Principles for a successful fish farming business are a set of instructions to execute your fish farm properly, and smoothly. As we know fish farming business! It is very easy. Pour fingerlings on top of the water and sell the fish after a few months. No, it is not like that and as easy as we say. Success doesn’t come overnight, to become successful in any sector you have to be fully dedicated and well planned in that sector. Though the fish farming business is not too difficult, like all types of farming, it requires proper knowledge, hard work, daily effort, which are principles for a successful fish farming business.
Whatever it carp fish farming, catfish farming, tilapia farming, shrimp farming, eel fish farming, or any other fish farming to become a successful fish farmer you must follow the best 7 basic principles.
Table of Contents
Successful Fish Farming Business:
1. Choose Your Pond Site Carefully
Suitable site selection for a pond is one of the basic principles for a successful fish farming business. To select a suitable site you need to consider some important facts such as..
• Make sure your site has a clean water source and good soil.
• Make sure your site doesn’t flood.
• Build ponds close to homes for easy management and protection from predators and theft.
2. Construct Your Pond and Maintain It
• A minimum size would be 200 sq. m; however, fish farming becomes profitable when the total area of your fishponds equals at least 1,000 sq. m.
• Fertilize it, fill it with water, and allow it to sit.
• Check for problems, add more fertilizer, and begin stocking for a successful fish farming business.
3. Use The Best Quality Fingerlings
It is well known to all that if use the best fingerlings then you will get better output in fish farming and it one of the other basic principles for a successful fish farming business. So to collect your fingerlings you must be considered such things as bellow.
• Buy initial fingerlings from specialized fingerling producers.
• Avoid stocking stunted fingerlings; they will not grow well.
• Stock it with fish of about 20-30 g at the rate of 5 fingerlings per sq. m. if it’s are rui fish.
4. Feed Your Fish
• Continue to fertilize your pond until the water looks green.
• Supplement with feed made of 18% crude protein (which can be made from 30% roasted soya mixed with 70% maize or rice bran).
• Feed your fish at 3% body weight.
5. Manage Your Ponds
• Manage key factors: amount and quality of feed, water temperature, and oxygen content.
• Maintain the water level at 1 m in the deep end and 50 cm in the shallow end. Add water only if there are signs of oxygen depletion or when water levels drop by 15 cm.
• Be careful to control predatory animals and prevent theft.
6. Market Your Fish and Manage Your Money
• Sell fresh fish to urban markets at optimal prices.
• Plan for effective transportation and ice your fish to maintain freshness.
• Reinvest your income in new equipment as well as feed and fertilizer for the next cycle.
• Use your profits wisely for a successful fish farming business.
7. Keeping Record
Accountability is a precondition of any success, and keeping a record of any kind of activity is the pillar of the success of that activities. You may fail for the first time in any type of work, but the record will show you the way of success. So among the principles for a successful fish farming business, keeping records is a must.
• Keeping records is a precondition for any kind of project as well as fish farming business.
• You will know when to stock and harvest fish and how many fish have been stocked, harvested, and sold.
• If you do not write this information down, you can easily forget. Records will help you to keep on schedule, figure out how much fish you have produced, and calculate profits. Good records will help you to compare results from year to year.
• In this way, you can learn from your own experiences and know the methods that work best for you.
Fish farming can be a profitable business, but success and profit will not happen overnight. You have to work hard, be patient, learn well, and keep on learning. So, are you ready to start your fish farming business? Let’s start…
