Fish Farming

[loy2]

Hello!

Maybe best way is going very early morning fishing village near see and buy fish streat on arrivall boats

[robint]

many thanks aqua you solved a long standing mystery for me

pla tap tim is red tilapia

[bina]

extreme curiousity about poison runoff and fish; thais love to farm with lots of herbacides etc, not to mention if they spray ddt for mosquitoes, doesnt that affect the fish and/or make us more susceptible to poisoning, after all, ceratain poisonts kill fish and inveratbrates....

now i know why there were fences around th e ponds ; i thought it was to prevent people to get to the fish, didnt htink of my pla duk going for a stroll...

p.s. yesterday had a pla duk in a bucket in the shower, daughter went to shower ,saw its whiskered face, had a heartattack , refused to eat the thing after it was put in the toaster oven, (it looked at her while showering, so, since they shared a moment together, she couldnt eat it)....

[teletiger]

looked at her while showering, so, since they shared a moment together, she couldnt eat it)....

There's a joke in there somewhere,.......but, I'll leave that to the coarse fishing members.

Regards

[raviraju]

Hi,

I'm from India, visiting Bangkok and Phuket, are there any catfish (Channa Puctatus) farms around these places which I could visit, I'm interested in farming them in India.

Thanks,

Ravi

[too true]

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?

Just stumbled across this thread.... any success to report with the creamed corn? I ask because my husband likes to go to the fishing competitions on Sundays. Winner gets anywhere from 15000 to 30000 baht. If creamed corn does the trick, I'll stock up - I could really use the cash.

My husband also makes a fantastic fish soup using either pla nin (farmed) or pla chedo (wild). He boils it with nam prik pao and a little bit of coconut milk added at the start and some tamarind, and then at the end puts a bunch of horapa leaves. It's truly wonderful.

I agree about pla yeesok having too many bones. But they've got big heads and their heads are full of meat at the top with no bones at all (not brains or face parts - real fish meat). ANd they've got some of the yummiest fish cheeks I've ever had.

Cheers,

TT

[Maizefarmer]

Dont know about "creamed corn" but know they like the corn seeds/kernals mashed up and bound with something (flour water. sogy bread -anything that helps it to stick.

I am no fish(er) man so cant offer much more help - just thought I'd add my bit as a thanx for the recipe you posted!!

Oh - by the way if this works and hes wins - let me know - I could also do with a bit of that 15K - 30K!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good Luck

Tim

[Pond Life]

I tried the creamed corn & it works great.

I brought a small can with me from abroad as didnt know if I could buy it here.

Mixed it with some rice bran fish food into a thick dough.

squished it onto one of those wire coil thingies with five hooks hanging off.

3 good Pla Yeesok in about 2 hrs, previously they wouldnt look at any bait I gave them.

As for the bones, my TGF was told by the locals to slash the sides of the fish before frying the h#ll out of them, they do this to most fish but she was told to make the cuts realy close together (looked about 5 mm apart to me).

They tasted great & the bones were no worse than alot of other fish.

[too true]

Dont know about "creamed corn" but know they like the corn seeds/kernals mashed up and bound with something (flour water. sogy bread -anything that helps it to stick.

I am no fish(er) man so cant offer much more help - just thought I'd add my bit as a thanx for the recipe you posted!!

Oh - by the way if this works and hes wins - let me know - I could also do with a bit of that 15K - 30K!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good Luck

Tim

Well, ended up spending most of the weekend in the hospital with a sick little boy (our own, unfortunately) so there was no way on god's good earth that he would have had the nerve to take off fishing for the day. But we've been to Lotus and I've showed him the creamed corn. He's anxious to try it out at a catfish pond on a non competition day. I'll let you know how it goes. I suppose we could also try mashing up some corn on the cob kernels and mixing that with his fishing bread.

If he wins I'll let you know, but you have to swear on your life not to tell any fishermen you know in Chiang Mai

Cheers,

TT

[Maizefarmer]

Promise - I wont.

......am told, for the lazy fisherman - tinned cat food also works a treat straight out the tin.

Tim

[Chris.B]

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

You seem to know a bit about fish farming Aqua. Do you have a farm in Thailand?

When you say 800kg per rai, over what period is this? Also on aeration what sort of device would you consider and where can you obtain it in Thailand?

[Somtham]

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QUOTE(Chris.B @ 2006-10-06 02:47:54) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

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

You seem to know a bit about fish farming Aqua. Do you have a farm in Thailand?

When you say 800kg per rai, over what period is this? Also on aeration what sort of device would you consider and where can you obtain it in Thailand?

Chris - I noticed you are in Nakon Sawan. Take on drive down the road from NS to Chum Saeng (Bung Borapet). There are at least 100 fish farms. Mostly catfish but I also see ponds with aerators so they are growing other fish as well. Most of the farmers there are quite friendly and very willing to give information.

I've seen 2 types of paddle wheel aerators in Thailand. One is motorized and the other is a string of paddle wheels connected to a small Kubota. At one time I was looking to grow Macrobrachium and searched Tak, Pitsanalok, Kamphaengphet, Nakorn Sawan, and Suphanburi for aerators but could not find them. Some folks mentioned I could buy them in Chachaengsao.

[Chris.B]

Chris - I noticed you are in Nakon Sawan. Take on drive down the road from NS to Chum Saeng (Bung Borapet). There are at least 100 fish farms. Mostly catfish but I also see ponds with aerators so they are growing other fish as well.

Thanks I have been around Bung Boraphet a few times but never to look at the fish farms. Your reply above infers catfish do not need aerators, that is what I have been led to believe. Can you comment further on that please.

