A GUIDE TO QUALITY LOCAL CATFISH FEED PRODUCTION… Part ONE

QUALITY LOCAL CATFISH FEED PRODUCTION MADE EASY

Having stocked your fingerlings or juvenile catfish as the case may be, feeding the fish is a major activity that both takes your time and consumes your money. Before now, this was not too much of a concern but as of late, it is not only a major concern. It has become a serious threat to the once thriving industry and all those that are engaged in it. The reason being that the price of feed and feed stuff has not only gone up exorbitantly, the feed itself has become also very scarce. The alternative and the current quest now is for farmers to look inward for locally available feedstuff and personalized feed. While this quest is both necessary and noble, there is a need for better understanding of what it takes to feed catfish locally and how to go about making the feed available, affordable and in the right condition suitable for rapid growth and overall well-being of the catfish.  

In order to enhance rapid fish growth and development, good water quality and spacing must be combined with adequate high quality food for the fishes. This is because rapid fish growth is directly related to these and other factors. In fact the fishes must be provided with all food and nutrients that they need. The fish feed, especially the dry sinking pellets or floating feed, must be a balanced diet, consisting of protein, carbohydrate, fat & oil, vitamins and mineral salts.

You have a variety of feed options with which to feed the fishes at each growth stage. Irrespective of the option or type you are using, consideration must be made for a balanced diet with a feed crude protein content of at least 45% as at when the fishes are newly stocked, 40% as at three months and 35% beginning from the 5^th.There are three classes of feeds. They are natural, supplementary and complete feeds.

Examples of natural feeds include phytoplankton, zooplankton, snails, earthworms, insects, big ants, insects’ larva, maggots, termites, guppies, tadpoles and tilapia fries among many others. You can also use offal (wastes/trimmings such as heads, gills, intestines etc.) of different fishes, poultry and animals.. It should be noted that natural feeds grow fish better, more rapidly and makes them more active. Besides, they help to reduce your feed bill; especially maggots, guppies and tilapia. However, for the purpose of commercial farming, they should serve strictly as Supplementary feeds, that is, in addition to the complete commercial floating (extruded) or sinking (pelleted) feeds because you may not get enough to meet the demand of your fish.

Extruded (floating) complete commercial feeds are usually branded and are more expensive, but they are most reliable because of their stability in water for a long time and high nutrient content. They are readily available in most of the catfish farming centres nationwide. Examples are Coppens, Multifeed, Vitalfeed, Optimum, Zieglar, Aquamax, Top Feed, Sharp and a host of others.

A good number of pelleted feeds are also produced and branded by both local and foreign producers. They are a bit cheaper than floating feed; but less reliable because they disintegrate and dissolve faster in water and are thus subject to waste. However, the good news is that in almost all the catfish farming centres nationwide, local feed mills are available. They can produce for you based on your customized formulation at even a cheaper rate. Besides, you can also set up you own farm based feed mill. But my advice is: buy more of floating feed, at least, 70%.

However the purpose of this article is basically how you can source for or produce high quality cbut cheaper locally factory or farm made feed with which to feed your fish.

EXAMPLES OF DRY FEED INGREDIENTS

PROTEIN	CARBOHYDRATES	FAT & OIL	VITAMINS, MINERALS & DRUGS
Fish Meal	Maize	Vegetable oil	Fish  Premix
Blood Meal	Wheat offal	Full Fat Soya	Methionine
Soya Beans (cake)	Millet	Palm Kernel Cake	Lysine
Groundnut Cake	Waste Flour		Oxytetracycline
Crayfish	Brewery Wastes		Vitamin C
Shrimps	Sorghum		Salt
	Corn offal		Binder/ attractants/preservatives

It is a combination of some of these ingredients and others, not listed above that are used to produce feeds; whether pelleted or extruded. However, in producing your own feed, you must be mindful of the feed ingredients that are relatively cheaper and readily available in your immediate environment.

PLEASE NOTE THAT 
The information as contained herewith is based on the climatic and environmental conditions in Nigeria, which is a tropical country. Meanwhile, I will be quick to add that this article is an excerpt from the operational manual for commercial catfish farming titled AN ILLUSTRATED STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO COMMERCIAL CATFISH GROW OUT FARMING, also written by the author since 2003 now updated up to 2015. It will be useful to you; a beginner or an experienced farmer as a working and reference document. The soft copy (to be sent via email) COST 4,000 NAIRA, while the hard copy (to be sent via courier) goes for 6,500 naira. If you are interested please call: 08023620926; 09030301242 or send email to: festus.okpako88@gmail.com; festus,okpako@yahoo,com or foodscience.ng@gmail.com

PAYMENT DETAILS: Festus Okpako, first bank current account number 2006146470

Other available manuals:
#  AN ILLUSTRATED STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO COMMERCIAL CATFISH HATCHERY FARMING.  PRICE: 6,000 naira (soft copy); 8,000 naira (hard copy)
#   A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO COMMERCIAL CATFISH DISEASE MANAGEMENT   PRICE: 4,000 naira (soft copy); 6,000 naira (hard copy).

Please be reminded that all SOFT COPIES will be sent via email is available for now.