Pla Nin Versus Pla Duk

[Gary A]

We stocked our pond with pla nin well over a year ago. After the pla nin had a good start, we bought 400 pla duk. They were kept and fed in a screened area. After a couple of months all the fish were of a similar size so we turned the pla duk loose. The catfish are voracious eaters and it appears they eat all the feed and the pla nin get very little. At this point, the pla duk have grown huge while the pla nin are still quite small, maybe a half kilo. Some of the pla duk are a couple kilos.

None of the fish were meant to be harvested or sold so it's not a big deal. I like the taste of the catfish better anyways. I'm just curious why the catfish are many times bigger than the tilapia in the same time period.

[tingtong]

tilapia after a while might be too busy reproducing?

it seem to be the case in my lake, lots of little tilapia, not so many big one...

[ozzydom]

There are Tilapia and there are Tilapia, as tingtong says they may be breeding.

Tilapia breed at a pretty small size and males do not feed from when the female lays her eggs in the nest as he guards the nest ,fanning it and once hatched he is the house mother ,if danger threatens he carries the fry in his mouth and will also carry the eggs in his mouth to protect them.

Buying Pla Nin fry from anywhere other than a good hatchery usually results in mixed sex fry .

Cats will beat Pla Nin to feed every time so to provide food the cats dont eat, dissolve 16-20-0 into the pond at the rate of 50kg per rai ,this will build up a source of phyto plankton which are Tilapias main source of protein.

[Gary A]

There are Tilapia and there are Tilapia, as tingtong says they may be breeding.

Tilapia breed at a pretty small size and males do not feed from when the female lays her eggs in the nest as he guards the nest ,fanning it and once hatched he is the house mother ,if danger threatens he carries the fry in his mouth and will also carry the eggs in his mouth to protect them.

Buying Pla Nin fry from anywhere other than a good hatchery usually results in mixed sex fry .

Cats will beat Pla Nin to feed every time so to provide food the cats dont eat, dissolve 16-20-0 into the pond at the rate of 50kg per rai ,this will build up a source of phyto plankton which are Tilapias main source of protein.

Thanks for the fertilizer tip. The water is still muddy from all the rain so I'll wait a while yet to put the fertilizer in. We had another pond dug beside the old existing one. A dike separated the ponds and we stocked small pla nin in the new part. During the heavy rains, the dike went way underwater so now the fish are totally mixed. The catfish were actually introduced to keep the pla nin from multiplying too much and becoming stunted. We actually don't feed them that much so the catfish must be eating something to be getting as big as they are.

The pla nin are interesting, almost like two different breeds. The biggest ones are quite black colored while the smaller ones are much more silver or gray colored.

Should the fertilizer treatment be replenished on a regular basis?

[ozzydom]

There are Tilapia and there are Tilapia, as tingtong says they may be breeding.

Tilapia breed at a pretty small size and males do not feed from when the female lays her eggs in the nest as he guards the nest ,fanning it and once hatched he is the house mother ,if danger threatens he carries the fry in his mouth and will also carry the eggs in his mouth to protect them.

Buying Pla Nin fry from anywhere other than a good hatchery usually results in mixed sex fry .

Cats will beat Pla Nin to feed every time so to provide food the cats dont eat, dissolve 16-20-0 into the pond at the rate of 50kg per rai ,this will build up a source of phyto plankton which are Tilapias main source of protein.

Thanks for the fertilizer tip. The water is still muddy from all the rain so I'll wait a while yet to put the fertilizer in. We had another pond dug beside the old existing one. A dike separated the ponds and we stocked small pla nin in the new part. During the heavy rains, the dike went way underwater so now the fish are totally mixed. The catfish were actually introduced to keep the pla nin from multiplying too much and becoming stunted. We actually don't feed them that much so the catfish must be eating something to be getting as big as they are.

The pla nin are interesting, almost like two different breeds. The biggest ones are quite black colored while the smaller ones are much more silver or gray colored.

