Aquaculture

South Africa has a particularly poor record in product sales and service delivery to aquaculture.

With demand exceeding supply, working together and sharing information about tilapia farming will benefit us all.

South Africa’s only marine finfish farm on the Atlantic coastline has just entered the commercial market. Manager and shareholder of the Bluecap fish farm in Paternoster, Ingo Beckert, says fish farming is South Africa’s answer to protein provision for the future. Jay Ferreira reports.

Feed costs are the largest single input in fish culture, accounting for approximately 40% of the sale price.

Accurate reliable information on aquaculture is available. Just make sure you look carefully.

Our much-beloved Mozambique tilapia requires water temperatures of 26°C or higher to grow rapidly. There are several ways to achieve this under culture conditions, but not all are practical.

Workers on fish farms in Asia use some ingenious tools. Most of the equipment is practically thought out, and designed simply and effectively.

The technology used to produce African tilapias in Asia is simple but effective. What relevance does it have for fish farming in South Africa?

Catfish, silver barbel and other fish have farming potential, but there are obstacles.

Special care needs to be taken when moving fish in order to minimise their stress levels and thus prevent unnecessary deaths.

There are several species of tilapia to farm with. One appears to have the edge over the rest. But even this species is no miracle fish. Careful farming is still required.

Produced on a small scale, this includes cold-water pond fish, such as koi carp, as well as tropical fish.