Starting a Tilapia Fish farming

Farm Questions
1

Hi,

I would like to start a Fish farming on Tilapia in about 3 acre of lands. Please tell me if its going to be a a profitable business. The consumption of fish in local market is good , but there is a huge competition in the market, there could be a risk of over supply.
Please help me on this if i should go for this venture

Thanks

2

Dear Asif sir,

I was in shrimp farming and fish farming for a period of 7 years. up to my knowledge, Tilapia fish is not Quality fish and mostly called as a weed fish in south india. Mostly, i think, it is one of the cheapest available in fishes.

Mostly it is used as a feed for crabs culture, sea boss fish culture etc, as they like to hunt and eat fish rather than dead ones. Fish Farmers generally affraid, if Few tilapia fishes enters in to a fish pond, as they will increase very rapidly and become beyond control.

My sincere suggestion is, think twice before venturing in to tilapia farming.

As a whole, fish farming is profitable and woth doing. Ofcourse, in North India , it is still more profitable.

With good wishes, g.p.rao, …farmer

3

Thank you Rao the input.

But my uncle is farming this fish in Uttar Pradesh and it has a great economic value there. And since its a completely new fish in the market, higher demand is expected.

Please let me know about other fish breed which leads to better profitability and value. If you have any report/cost benefit analysis on fish farming, please share it.

Thanks
Asif

4

You can consider homogeneous catfish farming or mix with other varieties. But if you mix fishes for farming the area has to be increased and the density of fish varieties will be less (in short - the output for your area covered will be less)
If you cultivate catfish with other carp fish, then the stocking density will be at most 2500 to 3000 per acre. You can increase the number, if you cultivate only catfish in a pond. You can cultivate catfish with other fish species such as tilapia fish, pangash etc. You can stock 4000-5000 catfish if you cultivate with pangash or tilapa. Cultivating catfish with carp fish, tilapia or pangash will help to reduce the feeding costs. Catfish will eat the food provided for carp fish from the bottom of the pond, along with consuming their regular feed. The main benefit of catfish farming with carp fish is that, this mixed system help to reduce the quantity of ammonia gas from the pond and ensure a healthy environment for all fish species.

5

Thanks for the information you provided on mixed fish farming, looks like it will reduced the for the feed.
But there will be risk on sometimes Catfish feeds on other smaller fish in the pond, which may leads to decrease in production of other carps, tilapia etc.

So in order to minimize this risks, what precautions should be taken?

Thanks
Asif