Should the fertilizer treatment be replenished on a regular basis?

There are different strains of Pla Nin about and they show different colour.

Now that you have mixed sex in the ponds it is a real chore to eliminate them,You could get some mono-culture (all male) but unless you have a separate enclosure to grow them on in ,it would be pretty hit and miss ,with cats as big as you say they would gulp down Pla Nin up to probably 300 gram.

If you want to try a few all male Pla Nin ,there is a chap at Nong Khai who can sell you Nam Sai Farms stock.PM me if you want his phone number.

About a week (temperature depending)after applying the fertilizer you will get an algael bloom and after that the water will get a greenish tinge ,that signifies that micro-organisms and plankton are present.

Pla Nin actually go ape on algael bloom as its one of the natural foods (about 45-50% protein).

Maintenance of greened ponds is about 5kg of fertilizer per rai per month.

[ray23]

There are Tilapia and there are Tilapia, as tingtong says they may be breeding.

Tilapia breed at a pretty small size and males do not feed from when the female lays her eggs in the nest as he guards the nest ,fanning it and once hatched he is the house mother ,if danger threatens he carries the fry in his mouth and will also carry the eggs in his mouth to protect them.

Buying Pla Nin fry from anywhere other than a good hatchery usually results in mixed sex fry .

Cats will beat Pla Nin to feed every time so to provide food the cats dont eat, dissolve 16-20-0 into the pond at the rate of 50kg per rai ,this will build up a source of phyto plankton which are Tilapias main source of protein.

Thanks for the fertilizer tip. The water is still muddy from all the rain so I'll wait a while yet to put the fertilizer in. We had another pond dug beside the old existing one. A dike separated the ponds and we stocked small pla nin in the new part. During the heavy rains, the dike went way underwater so now the fish are totally mixed. The catfish were actually introduced to keep the pla nin from multiplying too much and becoming stunted. We actually don't feed them that much so the catfish must be eating something to be getting as big as they are.

The pla nin are interesting, almost like two different breeds. The biggest ones are quite black colored while the smaller ones are much more silver or gray colored.

Should the fertilizer treatment be replenished on a regular basis?

There are different strains of Pla Nin about and they show different colour.

Now that you have mixed sex in the ponds it is a real chore to eliminate them,You could get some mono-culture (all male) but unless you have a separate enclosure to grow them on in ,it would be pretty hit and miss ,with cats as big as you say they would gulp down Pla Nin up to probably 300 gram.

If you want to try a few all male Pla Nin ,there is a chap at Nong Khai who can sell you Nam Sai Farms stock.PM me if you want his phone number.

About a week (temperature depending)after applying the fertilizer you will get an algael bloom and after that the water will get a greenish tinge ,that signifies that micro-organisms and plankton are present.

Pla Nin actually go ape on algael bloom as its one of the natural foods (about 45-50% protein).

Maintenance of greened ponds is about 5kg of fertilizer per rai per month.

Ozzie I followed your original receipe for ponds and fish. we bought our fry from the Fish Hatchery here in Udon, so I really have no idea what we ended up with. I had for gotten how much they multiply. My wife who bought the fish didn't know. We have two ponds. So my plan was to use one as a grow pond and put cat fish in along with the Pla Nin for population control and hope fully get some good size fish.

That is not sounding like such a great idea now.

How do you tell a male from a female?

Our ponds are new so they are not holding water real great. We got most of our algae when started pumping water from friends mature pond.

I see catch fish being BBQ'd here that in my fishing days I would have thrown back and told to go get Papa, they are all head and no body.

The wife also got carried away and over stocked by miles.

We are only few months into this so we could start over without much of a loss.

Your thoughts Sir?

[Gary A]

As far as our fish, I want just enough for our table and her families table. As long as there are big fish to catch via a fishing pole, I'll be happy. I fed them today and saw very few catfish. Not nearly as many as normal. Usually they swarm and bulldoze through the water getting all the fish pellets that they can get.

