robonski15:


Hello sir we would love to see some pictures of the hatchery.. God bless

soft777:
MR Puffynana i will give u a write up tomorrow on the best business report ,in a way that you can start making profit in your first 3 to 4 months and how u can shear your ponds to get monthly sales .your profit will be like your salary . It pains me when i see people leave fish farming cause of looses and it gladens my heart to see new people come in. we shall help by GOD grace , guide you, so that u will not regret starting this business . PROF ROBONSKI PLEASE WELCOME OUR NEW COLLEAGUE TO THE BUSINESS

superman007:
OK Rob will do, I will take pix from the initial look till the final result, the site of the hatchery was formerly a pig slaughter that hasn't been used in over 8yrs so am clearing it up and disinfecting, the advantage to me here was the raised slabs so siphoning Fry's will be easy.

puffynana:

Sir soft777 and prof robonski15 please sirs we new intending farmers on here are waiting diligently for the said plan

soft777:
Very sorry was a little busy , tonight i will do the write up for u ,thank you sir

robonski15:
Its just 14 days to the practical training.. Thanks for all your response.. Preparations has commenced already to give you the best training.. God bless

abidecz:
My ogas how can I work out my small outlet to big one

Annabechick:
Hello house just found out that 1 of my fish has a swollen stomach! And also we found a dead one yesterday but b4 we could bring it out its fellow fish ate it! Please what could be the possible cause for the swollen stomach?

vickychuk:
pls my ogas in the house can someone kindly explain the concept of feed conversation ratio (FCR)
how is it calculated?
Should we aim for a high or less figure?
Thank YOU.

Blizzle:
Your write-ups are always very insightful, educating and enlightening.

However I would be happy if u can paragraph future right ups for easy reading. You can put a line-space after every paragraph. That makes long write-ups easier to read on all devices.

Thanks a lot for ur effort at schooling we newbies to profitable aquaculture.

soft777:
A catfish business write up does not really need elaborate or long write up, i will concentrate on the variable cost ,which is the daily or monthly cost of running a catfish farm ,why the fixed cost are like land , ponds and water source either well borehole or stream. For any new fish farmer, i want you to have this in mind for maximum profit, 1, Source of fingerling 2, Cost of quality feed and quantity of feed fed , 3, Water management . If u get this 3 things correct you can never run at a lost by Gods grace, now according to most new comers here, sine you say u already have land, ponds and water . I will say that, try to make sure u do flow through system or if you do not have good irrigation system, then do a regular change of water at maximum 3 days water change ,to ensure wellness and oxygen . Now taking our fixed cost constant , lets concentrate on variable cost . I personally call it the left and right equation which is, cost of production ( CP ) should be lesser than the cost at sales ( CS) this equal to profit ....... CP < CS = PROFIT . Now for a business plan on how you do your cost , I will use a single fish to do this analysis . If u buy a standard fingerling for 15 naira which i know u can get from mr robonski for far less like 8 naira, and your cost of energy which is 25 naira per fish for 4 months , cost of labour or staff which is also 25 naira per fish , cost to feeding fingerling for four months to table size using foreign feed is 130 naira per fish , miscellinious expenses like drugs, transport etc at 25 naira per fish .Remember we are dealing with only your variable cost , so fix cost is not included . With this calculation we will have ONE FINGERLINGS 15 NAIRA ; ENERGY 25NAIRA ; LABOUR 25NAIRA ; FEED 130 NAIRA; MISCELLINIOUS 25 NAIRA = 220 naira total to grow 1 fingerling to table size using foreign or floating feed , so in a good time and area you sell table sizes at 500 naira per kg when u subtract u will have 280 naira per fish .lets say u stock 1000 fingerlings that will be 1000 multiply by 280 naira you get 280 thousand naira profit , but this profit is for 4 months of rearing , so if u want to make it your monthly salary ,then you should have 4 to 5 thanks to harvest 1 each month . But the truth is , to get this profit you have to follow the rearing methods to the later or else you can rear for 6 months without getting 1kg fish . To increase profit , is to increase the number of fish and from the calculation, you can see the feed carries the highest amount , so what you do is to reduce feed cost, is to turn to local feed which may reduce your cost from 130 naira to 90 or 80 naira which depends on your knowledge of feed formulation ,i will guide u on making a gelatin fish feed or locally semi floating feed cheap quality to help you maximize your profit . So for a starter to raise 1 fish ,it cost 220 naira and u want to rear 1000, then u need 220 thousand naira ,considering u have land pond and water source ,this is for a simple normal system .If you are going commercial that is intensive or super intensive then your cost of production will reduce by one quarter .This implies that the larger your fish ,the lower your cost of production because same pond size used for 1000 fish in a simple system can be used to rear 2000 or more in an intensive or super intensive system and your laboure , energy etc remains almost the same .If i did not mention any particular area of your intrest , then u can ask me a direct question on my whatsapp thank you. goodluck.

