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Introduction to Fish Farming

Introduction to Fish Farming

Fish farming is an act of rearing fish for commercial purpose. This involves building the earthen, tarpaulin or concrete pond, fertilizing the pond, stocking the fingerlings in good water and feeding the Mackerel, Tilapia or catfish till market size.

The term fish is mostly used to describe animals with a backbone that has gills that lives in water. Many types of aquatic animals commonly referred to as fish are not fish in this strict sense; examples include shellfish, cuttlefish, starfish, crayfish and jellyfish.

While there are thousands of fish species all around the globe, only very few of them are viable for commercial fish farming which brings us to the classification of fishes below.

Classification of Fishes

Fishes can be classified according to the following:

According to habitat (where they live), there are three classes of fish:

  1. Freshwater Fish
  2. Marine Fish
  3. Migrating Fish

A few examples of each of these classes are given below, although they are by no means all the fish in that particular category.

1) Freshwater Fish

Freshwater fish are adapted to survive in very low levels of salinity (salty). They require less than 0.05% level of salinity to survive.

Examples of the fishes under this group include:

Puffer Fish, Piranha, Catfish, Swordtail Fish, Archer Fish, Cichlid, Butterfly Fish, Discus Fish

2) Marine Fish or salt water fishes

Marine fish or salt water fishes are those fishes that adapt in salty waters that have an average pH level of 8.2. These fish are usually characterized by brilliant colors and many different physical adaptations, which make it easier for them to protect themselves from their predators.

Marine fish or salt water fishes are classified into three types, based on their feeding habits:

  1. Herbivorous
  2. Carnivorous
  3. Omnivorous

Examples of the fishes under this group include:

Cardinal Fish, Surgeon Fish, Tang Fish, Damsel Fish, Hawk Fish, Shark etc.

Read Also: Anti-Stress and It’s Importance for Fishes

3) Migrating Fish

These are those types of fishes that move from either fresh water to salty water or vice versa, Fishes migrate for various reasons, but according to research the top reasons why they migrate are for reproduction and diet. Migrating fish can be divided into 2 types:

  1. Catadromous:
    These are the fish which are born in marine/salt water, but migrate to freshwater sources to spend the major part of their lives there.
  2. Anadromous:
    These fish follow the exact opposite pattern, they are those ones that were born in freshwater, but migrate to salt water bodies to spend most part of their adult lives. They return to freshwater bodies when they want to reproduce.

Examples of the fishes under this group include: Tuna, Salmon, Dolphin, Sail Fish, Char, Trout, Capelin Fish, Bullshark.

What is Fish Farming

Introduction to Fish Farming

Fish farming is an act of rearing fish for commercial purpose. This involves building the earthen, tarpaulin or concrete pond, fertilizing the pond, stocking the fingerlings in good water and feeding the Mackerel, Tilapia or catfish till market size.

While there are thousands of fish species all around the globe, only very few of them are viable for commercial fish farming.

Introduction to Fish Farming

Fish farming is known as pisciculture, that is, the breeding, rearing, and transplantation of fish by artificial means.

While fish naturally lives inside rivers, pisciculture is the means by which we grow fish at home, mostly for commercial purposes.

Fish farming is the major form of aquaculture (farming of aquatic organisms like fish, crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic plants).

Fish farming involves raising fish commercially in ponds, tanks or enclosures.

There are hundreds of species of fish, among which are; sea trout, cyprinids, pangas catfish, freshwater fishes, silver seabream, common carp, catla, greasy grouper, bighead carp, Nile tilapia, grass carp (who knows, maybe there are thousands more?).

However, most of the species of fish are not suitable for fish farming business, either because of their nature or because of the low demand in the fish market or the profitability of their species.

That’s why the most common fish species fish farmers grow for commercial purpose are carp, salmon, tilapia and catfish.

Related: 12 MANAGEMENT TIPS FOR BETTER POULTRY PERFORMANCE POTENTIAL

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