My wife says they are staying on the bottom because of the cold weather. I doubt that. Due to their normal feeding habits, it would be easy to submerge a net and catch a bunch by feeding them and pulling up the net. Time will tell. There are many fish thieves around here so not many people even try to raise fish.

When they cut and threshed our rice near the pond, there were far too many guys looking at the pond. I was stupid enough to feed them while the Thai guys were oohing and aahing watching the frenzied feeding.

[ozzydom]

Hi Ray,Buying fry from where you bought yours has cost us hundreds of thousand baht and lost us nearly two years of production.

This was because the mono-culture fry we bought turned out mixed sex,they came and inspected them and gave excuses for the "mistake" plus gave the replacement 10,000 fry free,yep ,same result so we will not buy from Govt hatcheries again.

For commercial purposes,even in a small way, you cant mix cats and Pla Nin, you cant even have them in separate ponds if the ponds are in close (1km ) proximity cos cats will travel far overland when they feel the need to change homes.

It is hard to visually tell the sexs,sometimes body shape or slight red tinges on males when sexually mature gives a hint but not always.

My advice FWIW would be to clean them all out and start afresh with Nam Sai fry and dont overstock.

[Mosha]

Most Cichlids, of which Tilapia are part of that family. Are usually sexed by looking at the Dorsal and Anal fins. The Males have longer and usually more pointed fins

[ozzydom]

Hi Gary ,I thought I was a pretty good poacher in my young days , in our trout filled rivers but the Thais beat me hands down.

We have all night lighting around the perimeter of our farm plus flood lighting and two of my dogs live nights at the ponds,but two years ago they cleaned out nearly 2000 fish around the 1kg size in about a week .

I was growing that particular pond on because we had some 4-5kg Barramundi in it but they cleaned out virtually every fish.

One day they were there ,a week later nada,nix, zero, zilch.

[ray23]

Hi Gary ,I thought I was a pretty good poacher in my young days , in our trout filled rivers but the Thais beat me hands down.

We have all night lighting around the perimeter of our farm plus flood lighting and two of my dogs live nights at the ponds,but two years ago they cleaned out nearly 2000 fish around the 1kg size in about a week .

I was growing that particular pond on because we had some 4-5kg Barramundi in it but they cleaned out virtually every fish.

One day they were there ,a week later nada,nix, zero, zilch.

Thanks Dom much cheaper now to walk away and start over. This is a learning year. I can save a fortune fuel. The feed will last for the next try, so we are out 600 baht I can live with that. Hopefully the pond will hold water better next year. I will restock in the rainy season. You just saved me for a disaster. The ponds we have are small so I;m thinking five hundred fish each at most. We are talking 7 met, by 6 met and 6 met deep. We only have a Rai to work with and allow for a house on the property. That will be 1/2 Rai when I have know what I;m doing we can get the 2nd half turned into a pond. They can take the dirt and the dig will be free. Right now we need a meter of dirt for the building pad.

[Gary A]

Hi Gary ,I thought I was a pretty good poacher in my young days , in our trout filled rivers but the Thais beat me hands down.

We have all night lighting around the perimeter of our farm plus flood lighting and two of my dogs live nights at the ponds,but two years ago they cleaned out nearly 2000 fish around the 1kg size in about a week .

I was growing that particular pond on because we had some 4-5kg Barramundi in it but they cleaned out virtually every fish.

One day they were there ,a week later nada,nix, zero, zilch.

No doubt they are expert thieves. We have another pond about 1 1/2 kilometer from that one on small dirt roads. My wife stocked it with several species of fish but no catfish. When it came time to irrigate the rice paddies, she had buckets and nets to collect the fish. when the pond was pumped completely dry there wasn't even a single fish in it. How they managed to get them all is unbelievable. We got cheated digging that pond because the excavator guy convinced my wife that he couldn't go as deep as promised. Since then we have hired a much larger excavator and made it deeper so to have enough water for the rice. As it turned out, that was wasted money too because last year she had the paddy dikes dozed out and planted sugar cane.

