My Catfish Farm Operation

[tingtong]

while experimenting is great, my suggestion that at the point it is clear that it will become a loss, just stop with it.

tilapia should munch away happily on your high protein mushroom cuttings, for free...

[RedBullHorn]

Ok I'm not trolling this time. The troll post on the EM was just for some fun, to see who would take the bait. And yes people of our intelligent and business acumen would do a lot of research and a lot of reading up on high values information with utmost interest. The EM information contributed by IA is on the "About EM" page of Emrojapan.com and has been there all along for all to read and I've digested that knowledge a few years ago when i further explore what the village school Science teacher tried to educate me in his own "layman terms" regarding information on EM.

No apology from me for trolling, just want to make a point. People tends to listen to advise from reputable posters but sometimes when we introduce certain website links they lost interest because the terms use in the website's information are kind of hard for them to understand. Some people would just prefer to understand those information pass on from other poster in a much easier way to absorb and digest - The Laymen terms.

ray23 this is the information that may interest you. In regards to farming small sizes and still be able to make big money out of it. As I've mentioned in past post. It a trick of mine...... I called it "Maximizing"

I always rear my catfishes to the sizes of - slightly 2 (jumbo), middle 3, heavy 4 (nearing 3) , heavy 5, normal 6, and then a bit of 7. (fishes/kg) With this formular, i am successful.

A couple of years ago, some team members requested for some 6,7,8 fishes/kg to accommodate their retailers. My wholesalers are my clients, I've build and develop a good rapport with them. They've supported me all this years so i thought i should do the same for them, if i could maximize their advantages, it shall be the way to prosper together and many years of good business ahead, the Win-Win thingy.

So i went back to the drawing board... After some brain storming and calculation. I reach a conclusion on what i shall do.

My successful method required (amongs other things) - 1'200 sacks of feed for 100'000 fingerlings divided into 4 ponds. To achieve the small sizes that they require, I fork out another sum of money and bought in another 10'000 fingerlings and distributed them evenly into all the 4 ponds. No increases in feed, still the same 1'200 sacks of feed. The purpose is to have the additional fishes in the ponds compete for the food. Just remember "the purpose"... you shouldn't have the mindset that you want to make any profit from additional 10'000 fishes but just to recoup the capital put in.

Since I've over-stock my ponds, monitoring its water quality will be a matter of utmost important. I change them when the water foul up. No compromising or stingy attitude toward variable cost, it is just fuel for the pumps, even if the consumption is up to almost 200 litre.

At the end of harvest, I still retain my targeted yield/weight.....and they got their desirable sizes. Everybody is satisfied, everybody is happy and all of us laughing to the banks.

This method was also applied to my expansion rental ponds. 110'000 fishes harvest yield was 18'956kg ! 19 tonnes if i include Pla foi !

Disclaimer : It will take some experimenting / trial & error to get it right. I went through 3 trials of 8'000, 12'000 then 10'000. Die Hard attitude and Perseverance is required to perfect just about any skill.

Happy Farming~

[ray23]

Thanks RBH,

[Dancealot]

I always rear my catfishes to the sizes of - slightly 2 (jumbo), middle 3, heavy 4 (nearing 3) , heavy 5, normal 6, and then a bit of 7. (fishes/kg) With this formular, i am successful.

A couple of years ago, some team members requested for some 6,7,8 fishes/kg to accommodate their retailers. My wholesalers are my clients, I've build and develop a good rapport with them. They've supported me all this years so i thought i should do the same for them, if i could maximize their advantages, it shall be the way to prosper together and many years of good business ahead, the Win-Win thingy.

So then you designed your fish-size-separating device by combining your client's demands and your product availability.

[RedBullHorn]

The size grading boxes belongs to the wholesalers, 7 out of 10 of them have one or two grading boxes.

I am the farmer and i only produce, i grade my fishes' sizes using only trained eyes and experiance.

And my eye for detail work best only when i have a bottle of frosted cold Chang in hand.

[Dancealot]

The size grading boxes belongs to the wholesalers, 7 out of 10 of them have one or two grading boxes.

I am the farmer and i only produce, i grade my fishes' sizes using only trained eyes and experiance.

And my eye for detail work best only when i have a bottle of frosted cold Chang in hand.

You keep making sense.