soft777:
A catfish business write up does not really need elaborate or long write up, i will concentrate on the variable cost ,which is the daily or monthly cost of running a catfish farm ,why the fixed cost are like land , ponds and water source either well borehole or stream. For any new fish farmer, i want you to have this in mind for maximum profit, 1, Source of fingerling 2, Cost of quality feed and quantity of feed fed , 3, Water management . If u get this 3 things correct you can never run at a lost by Gods grace, now according to most new comers here, sine you say u already have land, ponds and water . I will say that, try to make sure u do flow through system or if you do not have good irrigation system, then do a regular change of water at maximum 3 days water change ,to ensure wellness and oxygen . Now taking our fixed cost constant , lets concentrate on variable cost . I personally call it the left and right equation which is, cost of production ( CP ) should be lesser than the cost at sales ( CS) this equal to profit ....... CP < CS = PROFIT . Now for a business plan on how you do your cost , I will use a single fish to do this analysis . If u buy a standard fingerling for 15 naira which i know u can get from mr robonski for far less like 8 naira, and your cost of energy which is 25 naira per fish for 4 months , cost of labour or staff which is also 25 naira per fish , cost to feeding fingerling for four months to table size using foreign feed is 130 naira per fish , miscellinious expenses like drugs, transport etc at 25 naira per fish .Remember we are dealing with only your variable cost , so fix cost is not included . With this calculation we will have ONE FINGERLINGS 15 NAIRA ; ENERGY 25NAIRA ; LABOUR 25NAIRA ; FEED 130 NAIRA; MISCELLINIOUS 25 NAIRA = 220 naira total to grow 1 fingerling to table size using foreign or floating feed , so in a good time and area you sell table sizes at 500 naira per kg when u subtract u will have 280 naira per fish .lets say u stock 1000 fingerlings that will be 1000 multiply by 280 naira you get 280 thousand naira profit , but this profit is for 4 months of rearing , so if u want to make it your monthly salary ,then you should have 4 to 5 thanks to harvest 1 each month . But the truth is , to get this profit you have to follow the rearing methods to the later or else you can rear for 6 months without getting 1kg fish . To increase profit , is to increase the number of fish and from the calculation, you can see the feed carries the highest amount , so what you do is to reduce feed cost, is to turn to local feed which may reduce your cost from 130 naira to 90 or 80 naira which depends on your knowledge of feed formulation ,i will guide u on making a gelatin fish feed or locally semi floating feed cheap quality to help you maximize your profit . So for a starter to raise 1 fish ,it cost 220 naira and u want to rear 1000, then u need 220 thousand naira ,considering u have land pond and water source ,this is for a simple normal system .If you are going commercial that is intensive or super intensive then your cost of production will reduce by one quarter .This implies that the larger your fish ,the lower your cost of production because same pond size used for 1000 fish in a simple system can be used to rear 2000 or more in an intensive or super intensive system and your laboure , energy etc remains almost the same .If i did not mention any particular area of your intrest , then u can ask me a direct question on my whatsapp thank you. goodluck.

Fhemmmy:


Thanks for sharing your experience. ...... this looks good on paper but could you tell us about yiur last cycle in detail using the above and please be open with the house that you actually made 280 Naira per your fish in the cycle?

Please note I am not worthy to challenge you sir, so dont see this as a challenge but instead wanna learn from practical farmer, too many internet fish farmers with "too good to be true" numbers and that has made many people make so much mistakes and even lost their life savings. ......

But yiu sounded like you know your onions and would love you to share your experience of one or 2 of your cycle with us.

Thanks in anticipation to reading from man of your caliber sir.