It cost her 65,000 baht to doze out the dikes and plant the sugar cane. She netted 70,000 baht from the first cutting last year and is doing pretty well cutting this year. She may even make some money but certainly not enough to justify all her work. And yes, she does all the work right down to cutting the cane herself with the occasional worker when she can find someone. Right now it is my wife and her nephew. Her nephew spends most of his time waiting in line with the cut cane at the weigh station. They use the tak tak and a small trailer to haul it a ton and a half at a time.

My wife pays all the expenses and of course keeps any profit. I was going to buy her a much larger trailer and let her use the four wheel drive tractor to pull it. She didn't want to spend the money and I didn't feel generous enough to pay the 155,000 baht for the new trailer.

[ozzydom]

Hi Gary ,I thought I was a pretty good poacher in my young days , in our trout filled rivers but the Thais beat me hands down.

We have all night lighting around the perimeter of our farm plus flood lighting and two of my dogs live nights at the ponds,but two years ago they cleaned out nearly 2000 fish around the 1kg size in about a week .

I was growing that particular pond on because we had some 4-5kg Barramundi in it but they cleaned out virtually every fish.

One day they were there ,a week later nada,nix, zero, zilch.

Thanks Dom much cheaper now to walk away and start over. This is a learning year. I can save a fortune fuel. The feed will last for the next try, so we are out 600 baht I can live with that. Hopefully the pond will hold water better next year. I will restock in the rainy season. You just saved me for a disaster. The ponds we have are small so I;m thinking five hundred fish each at most. We are talking 7 met, by 6 met and 6 met deep. We only have a Rai to work with and allow for a house on the property. That will be 1/2 Rai when I have know what I;m doing we can get the 2nd half turned into a pond. They can take the dirt and the dig will be free. Right now we need a meter of dirt for the building pad.

Ray old mate,I dont want to burst your bubble,but you are wasting your time and cash on ponds that small.

42 sq metres is about 1/40 th of a rai and under good pond conditions 1 1/2 fish per metre is tops, which means your ponds would carry about 60 fish each.

When the fish are fry 60 fish in a pond that size looks insignificant but when they get upward of 1kg they will be crowded and crowded Pla Nin can lead to serious disease problems.

As well the ponds are way to deep, Pla Nin live mainly in the top 1/2 metre and a pond 6 metres deep will receive no light past about 2 metres which means the lower reaches will be a slurry of Nitrites and no oxygen . If you are unlucky enough to have a Nitrite bloom when oxygen is depleted (natural occurance between midnight and dawn)you will find every fish dead in the morning.

At our stocking rate of 1 1/2 fish per metre we have to regularly turn on the aerators as early morning you find the fish sucking air on the surface, a good sign of oxygen depletion.

We have the luxury of having a Klong on the boundary so can exchange so can exchange about 10%of our pond water each week when the fish get towards market size.

[ray23]

Hi Gary ,I thought I was a pretty good poacher in my young days , in our trout filled rivers but the Thais beat me hands down.

We have all night lighting around the perimeter of our farm plus flood lighting and two of my dogs live nights at the ponds,but two years ago they cleaned out nearly 2000 fish around the 1kg size in about a week .

I was growing that particular pond on because we had some 4-5kg Barramundi in it but they cleaned out virtually every fish.

One day they were there ,a week later nada,nix, zero, zilch.

Thanks Dom much cheaper now to walk away and start over. This is a learning year. I can save a fortune fuel. The feed will last for the next try, so we are out 600 baht I can live with that. Hopefully the pond will hold water better next year. I will restock in the rainy season. You just saved me for a disaster. The ponds we have are small so I;m thinking five hundred fish each at most. We are talking 7 met, by 6 met and 6 met deep. We only have a Rai to work with and allow for a house on the property. That will be 1/2 Rai when I have know what I;m doing we can get the 2nd half turned into a pond. They can take the dirt and the dig will be free. Right now we need a meter of dirt for the building pad.

