Domestic Fish Pond

[ozzydom]

Thanks for the help, OZ. Much appreciated.

The layout is pretty much as you've guessed. It would be easy to install a pipe with a one-way valve. I'll go with that.

I've heard people talk about fish jumping onto the banks and go on "walkabouts," but I didn't quite believe them... till now that you mentioned it.

Now I know why in a heavy rain, all the villagers went into a "fishing frenzy" and ran off with baskets and no fishing poles or nets

The easy way to install the pipe is to trench halfway from the reservoir side first to below the normal water level of the reservoir, lay that half of pipe after blocking the entry end, then backfill enough to stop the water coming through the trench,remember to wet the backfill and stamp it down well.

It is then just a matter of digging the pond side half, clean your pipe and join the two halves with a coupler and finish the backfilling.

If it is going to leak ,it will be close around the pipe so one tip is to get a square of plastic sheet, cut a neat pipe size hole in it to go over the pipe and spread out a few feet all around.

A few bricks on it to keep it in place until the backfill consolidates will do the trick.

Thats a lesson I learnt the hard way, because our ponds are staggered heights ,we have a fair amount of pressure on the walls and a weep became a trickle then the trickle became a torrent and we had to pick up 500kg of Pla Nin out of the paddy.

Luckily so much water went through that every fish survived their "excursion".

[Macx]

Fantastic! Thanks for sharing your hard-earned knowledge.

I was just going to tell the handyman to put in the pipe and let him deal with it, but this is much better. Hopefully, he'll understand my Thai

Thanks, again. I've gathered up all the info and printed it out because, otherwise, I'll surely forget something important.

Cheers!

[Birdman]

I have a huge salt water pond. The land is right next to the sea with an access . But I don't know, if a fresh water pond would be more useful than a salt water pond? Or if a should half that and have salt water and fresh water ponds?

[Birdman]

I have a huge salt water pond. The land is right next to the sea with an access . But I don't know, if a fresh water pond would be more useful than a salt water pond? Or if a should half that and have salt water and fresh water ponds?

[ozzydom]

I have a huge salt water pond. The land is right next to the sea with an access . But I don't know, if a fresh water pond would be more useful than a salt water pond? Or if a should half that and have salt water and fresh water ponds?

You have a head start if you want to go into prawn farming.

[David006]

I'm thinking of putting in a fish pond on our land but unfortunately I know sod all about fish. Ideally, it'd provide 400-500(ish) fish a year to eat (not for commercial production). What sort of size pond am I looking at for that? And any recommendations for fish to raise? Thanks.

800 sq met (1/2 rai ) x1.2 -1.5 met deep would be ideal.

Initial stocking could be 500 mixed sex Tilapia (Pla Nin ) followed at 3 months by a few Snakehead catfish or Striped Giant Catfish and even a few Barramundi.

The Tilapia will breed and provide natural food for the Catties and Barra,

If you employ the green water method ,very little artificial food will be necessary as the Pla Nin are provided for by the Phyto-Plankton and and micro-organisms in the phosphate enriched water and their offspring provide food for the other varieties.

If top up water source is available, this method will supply fish for several years before you need to pump down and start afresh.

Hi Ozzydom: Good info. I have a related question. We have a gully on one side of our 85rai hill and dale rubber farm.the gully has been planted around with rubber trees which are thriving on the stepped sides.Th rest ( bottom area is inhabited by feral bananas ( little seeded jungle type) and lots of bush. I would assume that the soil in that gully is good I have even seen little fish in the mini lakes that form in the wet.

So I was thinking of employing a backhoe to make us a pond digging down a bit to use the dug out soil to dam the guly with an over flow route. The question is a) whats green water..non filtered? b0)Will the overhanging more mature rubber trees be a problem to the fish or health of the water..know eucalyptus in Mebourne played hel_l with my swimming pool.

Thanks in advance

david

[ozzydom]

Great idea David, I would be inclined to "over build " the dam and provide a screened spillway as an overflow, the amount of water coming down a gully can be pretty huge in a storm and would probably overwhelm a pipe overflow (even a big bore pipe ).

Once the water breaks the top of an earthen dam it can be catastrophic .

Plant heaps of Ya Fat grass (the roots of this grass go down up to 3m in good conditions)

The green water is used for screen feeding fish such as Pla Nin as the introduction of bird / animal manure or preferably superphosphate supplies the conditions to promote algae and micro-organisms which is them main food source for these species of fish.

An amount of fertilizer from your rubber plantation will probably find its way to a gully pond so a very little extra may need to be added.