Your humble novice

soft777:
Good question this explanation can take me 2 days infact its a complete book to explain ,thats why i particularly told the new farmers who need my guide to contact me via whats app . rather than i would like you to also enlighten me or the house on your own method and i will point out were u went wrong or right . My write up are based on my farm experiences and method .and mind you am not an internet farmer , if u want a practical guide you can make an arrangement to visit my farm .

soft777:
Good question this explanation can take me 2 days infact its a complete book to explain ,thats why i particularly told the new farmers who need my guide to contact me via whats app . rather than i would like you to also enlighten me or the house on your own method and i will point out were u went wrong or right . My write up are based on my farm experiences and method .and mind you am not an internet farmer , if u want a practical guide you can make an arrangement to visit my farm .

bily:


Nice write up with priceless info.
a quick questions.. .

. How did you come about N130 for feeding 1 fish especially since you mentioned using IMPORTED FLOATING FEED.

Let's even assume there's the possibility of buying a good imported floating feed @ N5000 for 15kg bag. That already translates to N333 per kg of feed.

In your 2nd write up about fcr, you mentioned for catfish fcr of 1.2 is the average value.

Now let's assume it's possible to get fcr of 1.0 which means 1kg of feed will grow a one fingerling to 1kg table size. From above calculation that's N333 to grow one fingerlings to 1kg.

So your N130 using floating imported feed to feed one fingerling to 1kg is not really clear, kindly educate me, seems I'm missing something.

Fhemmmy:


My chairman, I will be an ingrate to call man of your calibre and iroko an internet farmer, I have never seen you before but you surely sound like an experienced.farmer and I believe you but I just wanna learn from you sir.
Where is your farm and the capacity?
Also, are you able to attain that kinda result at all times of your stocking?

puffynana:



Thanks sir for the business report. As u mentioned I av just one more question. How do you measure the amount of feed you give to fishes. I believe that there should be recommended gram for one fish or any other measurements. Thanks

soft777:
Very sorry if i sounded a little bit upset accept my apology . You see GOD is the author of everything , we only try our best to distribute the little knowledge we have at no extra cost for everyone to benefit .When i guide new farmers i always guide them on new mordern and cheap practices, those that contact me via whatsapp can testify to great increase on there farms output, , you see , many farmers makes a lot of mistakes, though they realise profit but ,my write up is to give them tips to increase there profits , i give my consultancy for free even on my whats app . But there are a lot of factors we just joke about in the business , things we just say it dosent really matter ; but my brother it matters greatly. let me put some things to you . DO YOU KNOW ONLY TEMPERATURE CHANGE CAN AFFECT YOUR FCR .. what are the best temperature to attain best fcr ? What ph is best ? what time of feeding is best ? what best water qualit? what best suplimentary feed ? what local cheap feed with higher crude protein ? what best environmental requirements . like shading your fish , do u know catfish grows faster when confined in a dark environment ? How do u determin your fingerlings are got from broods weighing 2kg and above ? . i can name a lot more ... thats why sometimes visiting a high capacity farm can help explain these things better , but am not here to scare people; but i want you to know even at your backyard you can have high capacity . Its just talking to the right consultant to put u through , less i forget do u know , polyculture of catfish and tilapia is no longer in vogue , it has just been determine that african catfish are not good predators and tend to burn there energy needed to convert feed to flesh in runing after tilapia fries in a polyculture system . these are latest discovries . There are better and best ways u can feed your tillapia fries or fingerlings to your catfish without additional cost , and this can save your feed tremendously because with this new and simple process , you can skip a day feed of the more costly pellet feed in that you feed tilapia fries today at no cost and you feed your foreign feed the next day . Calculate how much your profit will increase , when u have to cut your total feed fed by half. In the fish world there are latest and cheap modification for profit maximization .. we can not complete all in just one write up . its wider than that. THANK YOU