[RedBullHorn]

Killer Catfish Hunt Pigeons. A population of catfish have been honing quite a remarkable hunting technique. These catfish have developed a way to catch and eat pigeons by partially coming out of the water. They are referred to as the "Freshwater Killer Whales". Watch these catfish eat pigeons.

[RedBullHorn]

Just testing my new phone camera to see its video quality.

Took this a few days ago, when my 2 farmhands were gone on "Off-in-lieu"

(Both are Thai Yai and they went back to the mountains for visit every month).

The water turn green due to force feeding during the last 20 days phrase. To achieve what i call the "Colour adding" stage.

Fishes bodies will turn a greenish-yellow hue...for marketting effects. Wholesalers and consumers love it.

But those colour on the fishes' body won't last, they will slowly turn black once the water that holds them in got change.

Just like those you see in your local market/talat.

Best to view in 720fps HD.

[RedBullHorn]

Just an update for another one of the Clarias Big Oui harvest. (a successful one as usual)

Harvest yield from 100'000 Clarias = 20'500kg.

Rearing period = 2 months and 25 days.

Fingerlings sizes = 3''-4''.

Commercial pellet feed = 1'200 sacks.

FCR = 1.17:1

Farmgate price = ฿47/kg.

Nett profit = ฿203'000.-

(After deducting all variable cost)

Videos of harvest and pictures of the boys during final pond clearing.

Better vids and photo quality this time using the new phone's camera...

New member retribution...Compulsory mud bath ritual.

Feast.

Videos are on the next post...

[RedBullHorn]

[RedBullHorn]

[Ozybear]

Where to buy fingerlings or fry, cat fish and pla nin in udon Thani , nong Han area please.

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

[ray23]

Where to buy fingerlings or fry, cat fish and pla nin in udon Thani , nong Han area please.

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

On the Nong J Kai Hwy about 15 Klms on the right going to Kong Khai. The 15 Klms is a guess.

[Ozybear]

Thanks for the info Ray. Appreciated

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

[David48]

Just an update for another one of the Clarias Big Oui harvest. (a successful one as usual)

...

Videos of harvest and pictures of the boys during final pond clearing.

RBH ... as always, a great contribution.

In the photos in your post, just exactly what and how are the workers doing what they do?

I know you mentioned 'final pond clearing' but could you elaborate on that.

What are they clearing and how do they do it?

[David48]

Mate, I have read through the thread a few times over the years but ...

May I ask, what is the cycle time on the Ponds? The time between harvest and restocking?

Do you dry and lime the Pond?

If not, what actions do you take to prevent disease?

Given the sludge build-up at the bottom of the pond, how do you counter that?

I know physically you dredge it as required.

But that doesn't happen every time so how do you treat it?

MissFarmGirl's place tries various methods ... but this was the latest approach I witnessed.

They hose it away. Essentially they pump from a pond, wash the floor of the pond, the waste runs naturally to a low point and they then suck out the waste water.

Sadly they don't have any adjoining crop growing land to pump the nutriment onto and simply release it back into the larger system.

.

[slapout]

David, how far to the nearest growing cropland.? A 'night honey' truck/set up and you might has another source of income for the twins. Just a thought.

[RedBullHorn]

David, the phase out period is about 2-3 week between final pond clearing and restocking. As my ponds are very near the water table, there's not chance on sun drying/baking process.

As shown in my picture post, final pond clearing is to clear out the remaining catfishes hiding in the mud for sales. Easily between 200kg - 600kg per harvest. After that if confirm no predatory fishes like snakehead or marbled sand goby present in the pond, then no poison will be use. (only if necessary as poison is expensive)

I only use lime if my PH reading from testing kit is way off the colour chart. Lime is only use to correct soil PH and if i ever were to use it, i will only be dusting very lightly and not white wash the pond's bed.

I have my ways in curing the mud bed, for years i have been spraying EM onto the mud bed as stage 1 preparation to tackle the ammonia and nitrogen. This pond preparation total cost about ฿1'000 per pond per cycle...Including the stage 2 treatment cost of Chlorine, that kill most of the water borne viruses and diseases...

Dredging work begins only after 3 years of full time farming of the pond. It is not easy to find paddy field owners who allow ALL the mud to land on their plot, they want it but not all of it. Too much nutriment is not good for crop too. So i usually start to find people who want it all to commit to me 6 months before i dredge.