[David006]

Great idea David, I would be inclined to "over build " the dam and provide a screened spillway as an overflow, the amount of water coming down a gully can be pretty huge in a storm and would probably overwhelm a pipe overflow (even a big bore pipe ).

Once the water breaks the top of an earthen dam it can be catastrophic .

Plant heaps of Ya Fat grass (the roots of this grass go down up to 3m in good conditions)

The green water is used for screen feeding fish such as Pla Nin as the introduction of bird / animal manure or preferably superphosphate supplies the conditions to promote algae and micro-organisms which is them main food source for these species of fish.

An amount of fertilizer from your rubber plantation will probably find its way to a gully pond so a very little extra may need to be added.

Thanks ozzydom: you preemted my question on the rubber tree fertiliser..thought it might be detrimental..

The spillway is a good a idea..your rightthe water does come down heavily as there are about four small gullys plus the adjacent land which "feed" the gully area ( they are realtively horozontal by the time they get to the point where I will create the dam) The lake area will have "branches" of other gullys and should be quite pretty withe varying depths. I assume the spillway would have to be concrete? Ya Fat grass? How do I recognise it..probably lots all over the farm?

Do Barra need deep water areas?

rgds

david

[ozzydom]

Any local farmer will direct you to some Ya Fat, it looks a bit like Lemon Grass but has a coarser leaf, usually found as erosion control planting on banks around large water impoundments.

Ag Dept people will direct you to a source also.

Barra cope with any depth, just provide them with a few bamboo hideaways from which to ambush and a few mixed sex Pla Nin to breed and provide their tucker and they will be happy. I find that Barra under these conditions put on over a kg per year.

The Ya Fat responds well to a haircut and burning annually.

[David006]

Any local farmer will direct you to some Ya Fat, it looks a bit like Lemon Grass but has a coarser leaf, usually found as erosion control planting on banks around large water impoundments.

Ag Dept people will direct you to a source also.

Barra cope with any depth, just provide them with a few bamboo hideaways from which to ambush and a few mixed sex Pla Nin to breed and provide their tucker and they will be happy. I find that Barra under these conditions put on over a kg per year.

The Ya Fat responds well to a haircut and burning annually.

Good stuff, thanks again mate..must admit it would be great to bbq my very own Barra. Need to find source for fingerlings but that's down the road a bit My fishing skills in Vic/Qld did not yield any... Oh yes Google found a site showing how to build earth dams diagrams the lot..AAAh technology..

take care

david

[RedBullHorn]

I'm thinking of putting in a fish pond on our land but unfortunately I know sod all about fish. Ideally, it'd provide 400-500(ish) fish a year to eat (not for commercial production). What sort of size pond am I looking at for that? And any recommendations for fish to raise? Thanks.

800 sq met (1/2 rai ) x1.2 -1.5 met deep would be ideal.

Initial stocking could be 500 mixed sex Tilapia (Pla Nin ) followed at 3 months by a few Snakehead catfish or Striped Giant Catfish and even a few Barramundi.

The Tilapia will breed and provide natural food for the Catties and Barra,

If you employ the green water method ,very little artificial food will be necessary as the Pla Nin are provided for by the Phyto-Plankton and and micro-organisms in the phosphate enriched water and their offspring provide food for the other varieties.

If top up water source is available, this method will supply fish for several years before you need to pump down and start afresh.

very interesting reply ozzydom,what if you wanted to breed to sell at the market,would you need a bigger pond.my wife keeps talking about moving back home and doing just this.

Not sure whether you mean to breeding small fish to sell as fry or fingerlings or to grow on to eating size to sell at market.

The former is not really practical as harvesting enough fry of uniform size from natural breeding is the problem.

If the latter , you are better advised to purchase all male fry from somewhere like Nam Sai Farms at Prachinburi to grow on for market, as breeding does not interfere with their growth cycle ,marketable fish are quicker and cheaper to attain in feeding costs.

I find 1 rai ponds to be easier to manage, and for some reason ,oblong ,rather than square dimensions seem to perform best . Personally I get better performance from 20m x 80 m ponds than 40m x 40m.

Not being to greedy by overstocking initially is the secret, One thousand fry per rai using green water and a little supplementary feeding should give about 400g fish in 6 months ,rising to near 1 kg at 12 months. If liveability is good , up to 70k per rai per annum gross is achievable .

This is an example of what Ozzy had in mind...