soft777:
Very intelligent question , from your calculation you did a mathematical simultaneous equation to get 5000 divide by 15kg to get 333 naira . In the mathematical world you are very correct, but in fish, livestock and poultry , it is not calculated that way .Your calculations are based on optimal feed consumption and growth but in reality the growth rate of fish is not constant, so using a simultaneous equation to calculate live fish , can never be feasible , Growth rate is never constant .In the determination of how much feed, a fish will eat for 4 months , all variables are never constant, because its not the same amount of feed, that 1000 fingerlings will eat, that 1000 juvenile will also eat .This implies that as fish grows its feed more and its fcr increases . So instead of using simultaneous equation, you should use an inversely proportional method to do your calculation. But i will use a simpler method to do this calculation so that others can understand better . Now we have what we call GROWTH RATE and BODY WEIGHT , these are variables as fish grows . Using the growth rate chart , cart fish have lowest fcr at younger age than when they are grown . This means that, they eat less to grow more at younger age, if u have seen the growth rate chart, u will observe a very fast rise in the graph , and as the fish grows more than jumbo size , you still continue to see an increase , till it gets to optimal point at 4 months , like your calculations it starts to drop . This implies that if u dont sell at optimum point , you will start to run at a lost, that is the reason why many fish farmers run at a lost, they sell at wrong time and the fish consumes all there profit as feed .If u dont know your optimum point you can be feeding your fish ,and they will just consume the feed without adding any significant weight gain . This is the secret of catfish farming business . Many people go into catfish hatchery because at small stage or lower age , catfish fcr is very low , so hatcheries tend to make better profit than grow out , but the technicality of hatchery management is more risky , because if u dont know it , you can run at a very big loss in a very short time .This is one of the reasons fish farmers, prefare grow out farming because of less technique and less risk . Now for feed , most of my write up are based on cost reduction but quality feed . i in particular i cartegorise both nigerian made floating feed and the exported feed as foreign because ,most imported feed are so high not because of the feed have much better quality but because of the fall in nigerian currency in the world market . Please note, am not trying to spoil any feed sellers business here . I cant buy a floating feed for more than 4k , i dont mind buying the nigerian made , even if the fish smell in the nigerian made is not as strong as the imported type . What is important is the balance nutrients in the feed , and a little secret is adding or mixing fish oil with the nigerian feed . Fish oil cost about 60 naira per liter .The oil gives the feed a stronger fish smell and it also serves as an attractant to your fish. when you try it ,You will discover how aggresively your fish will feed ,when they smell the fish oil . My calculation are based on cheapest floating feed , 4000 naira , now for our simple calculations . In fish farming we have different stages , fingerlings, juveniles, mellange and table size , at these stages their feed quantity or amount feed differs . So to get our optimal point using my feed amount and quantity , i buy 15kg feed for 4000 naira this means, with a good fcr i will be having 4000 divide by 15 that will give me 266 naira, at a good fcr. Now for first stage fingerlings, u feed one quarter of the body weight this implies 266 divid by 4 this gives 66 naira at fingerlings stage, at juvenile/ JUMBO STAGE you feed one third body weight this implies that 266 divide 3 u get 88 naira , then at melange u feed half body weight this implies that 266 divide by 2 u get 133 naira and at last stage grow out ,u feed optimal fcr which is 266 naira... You can see at each stages, as they grow the amount of money spent increases , so to get the average, u add all the 4 amounts divide by 4 you will get 66 plus 88 plus 133 plu 266 u get total 553 naira . then divide by 4 to get your average amount spend per fish this will sum to 553 divide 4 and you will get 138 naira. Now it dosent end there , i said 130 naira . You should know for example when you stock 1000 fishes , lets say they eat 1 bag in 3 days, and so when u stock 2000 fishes to a lay man, he will say they will eat 2 bags in 3 days ,but its wrong . calculation in fish is not just ordinary mathematics . You have to remove or subtract one quarter in every additional stock ,that is why, in mellange fish farming, when u stock at high density u make more profit , than stocking at normal density. This is the advantages of high super intensive capacity farm . We have many such farms in Nigeria , i dont want to mention names . In my farm, if i tell u i feed locally made feed through out a cycle ,and i get far better results than any foreign feed using super intensive system to get maximum profit. MY profits are far higher than the 280 i calculated ,i know many people will say how come , but we will leave that for another day.So going back to our calculations , if we remove three quarter as we increase stock , the calculated 138 will be 130. but these calculations varies from farms to farms and it also depends on management and system adopted . i hope this cleriffy your doubt , GODBLESS

Annabechick:
Hello house just found out that 1 of my fish has a swollen stomach! And also we found a dead one yesterday but b4 we could bring it out its fellow fish ate it! Please what could be the possible cause for the swollen stomach?

