Catfish farming in Nigeria is the cultivation of one or more finned fish primarily for commercial purposes. In this article, you will learn how to start your own successful catfish farming business in Nigeria. We will provide you with all catfish farming tips so you can start your own catfish farming for profit. In terms of aquaculture, catfish farming is the most profitable in Nigeria. By the way, floating fish feed pellet machine is the indispensable equipment to make fish feed pellets.

There are various ways to start a catfish business. Catfish farming is a simple and flexible livestock based business and you can start anywhere, especially in tropical climates like Nigeria. In addition, catfish farming can be done where you live, especially if you have large yards. Yes, you can start catfish farming at home.

Around the world, there are so many fish, some of them include: pangas catfish, greasy grouper, big fish, grass fish, silver snapper, common catla, Nile tilapia and so on. But most fish are not suitable for farming in Nigeria. The most common fish in Nigeria are tilapia and catfish, and later catfish are the most common.

Machines For Making Catfish Fish Feed

Fish feed extruder machine is widely used in making both floating fish feed and sinking feed pellets for aquaculture farms and feed plants. Through the fish feed extruder we can use cheap local raw materials to produce high-quality fish feed, which may save feed costs.

Profitability Of Catfish Farming In Nigeria

As mentioned, catfish is one of the most consumed sources of animal protein in Nigeria. Catfish farmers feed on everything from local chili soups to roadside barbecue vendors to upscale restaurants. Please note that this is a home purchased for daily use. Catfish is in far greater demand than supply, and will continue to grow due to its huge health benefits. Because fish grow very fast, turnover is very high. If you put your best efforts into this profitable business, you can make a huge profit, and I can assure that you should break even in a few months.

Decide What Size Of Farm You Plan To Have

The size of your catfish farm depends of course, on the starting capital you have. You can start from small-scale catfish farming using one tank or a small pond. Catfish farming in tanks is an option for temporary business, if you want to have a real profitable long-term business, you should think about catfish farm in a pound. However, in order to avoid harm and money loss, it is better to start from small, to understand how this business works. Your business should not do any harm to the environment. Try to choose the proper place taking into account the size of the future farm, necessity of water supply and of course, not to spend a small fortune.

Feeding The Catfish

Feeding catfish is far from an exact science. It’s a very subjective process, catfish farmers are different. Changes in feeding methods are the result of many factors, such as cropping systems, fish size, the ability to manage water quality, the experience of feeding labor, and difficulties in estimating fish stocks.

In general, fish should be fed once a day as they will be consumed without adversely affecting water quality. During the warmer months, most catfish producers feed once a day, seven days a week. While feeding twice a day may slightly improve species growth, the logistics of feeding multiple times on large catfish farms make it impractical.

Health And Environmental Concerns

Keep your fish healthy, make a point to detect early signs of diseases, and take the necessary actions to prevent them. Follow safety guidelines and medication regulations for your fish farm. Know what chemicals are safe to use and how to treat diseases and the water in an eco-friendly manner to treat diseases and pests. Several chemicals such as copper sulfate, formalin, hydrogen peroxide, and povidone iodine are FDA approved and are safe to use in your pond for treating catfish diseases.

Challenges Affecting Catfish Farming In Nigeria

Though this is one of the most lucrative businesses in Nigeria today, it has several challenges that are not just peculiar to the Nigerian terrain, but are faced generally.

1. Fish farming is capital intensive.
2. Acquiring of suitable land for siting the farm.
3. Depending on the scale at which you operate, it can be labor intensive.
4. Lack of technical knowhow.
5. Pest activities.
6. There is usually cannibalism among the fish.

Fusmar Industry produces floating fish feed machine, sinking fish feed machine, and fish feed production line, these machines are used for making fish food pellets.

Fish feed pellet machine, the main equipment is “screw extruder”. The main kinds are fish feed extruder, soybean/corn extruder, and feather extruder. Fish feed extruder is the common machine in the fish feed production line, which includes a single screw extruder and twin screw extruder.   

