If you just started catfish farming at home, here is all you need to know about running a successful catfish farm in the United States. Many people start catfish farms and fail. What could be the cause of their failure?
Let’s consider the basics of helping a catfish survive, Then you can start considering making that money you want from raising and selling catfish as a full-time or a part-time business. Alabama state holds the majority of catfish farmers. About 90 percent of catfishes produced in the USA come from Alabama.
What is a catfish?
Catfish or Catfishes belong to the order Siluriformes. Catfish can grow to large sizes, and they survive in freshwater. This type of fish lacks scales and has whiskers around its head that look like cat whiskers.
Catfish business planning
Let’s get this straight. When starting any business, you must plan it well by researching. The common mistake that leads to most catfish farming businesses collapsing is the lack of planning. Assuming you have thousands of millions to spend on a catfish farm, you should take time to experiment with a pilot phase. You can start a catfish farm with a few catfishes to observe their behavior, their eating patterns, and any other behavior you can observe about catfish. Read Here: How to start a fish farm.
You will also need to plan how big you want your catfish to be after the pilot stage by assessing the strengths and weaknesses of your observations. The number of tanks or space you will need will depend on the catfish sizes you want to sell, staff size to assist on the farm, financial budgeting, cash inflow, and cash outflow. You may also want to check the catfish market patterns in your locality, pricing per kilogram or pounds, and the ready market available.
Water for catfish farming
Catfishes need a lot of water. You will need an abundance of water for a successful catfish farm. Considering your resources, if you want to use land, you need to check the water table of the land to know if you have excess water to run the farm. In cases where you have to dig a borehole, check the water quality to know if it is safe for them to survive.
In cases where you need to use tanks or constructed ponds, ensure the water is not chlorinated. You can get rid of chlorine by leaving water water in the open. Proximity to freshwater bodies or lakes can be your best option in refilling your catfish tanks. A deep and wide tank can take more fish, but the tank should never be overstocked or have the catfish overcrowded.
Feeding of catfish
Effective feeding of catfish is essential. To get your catfish to grow larger, you must feed them nutritional catfish-formulated feeds rich in high proteins. There is a notion with most people with knowledge of compounding their feed, but the truth is your feed may not contain all that is required for the catfishes to attain market size within the shortest period. Here is a list of catfish feed pellets for sale in the United States, and you can get them on Amazon.
List of catfish feed pellets
- Floating Catfish Chow, 32% Protein
- Tetra ShrimpWafers Complete Diet for Catfish
- Corta-Flx U-Gard Pellets
- Sera Catfish Chips
- API POND FISH FOOD
- Aqueon Cichlid Slow Sinking Fish Food Pellets
Catfish business and market research
While in the pilot phase of observing how catfish can adapt to the new environment, you can use this period to ask around the local market, eateries, and any fish consumption place you can find in or near your locality. You can also run price research by asking around or through surveys to strategize the cost of feeding the trending market concerning weight.
If you can get innovative, you can find ways to add value to the catfish you raise. Adding value to the catfish can bring a huge amount of money compared to selling fresh fish to the market.
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