Ray old mate,I dont want to burst your bubble,but you are wasting your time and cash on ponds that small.

42 sq metres is about 1/40 th of a rai and under good pond conditions 1 1/2 fish per metre is tops, which means your ponds would carry about 60 fish each.

When the fish are fry 60 fish in a pond that size looks insignificant but when they get upward of 1kg they will be crowded and crowded Pla Nin can lead to serious disease problems.

As well the ponds are way to deep, Pla Nin live mainly in the top 1/2 metre and a pond 6 metres deep will receive no light past about 2 metres which means the lower reaches will be a slurry of Nitrites and no oxygen . If you are unlucky enough to have a Nitrite bloom when oxygen is depleted (natural occurance between midnight and dawn)you will find every fish dead in the morning.

At our stocking rate of 1 1/2 fish per metre we have to regularly turn on the aerators as early morning you find the fish sucking air on the surface, a good sign of oxygen depletion.

We have the luxury of having a Klong on the boundary so can exchange so can exchange about 10%of our pond water each week when the fish get towards market size.

Not a problem Dom a hobby at the moment. Once I learn what I'm doing then I can use the half Rai Baby step 60 is OK with me.

I have been researching aerators. I'll get there. Trick is going to be getting the guy on Nong Khai to sale me 60 fish.

So what is the depth you recommend?

We can do the other half Rai next month, we are adding a building Pad on the half Rai. so I could kill two birds with stone.

No biggy to back fill the other ponds

What would that support, in the end the idea is for the wife to have a way supplement her retirement on my death and keep me busy learning.

Edited December 12, 2011 by ray23

[ray23]

Hi Gary ,I thought I was a pretty good poacher in my young days , in our trout filled rivers but the Thais beat me hands down.

We have all night lighting around the perimeter of our farm plus flood lighting and two of my dogs live nights at the ponds,but two years ago they cleaned out nearly 2000 fish around the 1kg size in about a week .

I was growing that particular pond on because we had some 4-5kg Barramundi in it but they cleaned out virtually every fish.

One day they were there ,a week later nada,nix, zero, zilch.

Thanks Dom much cheaper now to walk away and start over. This is a learning year. I can save a fortune fuel. The feed will last for the next try, so we are out 600 baht I can live with that. Hopefully the pond will hold water better next year. I will restock in the rainy season. You just saved me for a disaster. The ponds we have are small so I;m thinking five hundred fish each at most. We are talking 7 met, by 6 met and 6 met deep. We only have a Rai to work with and allow for a house on the property. That will be 1/2 Rai when I have know what I;m doing we can get the 2nd half turned into a pond. They can take the dirt and the dig will be free. Right now we need a meter of dirt for the building pad.

Ray old mate,I dont want to burst your bubble,but you are wasting your time and cash on ponds that small.

42 sq metres is about 1/40 th of a rai and under good pond conditions 1 1/2 fish per metre is tops, which means your ponds would carry about 60 fish each.

When the fish are fry 60 fish in a pond that size looks insignificant but when they get upward of 1kg they will be crowded and crowded Pla Nin can lead to serious disease problems.

As well the ponds are way to deep, Pla Nin live mainly in the top 1/2 metre and a pond 6 metres deep will receive no light past about 2 metres which means the lower reaches will be a slurry of Nitrites and no oxygen . If you are unlucky enough to have a Nitrite bloom when oxygen is depleted (natural occurance between midnight and dawn)you will find every fish dead in the morning.

At our stocking rate of 1 1/2 fish per metre we have to regularly turn on the aerators as early morning you find the fish sucking air on the surface, a good sign of oxygen depletion.

We have the luxury of having a Klong on the boundary so can exchange so can exchange about 10%of our pond water each week when the fish get towards market size.

