How Does A Fish Farm Make A Profit

It depend on which species you want to harvest and which aquaculture principle do you use to farm those fish.Most of fish farming cost come from fish feed expense,there are many aquaculture principle to reduce fish feed expanse. One of the things my teacher emphasized to me when he was teaching me was the importance of quality feed for your fishes; according to him, good feed is there on the same level with quality water, and it is often what determines the profitability of a farmer.

While most fish farmers focus only on getting inexpensive feed for their fishes, feeding your fishes should be less about the cost but more about the profit margin; so, you might be spending 3 to 4 times more than the average farmer on feed, but there’s nothing wrong with that if it makes your fishes 5 to 6 times bigger than their fishes, significantly increasing your profit margin.

How Does A Fish Farm Make A Profit

Types of Catfish Feed

Since there are different stages of catfish growth, there are different stages of fish feed; fish feed are often denoted in mm, so you’ll see/hear about 1.5mm feed, 1.8mm feed, 2mm feed, 4mm feed, 6mm feed etc.

There’s also extruded (or floating) and non-extruded (or sinking) feed. What I recommend is to give your fishes extruded (or floating) feed for up to 2 months before switching to the non-extruded (or sinking) feed.

Catfishes are mostly bottom feeders, so by their very nature they are designed to be eating non-extruded (or sinking) feed, but the reason I recommend giving them floating feed at the early stage is because they are more fragile then.

With floating feed, you can put the feed on the pond gradually and let them eat it; the risk of overfeeding is significantly reduced, thereby ensuring there is no water pollution that can lead to high mortality in your very fragile juveniles.

What Feed Size to Give Your Catfishes

Like I said earlier, there are various fish feed sizes, whether you go for floating or sinking feed; sinking feed is usually bigger, and longer, than floating feed.

From my experience, here are the different sizes I’m currently aware of:

1.5mm, 1.8mm, 2mm, 3mm, 4mm, 6mm, 8mm, 10mm, etc.

The bigger you fishes, the bigger the feed size they can pick.

Here’s what I recommend if you just stocked your ponds, if your fishes fall into the following categories:

• Fingerlings (3 to 4 grams): 1.5mm feed size
• Post-fingerlings (4 – 6 grams): 1.8mm feed size
• Juvenile (6 – 10 grams): 2mm feed size
• Post-juvenile (10 – 50 grams): 2mm feed size

As your fishes grow, the size of feed they can pick will increase. Here’s the feed size I recommend for bigger fishes, based on their size/weight, if you’re to give them floating feed:

• 10 – 50 grams: 2mm feed size
• 50 – 150 grams: 3mm feed size
• 150 – 400 grams: 4mm feed size

All things being equal, your fishes should be around 200 – 300 grams in 2 months with floating feed alone, if they are being fed properly; after then, you can switch to sinking feed and give them the following feed sizes:

• 200 – 300 grams: 2mm feed size
• 300 to 600 grams: 4mm feed size
• 600 grams to 1kg+: 6mm feed size

If your fishes exceed 1kg in weight, and you’re able to get bigger feed sizes, then you can consider giving them 8mm, or even later 10mm, feed sizes. 3 to 4kg fishes eat 6mm sinking feed just fine, though, so don’t worry too much if you can’t find bigger feed sizes.

How Does A Fish Farm Make A Profit

How Often Should You Feed Your Fishes?

How often you feed your fishes will differ depending on a lot of factors, but for the results I get – an average of 1.5kg to 2kg fish size in 6 months – here’s what I recommend:

• Fingerlings (3 to 4 grams): twice daily
• Post-fingerlings (4 – 6 grams): once or twice daily
• Juvenile (6 – 10 grams): once or twice daily
• Post-juvenile (10 grams and above): once daily
• Anything above post-juvenile: once daily

All things being equal, I feed my fishes daily until they reach the 6 months mark when I sell them; this is absolutely essential if you want optimal results.

Buy Fish Feed Or Produce Your Own Feed

In the short term, it is easier to buy feed, and in the long term, it is more profitable to buy a fish feed pellet machine to produce pellets. In the short time that I’ve been in this business, I’ve realized that you’ll be more profitable if you make your own feed as opposed to buying feed from major producers.

What are the equipment for producing fish feed pellets? Fish feed pellet machine, fish feed extruder and fish feed pellet production line equipment. How to choose? Choose according to output. If you produce one or two hundred kilograms of fish feed pellets, you can choose a single fish feed pellet machine. If it is more than 300 kilograms, it is recommended to directly install a fish feed pellet production line, including a fish feed extruder or a fish feed pellet machine.

Fish Feed Formula

Feed Formula for 200 – 600 Grams Catfish

Your catfishes are still very small and tender at this stage, so they need quality nutrient in their feed; this formula results in a feed rich in good protein but it is a bit expensive; it is not as expensive as using floating feed, though.

You should only have to use this feed formula for around 1 – 2 months.

1. Fish meal (Hanstholm, 72%): 25%
2. Soya Meal (or full fat soya): 30%
3. GNC (Groundnut cake): 20%
4. Dough/Maize/Biscuit (or other main forms of energy/carbohydrate): 20%
5. Molasses: 5%

(Based on this formula, 1 ton of fish feed will have: 250kg fish meal, 300kg soya meal, 200kg GNC, 200kg Dough, 50kg molasses)

1. Feed Formula for 600 Grams and Above
2. Fish meal (Hanstholm, 72%): 10%
3. Soya Meal (or full fat soya): 40%
4. GNC (Groundnut cake): 20%
5. Dough/Maize/Biscuit (or other main forms of energy/carbohydrate): 25%
6. Molasses: 5%

Based on this formula, 1 ton of fish feed will have: 100kg fish meal, 400kg soya meal, 200kg GNC, 250kg Dough, 50kg molasses.

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