Extrusion Process And Main Kinds Applied In Feed Production

The material is fed into the fish feed extruder and moves in the form of an axial flow under the screw power. At the same time, due to the mechanical friction between the screw and the material, the material and the barrel, and the material particles, the material is strongly squeezed, stirred, and sheared. As a result, the material is further refined and homogenized. With the gradual increase of pressure, the temperature rises accordingly. Under the condition of high temperature, high pressure, and high shear, the physical properties of the material have changed as follows:

1. From powder to paste.

2. Gelatinization of starch.

3. Protein denaturation.

4. Partial degradation and refinement of fiber.

5. Pathogenic bacteria were killed.

6. Health indicators are improved.

7. Toxic components were inactivated.

When the paste material extruded from the die hole, under the influence of strong pressure difference, the material is expanded, dehydrated, and cooled. The final product is of loose and porous structure, crisp, good palatability, and flavor. 

Extrusion Process And Characteristics Of Extruded Products

1. Biochemical Process

The process of hydrothermal treatment is accompanied by the biochemical change process of the material. Some materials, such as oilseeds and their cakes, contain a variety of anti-nutrients and anti-feeding ingredients. Under certain moisture and certain temperature conditions, these active substances gradually lose their activity, weakening the destruction of digestive enzymes inside the digestive system of animals, which improves absorption rate and reduces excretion. This not only improves the nutrition value of feed, but also reduces waste and environmental pollution. From the view of the biochemical process, the extruder is a “biochemical reactor.”

2. High-temperature and short-term germicidal detoxification process 

The highest temperature in the puffing process can reach(130-160) °C, while the material in the high-temperature segment is very short, about 5-10 seconds. High temperature can not only kill pathogens and health indications, but also can inactive a variety of harmful factors and enzymes, improving the feed quality. 

3. Better chemical stability and longer quality guarantee period

High temperatures cause various microorganisms and parasitic ovum to be killed and various enzymes( such ad oxidase, lipase, etc.) are inactivated. That excludes a wide range of factors that contribute to the deterioration of the material.

4. Wide range of process adaptability

The extrusion process can not only improve the feeding quality of a variety of common feed materials, but also can process a large number of unconventional materials into high-quality feed materials, which include wild plants, agricultural by-product, slaughter waste and of livestock and poultry, etc. Fish feed extruder can produce a variety of different specifications and quality of livestock poultry materials, aquatic feed, pets feed, etc. At the same time, the extrusion process is also the most effective technique for the detoxification, preservation, and processing of grain cakes and deep processing of grain.

5. High-grade product features

Extrusion products are loose and crunchy after being cooled, composite products produced by various components, and Maillard reaction due to high temperature. All these factors constitute better palatability over the original mixture and  have a special flavor. These characteristics induce animal feed to intake, thus increasing feed intake and feed effectiveness. This is completely different from the addition of phagostimulant to the mixture, which often has negative effects. 

6. It can produce special feed with different shape

According to the user’s requirements, changing the model design can produce different shapes of large particles, large blocks or bar-like materials, such as prawn feed, pet feed, rare animal feed, etc. This is what the ring die pellet machine can’t do.

7. Higher digestion rate

For those suckling pigs whose digestive system is not well developed, the starch in the weaning material requires the gelatinization degree of more than 90%. And the aquatic animals also requires the gelatinization degree of the feed should also be higher because their absorption capacity of the original degree is poor. Extruder machine can realize it well.

Therefore, it is better to use extruder than ring die pellet machine to produce aquatic products because due to the temperature restriction, the gelatinization degree of starch processed by ring die pellet machine can not be high, which is generally no more than 50%.

Gelatinization not only improves digestibility, but also improves granulation and shaping because dextrins are good binders. The gelatinized starch molecules crosslink each other to form a network-like spatial structure, lose some moisture after being instantaneously expanded, and become a skeleton of the expanded product after cooling, so that the product maintains a certain shape.