Not a problem Dom a hobby at the moment. Once I learn what I'm doing then I can use the half Rai Baby step 60 is OK with me.

I have been researching aerators. I'll get there. Trick is going to be getting the guy on Nong Khai to sale me 60 fish.

So what is the depth you recommend?

We can do the other half Rai next month, we are adding a building Pad on the half Rai. so I could kill two birds with stone.

No biggy to back fill the other ponds

What would that support, in the end the idea is for the wife to have a way supplement her retirement on my death and keep me busy learning.

You had already answered some of my questions:

"tingtong.Nam Sai is a good choice for your stock,a word of caution though,you should have very little mortality so do not overstock initially.

To get good growth 1000-1500 fry per rai is plenty, water depth is of not much consequence as Pla Nin live mainly in the top 1 metre of water.(deep ponds are more a hinderance than a help ).

Introduce your fry after your pond water has aged for a couple of weeks.

Fry start better if placed in a hapa for about a month before release,they will learn to come back to where the hapa was for food.

Frog food is ideal to start your fry on.

If you intend giving your fish the minimum of care, read up on greenwater farming ,this creates an environment with a good supply of their natural food(phyto-plankton and micro organisms)making provision of supplementory feed less important."

So if I following the correctly I could go up to 750 fry?

Would one meter really be enough? for the depth of the pond?

I sent you a P.M. with further information, that I didn't want to drive everyone crazy with.

[ray23]

I printed out your original instructions (long ago) 120 CM deep. Couldn't do the half Rai then, I can now.

[ozzydom]

I printed out your original instructions (long ago) 120 CM deep. Couldn't do the half Rai then, I can now.

Only the good die young mate,so you got plenty of time to ride yet.

1.5 metres is enough depth but 2 metres allows for natural backfilling from erosion.

The trick would be to peg out the proposed house floor plan on the block then see how and if you can squeeze in 1/2 rai of pond.

A pond does not just have to be a hole in the ground,as you could if you have a mind to,incorporate it as part of your garden landscape,it can be made to look very nice as well as functional.

If you dig the pond first ,the fill can be used to build up the house pad.

Stormwater from the house could be directed to the pond before excess is piped away.

Can see you now ,sitting in your rocking chair on the patio ,orange juice in one hand while flicking fish pellets into the pond with the other.

By the way ,a pond does not have to be square or rectangular,it can be contoured or L shaped .

If you can squeeze in 800sq met of pond (1/2 rai)you could go to 1000 fish.

[ray23]

I printed out your original instructions (long ago) 120 CM deep. Couldn't do the half Rai then, I can now.

Only the good die young mate,so you got plenty of time to ride yet.

1.5 metres is enough depth but 2 metres allows for natural backfilling from erosion.

The trick would be to peg out the proposed house floor plan on the block then see how and if you can squeeze in 1/2 rai of pond.

A pond does not just have to be a hole in the ground,as you could if you have a mind to,incorporate it as part of your garden landscape,it can be made to look very nice as well as functional.

If you dig the pond first ,the fill can be used to build up the house pad.

Stormwater from the house could be directed to the pond before excess is piped away.

Can see you now ,sitting in your rocking chair on the patio ,orange juice in one hand while flicking fish pellets into the pond with the other.

By the way ,a pond does not have to be square or rectangular,it can be contoured or L shaped .

If you can squeeze in 800sq met of pond (1/2 rai)you could go to 1000 fish.

Iced Tea mate. That a good idea I can Get 800 Sq Met.,if I incorporate my two existing ponds. Only five meter between the two and I will have a L shape. Just knock out the center section and some of the upraised sides. Gives me lots of room for a house pad.

I tell you what I like most out there it's quiet. Got more the four feet of distance between me and the next house. I have good neighbors but still yet, more room would be good.

A friend is doing cat fish in the Khan Kean area. He built a deck and roof over the pond sit up a kitchen over the top of his pond. A Fair size square hole under the table. Fishing pole hanging on the wall now that is living. His is for his own use.

