Hatching is the artificial way of hatching fishes’ eggs into larva. This is done artificially by the farmer to grow and help the fishes to produce more for the growth of the business in catfish production.

Hatchery can be done in a nursery pond, with as small as three ponds precisely and little funding.

Fish hatcheries are used to cultivate and breed a large number of fish in an enclosed environment. Fish farmers use hatcheries to cultivate fish to sell for food, or ornamental purposes, doing away with the need to find the fish in the wild region. They raise the fish until they are ready to be eaten or sold to consumers.

Some other hatcheries in some foreign countries practice the act of releasing the juvenile fishes into a river, lake or the ocean to support commercial, tribal, or recreational fishing or to supplement the natural numbers of threatened or endangered species, a practice known as fish stocking.

Fish Hatching is done by simply getting broodstock, male and female (mature adult fish) up to a year old.

1 male and two females, or two male and four females as your production process needs.
Now, there are two steps involved in the artificial insemination of the female fish.

You might be asking how can male and female catfish can be identified?
Don’t worry too much, you will know in a short while as you proceed…

To know the differences between the male and female catfish, is not easily identified by just looking at the fish as they are inside the water, without bringing them out and carefully checking them closely.

You can find out the catfish sexes by simply getting the fish, and turn them over so you could see clearly that the male fish naturally have a male organ as that of a human being only that, the fish’s own is way less compared to humans.

Funny isn’t it?

Let’s proceed…

The same goes to the female fish. But the only issue is that they don’t naturally mate as humans particularly do.

Surprising?

Back to the artificial insemination process. After sorting and separating your male and female catfish, mind you, the male is only set apart to extract its seamen for fertilization of the female eggs when it’s time. See the three main steps below:


STEP ONE

Get a bottle of sponging hormone (Ovaprim) and a scale, then weigh the fish on the scale to know its weight. This will help to determine the accurate sponging hormone (ovaprim) to give to the female fish to avoid excess absorption.

Afterwards, multiply the result you got from the scale by the amount of dosage prescribed on the label of the Ovaprim bottle you purchased from your retailer store. So whatever result you got from the process, take your injection string and extract the exact measurement, afterward, observe the lateral line on the fish.

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The lateral line on the body of the catfish is not visible enough. You have to take a closer look at the fish to see it well. To know the exact place where the lateral line on the catfish is situated, when you look closely, by the side of the catfish, you will see the straight line in a dotted form down to the tail region of the fish.

Finally, insert the injection ABOVE and not BELOW the lateral line of the fish, just as humans are injected right inside the veins.


STEP TWO

The next step is for those that do not have the measuring scale. Well this one is simple, all you have to do is, to follow the same process mentioned above but this time, instead of the scale and sponging hormone (ovaprim), you replace that with the pituitary gland of another fish or toad.

The pituitary gland is gotten on any catfish you kill, be it male or female of any size. You can preserve the pituitary gland in a container with liquid in the form of spirit or ethanol. Depending on your choice, it can last for as long as you want it to. But make sure you constantly change the liquid content of the stored pituitary gland for at least once every 6 months.

Get the pituitary gland, grind it properly and smoothly in a neat container, do not add normal water instead, add drip (same with the one given to a patient in the hospital for treatment) it’s just like the drip we buy from the chemist shop or you can do it yourself simply by getting the salt after measuring add water. After that, add the drip to the grinded pituitary gland and mix them properly.

Stir them again carefully after which you can use your injection string to take the adequate measurement of either 1 or 2 mm for the big string and 2 or 3 mm for the bigger string. After which you inject the catfish with it as stated in step one above, after injecting the catfish, return it back to the pond and wait for the next stage.

STEP THREE

Next you have to check the time you injected the female fish, then wait for about Nine (9) hours for the solution given to the female fish to act properly.

The next and almost final hatching stage is set.

This process, you first bring the male fish which you either kill to extract the seamen (inform of scrotum’s egg in two white shapes), you then get your drip which you quickly put the seamen in to preserve it, so as not to let the sperm die. It ought to live and swim in the solution while you go ahead to strip off the female fish of its egg which by now, must have formed inside them. Get the female catfish that has been inseminated 9 hours ago, you can seek the help of an external individual to help you in stripping the fish of its eggs.

The person ought to help you hold the tail end of the fish to keep it steady while the stripping is carried out. At least, if the fish is steady, it will not shake too much, littering and making a mess of the whole place.

Of course while stripping the fish of its eggs, remember to place a bowl under the opening of the catfish, so as to get all the stripped eggs and not waste any. Remember not to let water come in contact with the already stripped eggs, rather, after stripping, quickly add the male sperm to the egg, you can use a clean blade to cut the sperm bag, open the white substance of the sperm and pour it into the stripped eggs for the fertilization process.

Note: The browner the eggs you extract, the better the yield of the fish will be. Afterwards, add the drip to the eggs and stir properly with a spoon. The drip will help the sperm mix well and fertilize quickly and easily. Once you are done with this, get a flat constructed fishing nets used for hatching, and pour the eggs on the net. Make sure the eggs are properly spread on the net and not clustered in a place if not it won’t hatch properly.

If the net is not enough, get more net and repeat the process on any new net you have gotten. Afterwards, place the net that has the eggs inside the pond you set aside to hatch your catfish.

When the eggs are hatched, it takes 24 hours for the fishes to come out. But it could be delayed if the temperature is very low. The unmatched eggs are white and not useful.

Breeding or cultivating fish at this stage requires adequate care, fish feed feeds, good water, & water PH level and treatment needs to be put in place, to get a maximum yield.

Hope this article helps solve your fish hatchery problems?

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