soft777:
Good question this explanation can take me 2 days infact its a complete book to explain ,thats why i particularly told the new farmers who need my guide to contact me via whats app . rather than i would like you to also enlighten me or the house on your own method and i will point out were u went wrong or right . My write up are based on my farm experiences and method .and mind you am not an internet farmer , if u want a practical guide you can make an arrangement to visit my farm .

soft777:
A catfish business write up does not really need elaborate or long write up, i will concentrate on the variable cost ,which is the daily or monthly cost of running a catfish farm ,why the fixed cost are like land , ponds and water source either well borehole or stream. For any new fish farmer, i want you to have this in mind for maximum profit, 1, Source of fingerling 2, Cost of quality feed and quantity of feed fed , 3, Water management . If u get this 3 things correct you can never run at a lost by Gods grace, now according to most new comers here, sine you say u already have land, ponds and water . I will say that, try to make sure u do flow through system or if you do not have good irrigation system, then do a regular change of water at maximum 3 days water change ,to ensure wellness and oxygen . Now taking our fixed cost constant , lets concentrate on variable cost . I personally call it the left and right equation which is, cost of production ( CP ) should be lesser than the cost at sales ( CS) this equal to profit ....... CP < CS = PROFIT . Now for a business plan on how you do your cost , I will use a single fish to do this analysis . If u buy a standard fingerling for 15 naira which i know u can get from mr robonski for far less like 8 naira, and your cost of energy which is 25 naira per fish for 4 months , cost of labour or staff which is also 25 naira per fish , cost to feeding fingerling for four months to table size using foreign feed is 130 naira per fish , miscellinious expenses like drugs, transport etc at 25 naira per fish .Remember we are dealing with only your variable cost , so fix cost is not included . With this calculation we will have ONE FINGERLINGS 15 NAIRA ; ENERGY 25NAIRA ; LABOUR 25NAIRA ; FEED 130 NAIRA; MISCELLINIOUS 25 NAIRA = 220 naira total to grow 1 fingerling to table size using foreign or floating feed , so in a good time and area you sell table sizes at 500 naira per kg when u subtract u will have 280 naira per fish .lets say u stock 1000 fingerlings that will be 1000 multiply by 280 naira you get 280 thousand naira profit , but this profit is for 4 months of rearing , so if u want to make it your monthly salary ,then you should have 4 to 5 thanks to harvest 1 each month . But the truth is , to get this profit you have to follow the rearing methods to the later or else you can rear for 6 months without getting 1kg fish . To increase profit , is to increase the number of fish and from the calculation, you can see the feed carries the highest amount , so what you do is to reduce feed cost, is to turn to local feed which may reduce your cost from 130 naira to 90 or 80 naira which depends on your knowledge of feed formulation ,i will guide u on making a gelatin fish feed or locally semi floating feed cheap quality to help you maximize your profit . So for a starter to raise 1 fish ,it cost 220 naira and u want to rear 1000, then u need 220 thousand naira ,considering u have land pond and water source ,this is for a simple normal system .If you are going commercial that is intensive or super intensive then your cost of production will reduce by one quarter .This implies that the larger your fish ,the lower your cost of production because same pond size used for 1000 fish in a simple system can be used to rear 2000 or more in an intensive or super intensive system and your laboure , energy etc remains almost the same .If i did not mention any particular area of your intrest , then u can ask me a direct question on my whatsapp thank you. goodluck.

