NUTRITIONAL BENEFITS OF CATFISH (SILURIFORMES)

Cat fish is a delicious source of seafood in a greater part of the world. They are easy to rear and also very profitable when it comes to reaping the profits. They species of CATFISH varies thus one may have to consider factors such as pond size, target market and nutritional benefits when they want to start a catfish farm. However, aside all this, it comes at a great news to farmers to know that these fishes are tough when it comes to withstanding unfavorable conditions and are highly productive too. So basically all one may need would range between 0.25 to 20 acres of farmland, 5 gallons of water and a delivery truck and you're in bussiness.

STARTING THE FARM

Before you can start anything at all you must be certain on the species of catfish you'd like to produce, afterwards the next step would be whether your going large scale production or small scale, the purpose of @farms and @steemchurch is to feed the world community by community so we'd focus on small scale. You'd require a pond though, not a huge pond but something small to accommodate your fishes, the bottom of the pond ought to be smooth and you would also need an aerator (a device use to mix the air with the soil), pond shouldn't be too shallow or too deep, a range of three(3) to eight(8) feet should be ok.

Because our target for this article is a small scale farm, our market focus may have to be on the local consumers, the nearby market, family, friends and relatives. It may interest you to know that people prefer fresh fish from the pond than to that of the frozen ones.

NUTRIENT COMPOSITION

A catfish meal is known to contain lots of nutritients which has lots of benefits for the body. There's protein for body building and repairing of worn out tissue, it has carbohydrate and fats, as matter of fact it has lots of omega 3 fats which contribute immensely to lowering the risk of cardiovascular diseases(those related to the heart and blood circulation, eg. heart attack), lots of vitamins including Vitamin A for good vision (a deficiency may result in nightblindness), Vitamin B and Vitamin C which helps the body in healing. It has good amount of phosphorous which helps in bone and teeth formation and formation of protein.

Source: Nutrient data for this listing was provided by USDA SR-21.http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/finfish-and-shellfish-products/4036/2#ixzz5GBhn02e9

STEEM COST IN STARTING OR BUYING A CATFISH

In starting a catfish farm as we have already got to learn at the very beginning of this article the most important part is your pond and species access, this may require about 3000 US dollars which is approximately 993STEEM to get you pond in place however using a backyard pond would cost way much lesser and about 1684 STEEM to get your fingerlings and feed for a whole year.

In Ghana catfish price ranges between 5 Ghana cedis to 7 Ghana Cedis approximately 0.42 to 0.59 STEEM, thus 1STEEM may be able to purchase 2 CATFISH.