Fish Farming

[Cheeky Farang]

Thought this may be helpful to the budding fish farmers among us.

[Pond Life]

Thanks for the pics Cheeky,

Anyone know if Pla Yeesok is good to eat ?

If got a few in my pond, cant catch the buggers tho'.

[timber]

How much area do you need to farm fish?

[Maizefarmer]

Thanks for the pics Cheeky,

Anyone know if Pla Yeesok is good to eat ?

If got a few in my pond, cant catch the buggers tho'.

Not first on the list of fresh water fish to eat - lots of bones, flesh is coarse and have tough scales - wouldn't be my first choice, but there again, served with the skin off and fillited with enough chilly or fresh lemon, I find one freshwater fish is as good as the next (wouldn't be able to tell what fish it was).

Pla Doog - they are nice.

Edited September 3, 2006 by Maizefarmer

[Pond Life]

Thanks for the word on Pla Yeesok, sounds like I havn't been missing much.

Pla Doog, is that the same as Pla Duk/Dook (black walking catfish) ?, looks kind of silvery on the picture.

Anyway thats my favourite, BBQ Pla Duk with somtam, aroi.

Anyone got any tips on best bait for catching catfish ?

[Deksan]

Thanks for the word on Pla Yeesok, sounds like I havn't been missing much.

Pla Doog, is that the same as Pla Duk/Dook (black walking catfish) ?, looks kind of silvery on the picture.

Anyway thats my favourite, BBQ Pla Duk with somtam, aroi.

Anyone got any tips on best bait for catching catfish ?

Hmm catching fish I think any insect will do like cockroaches ... There issome fishing pond near my home and many people are fishing there, I guess you should have the same thing near your home. You could go and see what they are using. If it s your own pond you could train them to eat a particular food like bread and catch them with bread easily well too easilly ... I have seen most thai ppl fishing with nets, I think that system is the easiest when you arent skilled fishing with a net (I dont think it s very easy ).

Ps : Nice forum, glad to read it.

[RamdomChances]

How much area do you need to farm fish?

Just depends on how many fish you want to keep and how "intensive you want to do it. I have a half rai pond and we stocked it with 1000 pla dook(catfish) and 500 pla nin, last year, I get the run off from the dairy paddock into it so the water is pretty rich. They grew pretty well with not much food, ate some, gave some away and sold some in the shop.

I have been told that I could stock it with 6-10,000 (depending on who you belive) but I would of had to feed at much higher levels and thought about things like airation of the pond.

Feed much the same as any other type of farming is the most importent, you have to try and create an eco-system in the pond so the fish have "natural" food to eat, a lot of fish farms add cow manure to the ponds to promote algei (sp) and the like, a light strung over it will attract insects. They used to do fish farms underneath chicken farms so the fish can eat the chicken manure, but I belive the big aggro companies have put a stop to this. Still many of the larger chicken farms will have pla chon farms as well as they get a lot of dead bird's and just mince them up and throw in the pond.

We were buying baby fish from the market, 50 satang or 1 bhat each depending on the size. Obviously water supply is crutial as well, you would need your own bore.

Anyone got any tips on best bait for catching catfish ?

Use a net

[timber]

I guess catching fish in a net is very productive. Being from Canada there having a fish on the end of a line being good for working out the heart muscles. In the ponds in Bangkok they use bread balls with a little milk mixed in to hold it together. I told some guys to put some cream of corn in the mix and their catch rate went up about 1000 percent. Its illegal in Canada. Must be a reason.

[loy2]

hello guys !

my first letter here and yours forum I ranged very hig, have broplems in english,sorry.I am finnish.

Have any one try to make hot smoked fish in thailand and what kind of wood you use to make smoke ? I have heard some one use old coconat

nuts.

I have some 50 rais near Udon and now ready 5 bounds size 25*40*3m full of Nile Tilapia about 10 000 pease about 1kg each take one year to grouw upp.

Thanks for help and information off farang farming in Isaan!

Edited September 6, 2006 by loy2

[mrbojangles]

Hi Loy, welcome to the forum.

Someone may be able to be more precise but i have found these links for you. Hope they help. They seem to suggets that any kind of wood will do especially alder or fruit wood and it is important to brine the fish first. So, i would imagine Coconut would be ok.

http://www.marinews.com/boat_article_details.php?recordid=40

http://www.fao.org/wairdocs/tan/x5890E/x5890e01.htm

[BambinA]

Anyone know if Pla Yeesok is good to eat ?

Pla yee sok has too many bones.. hard to eat ..unless you know how to cook it well.

as stew , "tom som" (A traditional light and sour-sweet soup with ginger and herbs together )

,"tom khem" (A traditional light and salty-sweet soup with ginger and herbs together )

http://travel.sanook.com/story_picture/b/01005_014.jpg

in the picture is Pla Ta Pien

or cut in stripes well and deep fried

http://www.foodworld.in.th/content/uploads...e/0047/p_04.jpg

in the picture is Pla Ta Pien

FYI

Pla Ta Pien

Scientific name : Barbodes gonionotus,Puntius gonionotus

Common name: Common silver barb

Edited September 6, 2006 by BambinA

[timber]

BambinA- I am amazed at the amount of subjects that you contructively contribute to. You are a good example, I would think, of what Thaivisa should be all about. You have some tastety looking food too.

[BambinA]

khop khun ja timber

[Pond Life]

Thanks for the tip Timber, got myself some creamed corn so will give it a try.

Thanks Bambina if the creamed corn is a success I'll try Pla stew.

Has anyone tried raising small numbers of catfish in small ponds ?

Im thinking of a couple of 1.2 meter concrete well rings stacked & sealed to make the pond.

My concern is water quality, I've read that catfish are quite tolerant, but would I need to change the water frequently ? also with a small volume of water, will the fish suffer from water temperature fluctuations?