soft777:
Very intelligent question , from your calculation you did a mathematical simultaneous equation to get 5000 divide by 15kg to get 333 naira . In the mathematical world you are very correct, but in fish, livestock and poultry , it is not calculated that way .Your calculations are based on optimal feed consumption and growth but in reality the growth rate of fish is not constant, so using a simultaneous equation to calculate live fish , can never be feasible , Growth rate is never constant .In the determination of how much feed, a fish will eat for 4 months , all variables are never constant, because its not the same amount of feed, that 1000 fingerlings will eat, that 1000 juvenile will also eat .This implies that as fish grows its feed more and its fcr increases . So instead of using simultaneous equation, you should use an inversely proportional method to do your calculation. But i will use a simpler method to do this calculation so that others can understand better . Now we have what we call GROWTH RATE and BODY WEIGHT , these are variables as fish grows . Using the growth rate chart , cart fish have lowest fcr at younger age than when they are grown . This means that, they eat less to grow more at younger age, if u have seen the growth rate chart, u will observe a very fast rise in the graph , and as the fish grows more than jumbo size , you still continue to see an increase , till it gets to optimal point at 4 months , like your calculations it starts to drop . This implies that if u dont sell at optimum point , you will start to run at a lost, that is the reason why many fish farmers run at a lost, they sell at wrong time and the fish consumes all there profit as feed .If u dont know your optimum point you can be feeding your fish ,and they will just consume the feed without adding any significant weight gain . This is the secret of catfish farming business . Many people go into catfish hatchery because at small stage or lower age , catfish fcr is very low , so hatcheries tend to make better profit than grow out , but the technicality of hatchery management is more risky , because if u dont know it , you can run at a very big loss in a very short time .This is one of the reasons fish farmers, prefare grow out farming because of less technique and less risk . Now for feed , most of my write up are based on cost reduction but quality feed . i in particular i cartegorise both nigerian made floating feed and the exported feed as foreign because ,most imported feed are so high not because of the feed have much better quality but because of the fall in nigerian currency in the world market . Please note, am not trying to spoil any feed sellers business here . I cant buy a floating feed for more than 4k , i dont mind buying the nigerian made , even if the fish smell in the nigerian made is not as strong as the imported type . What is important is the balance nutrients in the feed , and a little secret is adding or mixing fish oil with the nigerian feed . Fish oil cost about 60 naira per liter .The oil gives the feed a stronger fish smell and it also serves as an attractant to your fish. when you try it ,You will discover how aggresively your fish will feed ,when they smell the fish oil . My calculation are based on cheapest floating feed , 4000 naira , now for our simple calculations . In fish farming we have different stages , fingerlings, juveniles, mellange and table size , at these stages their feed quantity or amount feed differs . So to get our optimal point using my feed amount and quantity , i buy 15kg feed for 4000 naira this means, with a good fcr i will be having 4000 divide by 15 that will give me 266 naira, at a good fcr. Now for first stage fingerlings, u feed one quarter of the body weight this implies 266 divid by 4 this gives 66 naira at fingerlings stage, at juvenile/ JUMBO STAGE you feed one third body weight this implies that 266 divide 3 u get 88 naira , then at melange u feed half body weight this implies that 266 divide by 2 u get 133 naira and at last stage grow out ,u feed optimal fcr which is 266 naira... You can see at each stages, as they grow the amount of money spent increases , so to get the average, u add all the 4 amounts divide by 4 you will get 66 plus 88 plus 133 plu 266 u get total 553 naira . then divide by 4 to get your average amount spend per fish this will sum to 553 divide 4 and you will get 138 naira. Now it dosent end there , i said 130 naira . You should know for example when you stock 1000 fishes , lets say they eat 1 bag in 3 days, and so when u stock 2000 fishes to a lay man, he will say they will eat 2 bags in 3 days ,but its wrong . calculation in fish is not just ordinary mathematics . You have to remove or subtract one quarter in every additional stock ,that is why, in mellange fish farming, when u stock at high density u make more profit , than stocking at normal density. This is the advantages of high super intensive capacity farm . We have many such farms in Nigeria , i dont want to mention names . In my farm, if i tell u i feed locally made feed through out a cycle ,and i get far better results than any foreign feed using super intensive system to get maximum profit. MY profits are far higher than the 280 i calculated ,i know many people will say how come , but we will leave that for another day.So going back to our calculations , if we remove three quarter as we increase stock , the calculated 138 will be 130. but these calculations varies from farms to farms and it also depends on management and system adopted . i hope this cleriffy your doubt , GODBLESS