I like the idea of fruit trees around the edges.

We already have deal cut for rice, worked out a deal for rice I pay for the plants and have good rive year round. Nice veggie garden and I'm in business. A chicken coop and I got the eggs covered

Lots of talots in Udon hopefully we can a few to sale the fish at. If not I know what I'm having for dinner.

[RedBullHorn]

Most Cichlids, of which Tilapia are part of that family. Are usually sexed by looking at the Dorsal and Anal fins. The Males have longer and usually more pointed fins

Frankly it's difficult to tell by looking at the fins...

How to sex tilapia (Web abstract)

Sexing tilapia is important, since most farmers wish to cultivate males only. Male tilapias grow bigger and yield a higher profit for aquacultures. The fish is therefore sexed as early as possible and the females are destroyed. Manual sexing of tilapia is tricky and requires specially trained personal. Even experienced personal will normally get at least 2-5 percent wrong.

When a tilapia fingerling has reached a weight of 25 grams (1 ounce) it can normally be sexed by looking at the genital papilla. The genital papilla is located right behind the anus of the fish. If the genital papilla has one single opening you are looking at a male tilapia. Males have only one opening and both urine and milt will pass through this hole. If the genital papilla has two openings you are looking at a female tilapia, because tilapia eggs do not pass through the same hole as urine. If you find it hard to examine the genital papilla of fingerlings, try placing a drop of dye, such as food colouring or methylene blue, on the genital region. The colour will normally make it easier to distinguish the openings.

[ozzydom]

Most Cichlids, of which Tilapia are part of that family. Are usually sexed by looking at the Dorsal and Anal fins. The Males have longer and usually more pointed fins

Frankly it's difficult to tell by looking at the fins...

How to sex tilapia (Web abstract)

Sexing tilapia is important, since most farmers wish to cultivate males only. Male tilapias grow bigger and yield a higher profit for aquacultures. The fish is therefore sexed as early as possible and the females are destroyed. Manual sexing of tilapia is tricky and requires specially trained personal. Even experienced personal will normally get at least 2-5 percent wrong.

When a tilapia fingerling has reached a weight of 25 grams (1 ounce) it can normally be sexed by looking at the genital papilla. The genital papilla is located right behind the anus of the fish. If the genital papilla has one single opening you are looking at a male tilapia. Males have only one opening and both urine and milt will pass through this hole. If the genital papilla has two openings you are looking at a female tilapia, because tilapia eggs do not pass through the same hole as urine. If you find it hard to examine the genital papilla of fingerlings, try placing a drop of dye, such as food colouring or methylene blue, on the genital region. The colour will normally make it easier to distinguish the openings.

Interesting article RBH, think I will stick to buying sex changed all males , we have just sold and pumped out 2 ponds (9000 fish )and not one baby Pla Nin, we expect at least 98% males from Nam Sai Farm but I will take 100% any day.

The old saying "one persons misfortune is another persons good luck", the floods in the South brought so many extra people to Isaan ,sales were terrific,just under 3000kg in the last 5 weeks, all gate sales @ 80 bht kg.

[RedBullHorn]

very true, i sold 220'000 of fingerlings on the insight that fingerlings will not be available due to the flood that wipe out fries producers... Edited December 13, 2011 by RedBullHorn

[ray23]

I think I will stick with starting over

That much time simply is not worth 600 baht.

I was lucky I saw the thread when I did, easy to change things now.

Dom if your harvesting all at once what do you do with the fish?

As I recall you had a route to sale them around the villages. So there must be some sort of storage involved?

Thanks for all your help guys

[ozzydom]

I think I will stick with starting over

That much time simply is not worth 600 baht.

I was lucky I saw the thread when I did, easy to change things now.

Dom if your harvesting all at once what do you do with the fish?

As I recall you had a route to sale them around the villages. So there must be some sort of storage involved?