In term of pond preparation "each time and every time" MissFarmGirl latest approach is considered to be the best pre stocking step. It take great discipline to get rid of the mud/fish poo "each time and every time" before restocking. But sadly not everybody can follow through this step during pond preparation. Me included...

I'm doing great FCR, steadily between 1.19:1 to my best of 1.17:1 so 3 years is the max. I will start to get 1.21:1 and gradually down to 1.25:1 after 2 harvest of the same pond, only when the numbers are confirmed that FCR had increased then i know it's time to dredge the bottoms.

I like the picture you posted as a proof of discipline and commitment in great pond management.

[David48]

^^ Thanks for that.

Here is one of the clips ...

I've got a whole thread on it ... but there is heaps of other good stuff going on in the Farming Forum at the moment and I don't wish to detract from that.

[David48]

David, how far to the nearest growing cropland.? A 'night honey' truck/set up and you might has another source of income for the twins. Just a thought.

Mate, a great thought but ... nothing but Fish Farms as far as the eye can see.

The only cropping I've seen is maybe 40 ks from here ... Rice Paddies

[ray23]

With the growth pattern I'm seeing with the Pla Mor, I'm thinking about transferring them to the big pond. That will be pumped in March I think. In the mean time I could let the little pond dry up. I was trying RBH's method on feeding. Sadly the proram wasn'.t followed so I have a lot of fish in a very small pond.

Will drying out the pond do the trick? No way I can dredge it. As where it sits can't get equipement to it

It's a hobby, so I can try different things. With any luck maybe they will eat some Fry. I have five bags of 30% left. After that I will switch to 25% an save a bit of money. Hopefully get bette groth on the Pla Nin as well

Been three years so giving that pond a rest proabably isn't a bad idea.

I have to pump the big pond in March or when the heat hits I will have another die off. I would let it dry out as well. But to close to the water table and we use that water the nushrooms. That saves about a 1,000 a month on the mushroom side of life.

Them escaping could be a probelem. But, there is really no place for them to go. It's block wall all around the place

I do have farm land next to me where I can pump my water.

Two ponds available to refill with.

[DerkMR]

Hi Ray,

looks like time for me to give your farm another visit and have fish talk

Bye,

Derk

[ray23]

Hi Ray,

looks like time for me to give your farm another visit and have fish talk

Bye,

Derk

I think I have painted myself into a box.

But I have to get rid of the fish in the Big Pond in March and start over.

I did a test catch on the Pla Mor again today, Not good. They need more room to grow. Had RBH's plan been followed I think it would have worked out fine. But it wasn't so time to punt.

So I think my best bet is to not buy at the fishery again and start over.

With the Pla Nin I got really nice one today. But that doesn't stop all the little fry. from coming. We will get something in March. Get rid of the Fry, buy from the place on Nong Khai Hwy or not buy at all.

[RedBullHorn]

Recent harvest... Pictures

Warming my feet, my toes went numb...

Super fog... Visibility not more than 150m...Almost every morning~~~ Power !

Farm maintenance, grass cutting crew at work. (There's 4 of them)

Temperature = Low 5°C High 26°C, windy.

[cdmtdm]

rb what does the water temp get to on those cold days ?

[RedBullHorn]

cdmtdm water temperature is cold as ices in the early morning but mid day weather temperature is around 24°C - 26°C and water temperature is around 18°C - 22°C.

[David48]

Recent harvest... Pictures

RBH ... that was an awesome update ...

Here, in Queensland, we are having a heatwave ... some highest Temps on record.

Out west, some in the 46, 47^oC

Nice legs BTW ...

.

[Openmind111]

Hi RBH

I have a question about raising Pla duk, my father tried that a while ago.

In the first attempt he got unfortunately Pla duk Lart sia, with the following problems of finding a buyer. In the second time he had Pla duk Oui (or big Oui, not so sure about that). Well, at least he didn't loose any money but it may be exaggerated to say, he earned more than pocket money.

My question concerns the water changes, he didn't do any, how much does that reduce the growth of Pla duk, if they stay the whole 3 months in the same water?

About his raising strategies, it was his first trial after the Pla duk Lart sia but did quite the same as I read from your experiences: ~1500 square meter pond, limed the dry pond for about 2 weeks before refilling, 50'000 fingerlings, 300 bags fishfood 30% protein, they stayed around 3.5 months in the pond until they had the required size, in the end he got about 4800-5000 kilo fish, sellable only 4630 kg @ 35 Baht, the rest was to small, that was at beginning 2012, when he sold.

