How to Make Profit on Catfishes that Don’t Grow Well

Do you know that profitability in catfish farming business is not about how big your fishes are at the point of sale? You can raise big fishes and still run at loss. Many farmers believe that they might not make reasonable profit on small-sized fishes. This is not true. Like I have been saying, big fishes are a product of good breed, nutritious feed, and good water environment. All these factor help them to feed in right quantity and convert well. As a matter of fact, one thing you might notice in fishes that will not grow well is irregular feed consumption. Their feed consumption pattern is often abnormal. For instance, by the time a thousand pieces of catfish should be consuming 20 kg of feed per feeding arrangement, they will consume around half of what they need to eat. There isn’t much problem when you notice. Just ensure you don’t waste your feed by dumping the feed in the pond.

You can still make reasonable profit on such fishes that would not grow well if only you can apply right sales techniques. Quote me! Selling right or wrong will definitely affect your profit rate in such a situation. In this article, I have recommended at least three ways you can use to improve profit when your fish fail to grow as expected.

• Boycott middlemen and sell directly to individuals, hotels, canteens and event centers, etc, through temporary sales outlets. This might not sound reasonable when you have large tonnes of such fishes to sell. You can combine the direct sales strategy with this approach I am about to recommend. Sell directly to buyers that buy the exact sizes you have in your pond because they tend to pay better than those that buy any size or all sizes. Endeavour to identify the right consumer for your size. Please do not be in a haste to sell. Many buyers are willing to buy your fish size at good price. One thing I have observed about fish buyers is that they will always promise a better price if your fishes are the other way round. Never mind; get the best price for you sizes by comparing difference price lists from various buyers.
• Add value to your small fishes by processing them through Oven Dry method. By so doing you double your rate of returns though with a bit of extra labor and cost. I will recommend this method to those that produce in small quantity. You can get your sales all year round through oven drying your fishes after harvest. You will be surprise with the numbers of retailer that will be willing to buy from you.
• Never bother to hold such fishes for too long a time. Fishes that would not grow well are better sold at four months old or latest by four and half months old. Holding them further increases your waste and reduces your expected profit.