Thanks for all your help guys

We have a 4m x5m x1m floating holding net that we sell from,I catch fish and stock it up every morning with 30-50 kg and catch whenever necessary during the day.

A friend is the announcer on the local radio and she plugged us pretty well a couple of years ago,plus some good signeage around the place ,so most villages within 10km know us now.

The villagers all come to us,although we do deliver larger orders and we have a chap buys 20kg at a time (occasionally) to take to outlying villages and sell ,he gets 5 baht kg discount.

[ray23]

Thanks Dom, seems like a good method to me.

[ray23]

Getting ready to put in the proper pond for Plan Nin. We pumped out one of the ponds that was to deep today. The same one the wife put a 1000 Plan Nin in. What did we find four very happy catfish and five frogs.

So in the mix from the Udon fish supply were cat fish the only ting that survived. Well lesson learned never use them again.

I saved a good amount of water by pumping it into one holding pond. I'm afraid to even use it to fill the new pond with

[ray23]

You know Dom with what I saw yesterday I like the floating net idea, I might even to one above ground to learn with. Complete with filteration system and a air supply. To start them out get some size to them and then go to ponds segmented with floating fish nets. A go at making a harvesting a bit easier.

I left one big hole for an additional water supply, cat fish can have that one.

Lot to learn and I'm enjoying it.

[Gary A]

After feeding the fish a number of times, I am convinced that most of the big catfish have been stolen. The catfish are apparently successfully breeding in the pond and the second generation are already about 8 inches long. The pla nin are still quite small. Since I am not interested in selling any fish, I'm not sure if I want a green pond so I have not put the fertilizer in.

I already have a small get away house there with a big covered front porch and a 2,500 watt generator for electricity. If the big mud road gets paved as promised three years ago and they run electric lines, I would really like to build a proper house there. I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for electricity or a paved road. TIT!

[ozzydom]

You know Dom with what I saw yesterday I like the floating net idea, I might even to one above ground to learn with. Complete with filteration system and a air supply. To start them out get some size to them and then go to ponds segmented with floating fish nets. A go at making a harvesting a bit easier.

I left one big hole for an additional water supply, cat fish can have that one.

Lot to learn and I'm enjoying it.

I dont get the floating net above ground bit Ray.

[Smithson]

A note about the Nam Sai fingerlings, we bought some, expecting they were all male, we were surprised to find them breeding. This happened twice, I asked the staff who sent me to see the owner. He explained they were about 97% male, so some breeding may occur. To eat the fingerling he gave us a could of baramundi (I think that's what they were).

[ray23]

I wanted to change to pond to run length wise across the land at the edge two meters deep. So you could angry or realize that your wife doesn't have the concept of fish farming, nor will she put the effort in to learn Therefore she can not explain it in Thai. So what I got was one pond 4 meters deep about twice the size of the original one.

On the good side of life we hit spring water, not one bit salty, something this area is known for. So that should help in maintaining water levels. So at this juncture I thinking about floating tanks and walk ways to build an easy way to harvest.

Not exactly what I had in mind, now I got to make it work. I'll find a way. I shouldn't have to transfer water now, which is really the biggest expense. I left one pond for catfish. I will have to net around that so I can keep them in there.

On the positive side of life I have one heck of yard. one meter high, nicely leveled. So after a season of rain should be compacted enough to build. Next project is to get city water pumped in. After seeing the spring water I really want to sink a well and pump from that. Not going to happen wife is convinced the city water is cleaner. Nothing I can say will change that. The water is clear as can be and I've tasted it good water and certainly good enough to shower and wash clothes, which is what it would be used for. It would also be a heck of a lot better for fish.

I'm thinking about creating net cages that float with the water level. Walkways that would do the same thing. I know I have to get air into the ponds to do that. But, I have electricity, after reading one of Dom's posts I could set them on timers. Not sure if the cage method if green water will work or not?

Dom what are using for an aireator?

Before anyone says anything I reviewed everything I could find. The choice between the wife adna fish farm. Wife is going to win everytime