FISH FARMING FOR ENTREPRENUERS: SERIES 1

In a local village, a farmer was returning from his farm, while crossing, the stream he caught a small fish, locally called ‘tarwada’ and commonly known as cat fish. He kept in his work bag and the time he arrived home, he realised the small fish was still alive!

Not sure of what to do with the little fish because it was too small for the pot, he decided to drop it in the tube-well of the family and forget it there. A year later, family members who fetched water from the well began to complain of the muddy and uncleaned nature of the water which was very unusual.

Young boys of the family to unravel the reasons/cause of the change so as to find out the problem, and behold a big fish was caught an important source of protein for the family.

The second episode is another area in a place where villagers continuously dig out suitable mud for bricks to build mud houses. Over the years, the excavated portion of the land became wide and deep so that large volume of rain water got conserved for domestic uses. A young boy who looked after herds of animals was coming home, caught some fish species in the river and decided to put them in the dugout pit. This pond usually retained water between the months of June and December, after which the water gradually recedes and dry up. During this period, the fish in the water have grown big and a source of meat for the family at Christmas.

These local scenarios are recounted to enable fisheries entrepreneurs to be on the watch out for all forms of water bodies around their environment whether large or small bodies, perennial or seasonal water sources that can be of economic value as we describe the conventional fish farming methods for beginners.

Agriculture (fish farming) is the controlled rearing of fish in ponds, farms, natural water bodies from juvenile and maturity. In aquaculture, feeding, pond fertilization and harvesting must be managed and controlled

Fish Ponds: Are the enclosures that hold and controls the system in which the fish lives.

TYPES OF PONDS: 

Earth Ponds, are usually done by digging out the soil to the required depth from a selected site that can retain water all year round or seasonally as the case recounted above.

Concrete Ponds: These are usually constructed with concrete slabs, blocks or filled in order concrete walls either above the ground or dug out below the ground. These are usually at homestead or backyards levels where water source is very stable. Construction of concrete ponds must be expertly done to tightly hold water not to allow seepage or become porous after construction.

Although recent results shows that dug out earthen ponds are more productive in fish yield, concrete ponds have become more popular at the family back yards with good yield and profits to house holds.

Apart from these types of ponds, there are others that can only be mentioned for the beginners, some of these are barrage, diversion, and parallel ponds based on there constructions.

Many families in the cities in recent times have adopted the use of cut out spacious plastic water tanks for the growing of fish with significant growth, especially the cat fish.

(This series will be continued with a look at the culture systems and practices, as well as the commonly cultured species of fish).

THIS ARTICLE IS RELATED TO

The Natifz Times Newspaper

Volume one Number four. At pg.9
By: Symon Gwan

symonngwan@gmail.com