This is my first post on steemalive. I am @sandratoyin. I am a fish farmer. So while still going to school, i wanted a business i could do which will be convinent for me while studying. I went into this business with little knowledge but overtime i have gained more knowledge and experience. I thought it's fitting for me to make a post about for anyone interested in going into it. I have a small pond with over 50 catfishes.
"Fish farming or pisciculture involves commercial breeding of fish, usually for food, in fish tanks or artificial enclosures such as fish ponds. It is a particular type of aquaculture, which is the controlled cultivation and harvesting of aquatic animals such as fish, crustaceans, molluscs and so on, in natural or pseudo-natural environment." Source

Catfish are from a group of ray finned fish. There name was given to them due to the appearance of their barbels which look like whiskers. There are diverse sub spieces of catfish. Even for rearing, there are various species, some are long, some are short. So when buying to rear, you most watch out for the species.
When cat fish hatches, at that stage, they are called fingerlings. In Nigeria, we name their growth stages according to their weight.
• fingerlings (3 to 4 grams)
•Post fingerlings (4 to 6 grams)
• Juvenile (7 to 9 grams)
• post juvenile ( 10 grams and above)source
Mostly we buy post fingerlings from big farms unless you hatch

Feeds and equipments

There are various things you need while rearing catfish:
• pond( it could be built with blocks and cement, a geepee tank that is cut open or constructed with a tampoline.
• You need an available source of water.
• Net
•scale
• Feed, They come in different sizes, 2mm,3mm,4mm, 6mm and 9mm. Depending on the size of your fish.

Day to day rearing

Rearing fishes isn't stressful nor time consuming, each farmer has his method of feeding. I feed them morning and night everyday. It is also important that you change to water from time to time. The older they get the more they feed. It takes about 7 months for them to reach the standard size for a barbecue.
We sell in kilogram not indiviually and a 7 month fish can weigh about 1.8 kg. So it has alot of economic profit. Although there are bound to be some death in course of their rearing. If you are interested, step out, learn and start.
Thank you.