Biofloc Fish Farming – Profit, License In India

Starting a Biofloc Fish Farming Business in India

Introduction

Biofloc culture is a leading-edge and cost-efficient technology wherein the waste material of fish materials like Nitrite, Nitrate, and Ammonia is produced again into a helpful product, i.e., supermolecule feed. This Biofloc culture technology is widely used as it is restricted with zero water exchange beneath, sturdy aeration, high stocking density, and accumulation of Biofloc. The culture of Biofloc gives rise to more products if the culture tanks are well-exposed to the sun. As the sunlight enhances Biofloc bacterium to transform the material into macromolecule food for fish.

A step-by-step guide to Biofloc Fish Farming Business in India

Benefits of Biofloc Fish Farming System

Below is the list of benefits of Biofloc System:

  • It is considered to be an eco-friendly culture system. 
  • It decreases environmental impact. 
  • Improves land and water use potential
  • Limited or zero water exchange 
  • Higher productivity (It increases growth performance, survival rate, feed conversion within the culture systems of fish). 
  • More biosecurity. 
  • Decreases pollution and also the risk of introduction and growth of pathogens 
  • Cost-effective feed production. 
  • It decreases the employment of protein-rich feed and even the value of ordinary feed. 

Disadvantages of Biofloc Technology

It also has few disadvantages which includes:

  • Increased energy need for mixing and aeration
  • Reduced response time because water respiration rates are enhanced
  • A start-up period is needed
  • Alkalinity supplementation mandatory
  • Increased pollution potential as the nitrate gets accumulated
  • Varying and seasonal performance for sunlight-exposed systems.

What is Biofloc Fish Farming?

Biofloc is a Profitable methodology of Fish Farming. It is popular all around the world as a substitute to open pool fish farming. It is a proper way in which toxic waste materials for fish such as Nitrate, Ammonia, and Nitrite can be transformed into the feed. The idea of this technique is to recycle nutrients present in the Biofloc tank. 

Biofloc helps in washing the culture water of the fish while giving a high nutritive source of feed. It is an eco-friendly method.

Rearing fish at high-density demands some waste management system. Biofloc might be a waste treatment system primarily if we see it in depth. It was initiated to prevent diseases from incoming water to a farm.

How does Biofloc Fish Farming System work?

Fish Tanks
Fish Tanks (Pic Credit: Pixabay)

This Profitable technique of Fish Farming can be done with the use of tanks that are available in several sizes. The usually available size is around four diameters. Biofloc technology converts unused feed and greenish-blue animal waste products into food in the culture system whereas exposed to sunlight making a macromolecule made live feed. By changing excess into food once more, the quantity of feeding reduces drastically. 

The heterotrophic bacterium is the major element of Biofloc. It decreases the Ammonia and radical made by fish feeding. This heterotrophic bacterium uses Ammonia and transforms it into a macromolecule and this will be taken by fish to grow. It works similar to actual feed for the fishes. Its nutritional value is also significantly high.

Which fish species can be raised through the Biofloc system?

This can be beneficial for the aquatic cultures of shrimp farming because of its unique characteristics like bottom-dwelling and adapting to the changes in the atmosphere. To have much information about its growth characteristics one can estimate the larval growth and reproductive performance of the shrimps and Nile tilapia fishes. In the Biofloc system, you can see the better breeding performance.

Nutritional value of Fishes raised in Biofloc system

Biofloc is a specialized heterogeneous arrangement of aggregated suspended materials that comprises a variety of microorganisms for example bacteria, algae, fungi, invertebrates, and detritus, etc. It is a protein-rich feed with live microorganisms as a feed which are produced on exposure to sunlight by transforming the waste, unused feed, and excreta of the culture species to natural food. Now you may doubt in mind that how each floc is bound to each other? These flocs are close together by the loose matrix developed by mucous secreted by the bacteria and are in turn bound by the electrostatic adhesion of the filamentous bacteria. Usually, these flocs are never seen and they are microscopic but few flocs are comparatively large which can be viewed using the naked eye.

The floc size could be 70-200 microns. These flocs have a high nutritional value where the dry weight protein quantity ranges from 25-50%, fat content could be from 0.5-15% and is also a potential source of vitamins, minerals and particularly the phosphorous content which is alike probiotics. This Biofloc is dried and utilized as a major ingredient for a fish meal instead of soybean in the feed. Compared to the other feed, this feed from the Biofloc is having great improvement in aquacultures.

Requirements to set up for aquatic rearing in Biofloc system

This demands the following to arrange a Biofloc system for aquatic rearing. This includes-0.1 hectare of total space, culture pond with fresh water in 45 days, Culture period for Biofloc system and earthen pond for about 30 days, stocking rate per hectare should be 10 in number in 60 liters of water, the survival rate in clear water is about 60%, the survival rate in the earthen pond is around 56% and compared to these the survival rate in Biofloc is seen to be 80%.

License, permissions, and registrations required to start Biofloc Fish Farming Business in India

The licenses require to set up a Biofloc System business would be:

  • Certificate from the Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA)
  • Permissions from the Fishermen’s Cooperative society
  • PAN and Aadhar card details
  • GST registration
  • Land and lease agreements

How Biofloc system helps in cost-saving and can double your profits?

This Profitable technique of Fish Farming or Biofloc Farming will reduce the main expenses so that the savings will be high. Many aspects such as operational expenses, price of large lands, disposal, high prices of feeding, and discharge of waste sludge is not a problem when you plan this technique. 

In cultivation, the main expense is consumed by the feed ingredients for fishes. Once the fish square measure is fed with a high macromolecule diet, more or less 70th portion gets discharged in the form of waste in the culture water within the kind of N. With Biofloc, we can recycle this waste as feed thereby lowering the cost of high macromolecule feeds. Biofloc systems not only decrease pathogens but also enhances fish health. 

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Investment required to start Biofloc Fish Farming in India

When you plan to invest in Biofloc Fish Farming, you will get decent returns. An individual can begin with a single Biofloc fish tank. The area which is needed to set up for a single tank is about 4.5 in diameter. The cost of arranging a single tank is about Rs. 45,000 that’s comes as a one-time investment.

Cost of the fish that will be reared in the Biofloc system, for 16,00,000 pieces (50 paise per piece) – Rs. 80,000

Cost of feed in Biofloc system – Rs. 10,000

Cost of manures used- ‘0’ as there is no requirement for manures.

In chemical sources only Ammonium sulphate is used – Rs. 1,000

Cost of the carbon source used – Rs. 6,000

Labour charges – Rs. 8,000

Harvesting charges – Rs. 1,000

Miscellaneous charges are a bit high in the Biofloc system as it consumes more energy for mixing and aeration – Rs. 50,000

Total costs involved to set up Biofloc system – Rs. 1,56,000.

Profit margin in Biofloc FIsh Farming system in India

In a single-tank we can place around 600 fish and if estimate the cost of feed which will be about Rs. 12,000 for 4 months. If we consider other variables that will be about Rs. 8,000. We can still gain a profit of 20,000 per tank in 4 months.

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