[bina]

in the states, the problem with catfish is the oxygen levels per volume of water to fish (if hot temperatures, less oxygen, therefore, can keep less fish)... in israel we raise various types in pools but they are aerated... (catfish we dont raise as is not kosher fish)... we raise the st. peters fish, and some others ...

(i personally dont raise fish but it is a lucrative business here but also techno agriculture, not just a few fish in a pond)

was planning to go fishing in one such place (u pay an entry fee, fish, and then pay for the fish per kilo if u want to take home to eat)

anon (thai boyfriend) is really into this fishing thing so may be going next month on a saturday to check out one of these fish farms/catch your own type places... there u can wander around and see the different pools with babies, fingerlings or whatever up til adult pond size ready for market.

Edited September 10, 2006 by bina

[teletiger]

If catfish don't like where they're at.....they just leave. You can see them flopping all over Klong Toey market (Bangkok)

Regards

[mrbojangles]

(catfish we dont raise as is not kosher fish)

Not wanting to go off topic, but i'm interested. Why are Catfish not kosher, Bina ?

[mrbojangles]

Google is a marvellous thing. It's ok, now i know, i think

It's to do with the fish having to have scales or “Kaskeses”, although fish with scales that are “ganoid” are also not kosher.

Tell me, what was civilisation like before Google

[loy2]

Hello !

How much you expect money back for kilo when you sell your fish (pla nin,pla duk)?

Does it any matter how big your fish are or how many kilous (tons)your sell one time?

[RamdomChances]

Hello !

How much you expect money back for kilo when you sell your fish (pla nin,pla duk)?

Does it any matter how big your fish are or how many kilous (tons)your sell one time?

It's a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" question. Depends on what your stocking rates are, what type of farming you do ect. I've never really done it comercialy, just low intensity, relying heavely on natural food, but did'nt think the return was that good.

A friend of mine used to have a large fish farm (1x 5 rai and about 3-4 x 1-2 ponds) I remember him telling me that he had actually reduced his stocking rate but was making more money as the fish grew faster. For large quantities you get an "agent" come in and catch and buy the lot.

[bina]

"If catfish don't like where they're at.....they just leave. You can see them flopping all over Klong Toey market (Bangkok) biggrin.gif"

thats right; bought a pla duk from a 'market on wheels' that goes around israel selling stuff (not kosher, yummy yummy) for filipin and thai workers.... bought a pla duk, left it in a bucket in my office. next day, no pla duk in bucket... found pla duck under desk, grunting (They speak!!) at me... got thai worker to chase it back in to bucket and later turn it into food.

carp as food (gefilte fish for thsoe that dont know) is raised here, also i think not difficult except for aeration issues...

Edited September 12, 2006 by bina

[robint]

hi guys

i have fish ponds but we werent successful because

a) catfish tend to escape, walk away especially a night when the rains come

bastards neighbours stole fish at nights

c) not enough food so we had to use factory feed, expensive

d) price not good as all the fish in the area mature at the same time and it halves the market price.

Pla nin - nile tilapia is the best, if you have a friendly market you can scoop up all the damged vegetables, especially cabbage leaves etc and use those as free food

pla tap tim must have lots of fresh water ie be grown in nets in a running river

BTW anyone know the proper name for the tap tim fish (related to a red snapper? is it a japanese hybrid?)

Pla sawai, very easy to grow and not fussy about food, but you must skin the fish and removve all the fatty jelly that accumulates, it spoils the tatse

[RamdomChances]

^ I think they are Nile Tilapia.

Yup, if your prone floods in rainy season catfish will make a break fro freedom

Edited September 13, 2006 by RamdomChances

[loy2]

Hello!

How many peases of Nile Tilapia can put for a bond ( M2 or M3 ) without any extra oxygen or running water

systems ?

[aqua]

Pla Nin = Black Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)

Pla Tub Tim = Red Tilapia, which is a hybrid of Nile tilapia and Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus)

Same family

As a general rule, 3,000 x 1 inch fish (0.2g) or 1,600 x 4 inch fish (30g) per rai is an ideal stocking density for fertilized and or supplemental fed tilapia ponds in most of Thailand. Any amounts above this may require aeration

Expect to yield about 800 kg per rai

Remember its always better to understock a pond when first starting out

Maybe even try a ployculture situation by adding a few kilos of juvenile GFPs and throw them on the barbie on harvest day

[aqua]

Yup, if your prone to floods in the rainy season, your catfish will make a break for freedom

Try fencing off the pond using cheap blue netting, about 80 cm high. Ensure that the dirt covers the netting. This is also very important for pla mor (climbing perch)

[aqua]

Netting around a 1/2 rai pond to prevent fish from escaping during heavy rains

This is required for pla chon, pla dook and pla mor

[carpediem]

it's probably not the thread - and maybe untactful - to ask the question, but how does one find/buy fish in thailand that isn't farmed?

i'm not a fetishist about it but sometimes would be happy to pay a little more to eat wild fish.

cd

[udon]

it's probably not the thread - and maybe untactful - to ask the question, but how does one find/buy fish in thailand that isn't farmed?

i'm not a fetishist about it but sometimes would be happy to pay a little more to eat wild fish.

cd

Any fishing village, just go and meet the fishermen as they come in.

[chownah]

Here in the north the locals fish from the rivers, irrigation canals, and even the rice paddies. I like farmed pla dook just fine but the wild pla dook is even better although usually smaller. They also catch pla chon and alot of other small fishes whose names I don't know. As for where to buy this...I don't know....but you might ask around in a small village....or even take up fishing yourself. Of course, if you go to a market and ask if they have wild fish then everything they sell will turn into wild fish....maybe....maybe not.