No water changes as mentioned, no aeration, pond depth max. 2 meter

Btw: thanks to all your contributions, always a great read

[RedBullHorn]

Hi RBH

I have a question about raising Pla duk, my father tried that a while ago.

In the first attempt he got unfortunately Pla duk Lart sia, with the following problems of finding a buyer. In the second time he had Pla duk Oui (or big Oui, not so sure about that). Well, at least he didn't loose any money but it may be exaggerated to say, he earned more than pocket money.

My question concerns the water changes, he didn't do any, how much does that reduce the growth of Pla duk, if they stay the whole 3 months in the same water?

About his raising strategies, it was his first trial after the Pla duk Lart sia but did quite the same as I read from your experiences: ~1500 square meter pond, limed the dry pond for about 2 weeks before refilling, 50'000 fingerlings, 300 bags fishfood 30% protein, they stayed around 3.5 months in the pond until they had the required size, in the end he got about 4800-5000 kilo fish, sellable only 4630 kg @ 35 Baht, the rest was to small, that was at beginning 2012, when he sold.

No water changes as mentioned, no aeration, pond depth max. 2 meter

Btw: thanks to all your contributions, always a great read

Hi, It all depends. The pond size is roughly the same as mine. Your father only fed 300 sacks of feed, the stocking rate is correct. So the water hasn't foul up due to high water level and low feed quota. I mentioned before that water change is necessary only when the water foul up, to improve ADG (Average Daily Growth rate).

4'630kg/300= 15.43 meaning FCR 1.29:1 (it is good FCR, very exceptable for trial run)

My big pond is 1'730 sqm (slightly more than 1 rai), 5 years old pond with mud bed at 30cm thick.

Stocking rate is 50'000 fingerlings 3''-4''.

Water depth from mud bed is 1.8m at the sloping end.

Feed quota is 503 sacks.

My yield was 8'720kg sellable, unusable size and physically deformed fishes

that don't make the grade was 80kg (pla foi, 8-9 fishes/kg)

Size yield is 2,3,4,5,6 with high percentage on 3,4,5 (fishes/kg)

My FCR is 8'720kg/503= 17.33 --- FCR 1.15:1

My total feed cost is ฿276'340, average is ฿549.38/sack... Premium grade.

Fingerlings cost is ฿27'500.

Total cost combine of feed and fingerling is ฿34.43/kg

Northern region farmgate price = ฿47/kg (Exclusive ! Others are getting ฿46/kg)

Gross profit was ฿2.12/fish. or ฿12.53/kg.

Nett profit was ฿2.01/fish. or ฿11.99/kg (after deducting variable cost.)

Mortality rate = 5 fishes during rearing period of 105 days. (3.5 months)

Species = Pla Duk Big Oui (Hybrid Clarias, cross from male Pla Duk Lart Sia & female Pla Duk Oui )

Thank you for liking my topic, glad you enjoy reading... Will update from time to time.

P.S = Your father will get better yield if he could up the feed quota to 85 sacks/10'000 fingerlings from the current 60 sacks. 50'000 fingerlings = 425 sacks.

[Openmind111]

There is indeed a big learning curve to deal with. The unsalable Pla duk he tried to keep in a smaller net in the big Pla nin pond. Well obviously the hired workers didn't do a good job, the next day the net was empty and all pla duk were in the lake.

Now would have been the harvest time for the Pla nin, a desaster. We knew it wouldn't be great as it were not monosexed Pla nin, just the normal ones which began to produce offspring pretty early.

After about 200'000 Baht expenses and not really taken care as much as it should be, he took earlier already about 1000 kg Pla nin for direct sale to neighbours and own consumption (they stayed almost 2 years in the lake!) and now again around 2000 kg for a terrible price because they were mostly too small and thin,let's assume 25 Baht per kg there's just a bit water left, I guess about 100-200 kg, but that doesn't help too much to make it better

He didn't keep track as soon as all that was obvious, but knows now many of mistakes that can be made.

Just a small note: big pond 2500 sq.m., 3.5 m deep, he put 130'000 fingerlings in, as we know now, that was slightly too much

Happy new year to all here, anyway