A good benchmark for budget planning to grow catfish is estimating the cost required to feed the fish till they reach market size. I recommend that every fish farmer does this at the beginning of a fish growing cycle.
When feeding of catfish is done optimally, 1000 kilogrammes (kg) of feed will convert to 1000 kilogrammes of catfish flesh.
Method
You can choose to grow 1000 kg of catfish by:
- Growing 3000 pieces of catfish juveniles to average mass of 330 grammes in 3 months; or
- 2000 pieces of juveniles to average mass of 500 grammes in 4 months; or
- 1000 pieces of juveniles to average mass of 1 kg in 6 months.
Whichever method you choose from above, it is recommended that you grow with floating feed to 50% of body mass and complete with sinking feed for the remaining 50% of body mass.
Cost of feed (as of March, 2018) for raising 1 tonne of catfish.
- 500 kg of bagged floating feed will cost roughly N270, 000 (two hundred and seventy thousand naira); and
- 500 kg of bagged sinking feed will cost roughly N170, 000.
Going by the above you can estimate that it will cost you N440,000 to grow 1 tonne of catfish flesh.
Thank you.
Email: info@divinefish.com.ng.