soft777:
I have treated this topic FCR before, but for more understanding i will elaborate. FCR is the basics of all animals, poultry and fish farming ,it is used to determine the amount of feed that goes into your animal to determine the amount of tissue or flesh your fish gains , to avoid wasting ,since fish is almost 65 to 70 percent of your total cost of production. Before i calculate , it should be noted that any fish farmer who do no know its feed conversion
ratio is doing the business blindly; sorry for the word but its the truth , because your fcr will help determine how much profit you get at the end of a cycle. TO get optimum result in your profit , you can do a 2 weeks or monthly interval calculation by having a good record of your fish first weight when you stock. Using the method i apply on my farm , i do the 2 weeks interval, lets say i stocked some fingerlings last 2 weeks in my farm, and i weighed 10 fingerlings to give me 50 grams and after 2 weeks i weighed 10 of the fishes and it gave me 100 grams this implies that my fish are now 100 minus 50 = 50 grams , this implies that my fishes have gained extra 50 grams in 2 weeks of feeding , but this is not the fcr but its called the weight gained . The fcr still depends on the amount or quantity of feed , the fishes will eat for the 2 weeks , so if they eat 60 kg that is 4 bag of feed for this 2 weeks interval. It means to calculate fcr you divide the TOTAL FEED FED BY THE TOTAL WEIGHT GAINED, So in this case we divide 60 by 50 to get 1.2 fcr, . If u have a lower fcr then you are doing very good lets say between 1 to 1.8 fcr ok but from 2 and above, you will run at a loss . Determining your fcr early will help you correct your mistakes either your fishes are runts or you are just wasting feed , and eventual loss. TILAPIA FCR =1.6 , CATFISH FCR = 1.2 , PIG FCR =3 , COW FCR =8 and CHIKEN FCR = 2. So if u ask me i will say catfish farming have the lowest fcr of all the animals ,so catfish farming should give more profit . If am a business person, and am asked which farming among all, should i go into. I will defenately choose the one with the lowest fcr . If u have fcr 0.5 then i need to come to your farm and learn , that means your profit is more than 100 percent . But basically a good catfish farm with a mind set of making profit should have fcr between the range of 1 to 1.5 , LITTLE TIPS, I ADVICE STRONGLY TO AERATE YOUR PONDS REGULARLY OR FLOW THROUGH OR CHANGE WATER REGULLARLY ,any of this 3 methods is ok ,cause what forms the tissue in your CATfish is the amino acid .And amino acid contains carbon; oxygen and nitrogen . So you get carbon from feed , nitrogen is free in the atmosphere so if u dont have oxygen concentration in the pond water ,you will not have a complete metabolism , that is why oxygenating is necessary, apart from the fish needs oxygen to breath they also need oxygen to form aminoacid which leads to flesh or tissue formation . GOOD LUCK

heartbitmi:
@soft777. thank you very much for ur reports and time. but honestly i think if we can achieve feeding a fish to 1kg with N130 as u have said, then we will be smiling to the bank always. please kindly share the formula for the feed u use so we can learn. at least the popular feed formula given by ablx is not in any way cheap. we need this...regards

soft777:
Very sorry if i sounded a little bit upset accept my apology . You see GOD is the author of everything , we only try our best to distribute the little knowledge we have at no extra cost for everyone to benefit .When i guide new farmers i always guide them on new mordern and cheap practices, those that contact me via whatsapp can testify to great increase on there farms output, , you see , many farmers makes a lot of mistakes, though they realise profit but ,my write up is to give them tips to increase there profits , i give my consultancy for free even on my whats app . But there are a lot of factors we just joke about in the business , things we just say it dosent really matter ; but my brother it matters greatly. let me put some things to you . DO YOU KNOW ONLY TEMPERATURE CHANGE CAN AFFECT YOUR FCR .. what are the best temperature to attain best fcr ? What ph is best ? what time of feeding is best ? what best water qualit? what best suplimentary feed ? what local cheap feed with higher crude protein ? what best environmental requirements . like shading your fish , do u know catfish grows faster when confined in a dark environment ? How do u determin your fingerlings are got from broods weighing 2kg and above ? . i can name a lot more ... thats why sometimes visiting a high capacity farm can help explain these things better , but am not here to scare people; but i want you to know even at your backyard you can have high capacity . Its just talking to the right consultant to put u through , less i forget do u know , polyculture of catfish and tilapia is no longer in vogue , it has just been determine that african catfish are not good predators and tend to burn there energy needed to convert feed to flesh in runing after tilapia fries in a polyculture system . these are latest discovries . There are better and best ways u can feed your tillapia fries or fingerlings to your catfish without additional cost , and this can save your feed tremendously because with this new and simple process , you can skip a day feed of the more costly pellet feed in that you feed tilapia fries today at no cost and you feed your foreign feed the next day . Calculate how much your profit will increase , when u have to cut your total feed fed by half. In the fish world there are latest and cheap modification for profit maximization .. we can not complete all in just one write up . its wider than that. THANK YOU