be strong enough to hold the media and the water - depending on the size of the growbed this could equate to a fairly significant amount of pressure... an important consideration if you decide to make a growbed yourself.

Any watertight, food-safe, fish-safe container can be used, and depending on the size of your whole aquaponics system that will leave you with several choices.

•Small systems can use food containers, plastic containers from the DIY store or IKEA, wooden boxes with a suitable liner - almost anything that will fit the size of your fish tank.

•Medium sized systems can use cut up IBC totes, Rubbermaid-type water troughs, animal feed troughs, concrete mixing troughs and similar things.

•Larger sized systems can use multiple units from above, hand built and lined wooden growbeds, and of course, commercially available aquaponics growbeds.

Aquaponics Growbed Materials

A growbed can be made out of a wide variety of materials but care should be taken to make sure it fulfills certain criteria. A growbed should be safe to use first and foremost, and should be made of a materials that will not leak unwanted chemicals into the water, or that will affect the pH of the water.

A growbed should ideally be made of a material that blocks out the sun, as direct sunlight can promote algae growth and can be detrimental to plant roots. If the growbed is being used outside then it will also need to be UV stabilized to ensure that it will not degrade in the sunlight and leach chemicals into the system.

Commonly used materials would be certain plastics, wood, fiberglass and anything with suitable waterproof liners. Concrete can also be used but care needs to be taken to seal the concrete first as concrete can affect negatively affect the water chemistry of your system.

Growbed depth and Size

An aquaponic growbed needs to be the right size to fit your fish tank volume. It needs to be able to provide adequate mechanical filtration and biological filtration for the nutrient-rich water, and so you should always consider the growbed and the fish tank together and use appropriately corresponding sizes.

A common rule of thumb is to use a 1-1 ratio. The growbed volume should be equal to the fish tank volume. This is by no means a hard-and-fast rule but serves as an outline guide.

The plants in your system are also part of your filtration process and so you must ensure that you have adequate surface growing area relative to the same of your fish tank. As a rule of thumb, if 1000 litres of water needs approximately 1 meter cubed of growbed media volume for filtration, then if your growbed is 25cms deep you will need a surface area of approximately 1m x 4m to ensure that there is approximately 1 meter cubed of media volume.

•The surface layer (5cms) - this is above the waterline and should not be wet - this reduces loss of water through evaporation.

•The root layer (20cms) - this is where your roots will be growing and where most plant activity will take place. This is layer is normally regularly flooded and drained.

• The solids layer (5cms) - this is where the solid waste will collect in your system and which will usually be constantly flooded with water.

From these layers we can work out a kind of 'ideal depth' of 30cms or 12 inches. Whilst this depth has been proven to be highly effective it is by no means then only depth that can be used. Aquaponics systems have been shown to work equally well with growbed depths of as little as 10cms or so - but care needs to be taken to always ensure that you have sufficient volume to provide adequate filtration for your system.

...and finally...

At the end of the day, don't feel that you have to use a specific size and type of growbed. As long as it is safe, strong and appropriately sized for the system that you are building, then it will be worth trying out.

If you can build a growbed that is 30cms deep then you can be confident that this is a tried-and-tested depth that has been proven to provide very effective results - but you can also rest assured that a shallower or deeper growbed is also likely to give you good results.

Keep in mind that of the four functions that a growbed traditionally performs, three of those are related to filtration, and so your main consideration when choosing a growbed size, is to ensure that it is able to provide adequate filtration for your own aquaponics system, including adequate planting area.

Don't be afraid to be creative - as long as you can follow the guidelines noted above, then try anything that you have to hand - or anything that you think would look great. Put safety first and you can't really go too far wrong

First Photo To My Project...