RBH

[wagner54]

Any local farmer will direct you to some Ya Fat, it looks a bit like Lemon Grass but has a coarser leaf, usually found as erosion control planting on banks around large water impoundments.

Ag Dept people will direct you to a source also.

Barra cope with any depth, just provide them with a few bamboo hideaways from which to ambush and a few mixed sex Pla Nin to breed and provide their tucker and they will be happy. I find that Barra under these conditions put on over a kg per year.

The Ya Fat responds well to a haircut and burning annually.

Great info Dom, I had a few ponds dug last year and am looking for something to grow on the banks. I have one question thats a bit off topic. Is ya fat ok to use for cow and buffalo feed? Thank you

[ozzydom]

Any local farmer will direct you to some Ya Fat, it looks a bit like Lemon Grass but has a coarser leaf, usually found as erosion control planting on banks around large water impoundments.

Ag Dept people will direct you to a source also.

Barra cope with any depth, just provide them with a few bamboo hideaways from which to ambush and a few mixed sex Pla Nin to breed and provide their tucker and they will be happy. I find that Barra under these conditions put on over a kg per year.

The Ya Fat responds well to a haircut and burning annually.

Great info Dom, I had a few ponds dug last year and am looking for something to grow on the banks. I have one question thats a bit off topic. Is ya fat ok to use for cow and buffalo feed? Thank you

If you can believe the write ups, then cattle will eat the new growth ,but Ya Fat ,like lemon grass is a source of oils so I would not bet my crown jewels on it being very attractive to cattle.

Guinea grass would suit your situation better. you can plant it in rows along the banks, and cattle love it.

Many cattle growers grow it as a cut and carry to save the animals stomping the banks.

It is a perennial with a habit similar to Lemon Grass , after cutting to about 6 inches from the ground ,a sprinkle of fertilizer and a splash of water and its ready to cut again in about 6 weeks.

Guinea has a dense root system and close spacings make it a good erosion preventative, I have seen fresh cut Guinea for sale on roadsides for 40 baht a kg.

[wagner54]

Any local farmer will direct you to some Ya Fat, it looks a bit like Lemon Grass but has a coarser leaf, usually found as erosion control planting on banks around large water impoundments.

Ag Dept people will direct you to a source also.

Barra cope with any depth, just provide them with a few bamboo hideaways from which to ambush and a few mixed sex Pla Nin to breed and provide their tucker and they will be happy. I find that Barra under these conditions put on over a kg per year.

The Ya Fat responds well to a haircut and burning annually.

Great info Dom, I had a few ponds dug last year and am looking for something to grow on the banks. I have one question thats a bit off topic. Is ya fat ok to use for cow and buffalo feed? Thank you

If you can believe the write ups, then cattle will eat the new growth ,but Ya Fat ,like lemon grass is a source of oils so I would not bet my crown jewels on it being very attractive to cattle.

Thanks for the info Dom. I will go with guinea grass and use the cut and carry method.

Guinea grass would suit your situation better. you can plant it in rows along the banks, and cattle love it.

Many cattle growers grow it as a cut and carry to save the animals stomping the banks.

It is a perennial with a habit similar to Lemon Grass , after cutting to about 6 inches from the ground ,a sprinkle of fertilizer and a splash of water and its ready to cut again in about 6 weeks.

Guinea has a dense root system and close spacings make it a good erosion preventative, I have seen fresh cut Guinea for sale on roadsides for 40 baht a kg.

[tftest]

An Introduction to Permaculture (TORRENT)

Edited May 20, 2009 by tftest

[MudDoc]

Have a couple of large ponds on my land near Klaeng. Growing rubber trees, but would like to put in some fish in the ponds. Already have some Pla Nim and Pla Tat Tim (?? Spelling) in one of the ponds. Both ponds are around 100 m x 30 m x 3-5 m deep and the water stays there all year round and appears quite "muddy" though my kids do go swimming when it's hot.

Where can I buy more Pla Nim and some Barra or Catfish in the Rayong area??? I have checked out the Nam Sai Farm website but that only sells male Pla Nim and I would like them to breed. Not thinking too much about selling off too many - I think the locals (although not many in the area) would make sure I didn't have too many extra for sale. But would definitely like some for the barbie.

[allcladrad]

The government might have a salt and/or freshwater place near you. Check the Thai fisheries website or ask around if there are commercial ponds near you. I got my barra from a government salt water fishery and the pla nin from a freshwater one. They were both very helpful. For the barra they wanted a water sample to determine the salinity of my water.

The pla nin breed like crazy, you might consider catching from one pond and putting to the other.