[Somtham]

My wife and I rebuilt a small fish farm last year and have about 230K catfish growing at one time. We've planted from 50 to 175 fish per square meter and we have never used aeration. There are both dirt and cement ponds.

[a3]

My wife and I rebuilt a small fish farm last year and have about 230K catfish growing at one time. We've planted from 50 to 175 fish per square meter and we have never used aeration. There are both dirt and cement ponds.

Nice one ! That is one of my ambitions in the future.

Good luck with your venture!

[RamdomChances]

My wife and I rebuilt a small fish farm last year and have about 230K catfish growing at one time. We've planted from 50 to 175 fish per square meter and we have never used aeration. There are both dirt and cement ponds.

Wow that sounds really high. It would work out at 80,000 to 280,000 for a one Rai pond, are they fully grown or just fingerling's, do you get any problems with then injuring themselves with that concentration (they have barbs just behind the head)

[Chris.B]

My wife and I rebuilt a small fish farm last year and have about 230K catfish growing at one time. We've planted from 50 to 175 fish per square meter and we have never used aeration. There are both dirt and cement ponds.

If you have some photos Somtham I would be really interested to see them. What area is your farm. How do you sell your fish?

[Somtham]

My wife and I rebuilt a small fish farm last year and have about 230K catfish growing at one time. We've planted from 50 to 175 fish per square meter and we have never used aeration. There are both dirt and cement ponds.

Wow that sounds really high. It would work out at 80,000 to 280,000 for a one Rai pond, are they fully grown or just fingerling's, do you get any problems with then injuring themselves with that concentration (they have barbs just behind the head)

Right now we have 6 grow out ponds. 3 at 170-200 m^2 and 3 at 260-480 m^2. The 3 larger ponds and 1 smaller one were planted with fry at those densities and there have been no problems with injury. The other 2 small ponds we plant at those densities with the fish being 2 months old with the fry being raised in cement ponds. These 2 ponds improve our cash flow as we have higher tunr around.

We're new at this so maybe we're doing something we shouldn't be doing!

[Somtham]

If you have some photos Somtham I would be really interested to see them. What area is your farm. How do you sell your fish?

Here are some pics of the ponds.

Dirt pond ~350 m^2

[Somtham]

If you have some photos Somtham I would be really interested to see them. What area is your farm. How do you sell your fish?

Chris - I use a dial up connection (~20kbs) so pics are usually painful. Let me try one and see how it goes.

Dirt pond ~350 m^2. Planted 60k Big Ooi pla niew @B0.15 each May 10th and will harvest this month.

We are located in Kamphaengphet and have a wholesaler and 2 of his workers seine the ponds when the fish are ready. So far this is the most flakey part of the business. They say they are going to come and don't and vice versa. It's been even more difficult since all the flooding, as everybody is so busy. A lot of the Thai farmers dig a pond and have no drainage system. When the fields flood they have no way of keeping the ponds from overflowing and the fish make a run for it. Most of the wholesalers are busy now helping these guys catch their fish.

[RamdomChances]

We're new at this so maybe we're doing something we shouldn't be doing!

I have no idea mate. I have a about half a rai pond, but I just dabble with fish

A lot of the Thai farmers dig a pond and have no drainage system. When the fields flood they have no way of keeping the ponds from overflowing and the fish make a run for it.

Guilty, hopefully I'll have that solved by next year. I had no idea it would fill so quickly when we dug it, from empty it will fill on the first downpour of rainy season!! Thats about half a rai around 1-2 meters deep.

We are located in Kamphaengphet

Another central thai bloke I'm in Nakhon Sawan and so is Chris...sometimes

[Chris.B]

RC, why don't you try installing blue netting around the pond andembedding it into the earth. See here:- Aqua's post

[RamdomChances]

RC, why don't you try installing blue netting around the pond andembedding it into the earth. See here:- Aqua's post

Yea I'd thought about that. I don't really do fish on a large scale and my cows like going for a swim in there sometimes so I'd have to do a fence to keep the fish in and then another to keep the cows out !!

[udon]

Interesting site for Fish Farmers

Newsletter, links & catalogs.

[D-MAX]

We're new at this so maybe we're doing something we shouldn't be doing!

I have no idea mate. I have a about half a rai pond, but I just dabble with fish

A lot of the Thai farmers dig a pond and have no drainage system. When the fields flood they have no way of keeping the ponds from overflowing and the fish make a run for it.

Guilty, hopefully I'll have that solved by next year. I had no idea it would fill so quickly when we dug it, from empty it will fill on the first downpour of rainy season!! Thats about half a rai around 1-2 meters deep.

We are located in Kamphaengphet

Another central thai bloke I'm in Nakhon Sawan and so is Chris...sometimes

we are located near sukhothai old city

when we dug our ponds we used the earth to highten the area around the ponds

so our our pond area is about 1 to 1.5 meters higher then the surrounding rice fields

we never had problems during the floodings in the raining season

somtam, how did you do with the big ooi

no problems with the big ones eating the smaller ones

[Somtham]

we are located near sukhothai old city

when we dug our ponds we used the earth to highten the area around the ponds

so our our pond area is about 1 to 1.5 meters higher then the surrounding rice fields

we never had problems during the floodings in the raining season

somtam, how did you do with the big ooi

no problems with the big ones eating the smaller ones

The Big Ooi seem to grow at a more consistant rate than the Lat Sia and am told they will not eat each other whereas with the LatSia are supposed to be canabalistic. We've only done one cycle with the LatSia in 2 small ponds and there was a huge range of weights after 4 months. We had fish not much larger than fingerlings and fish at 3kg each coming from the same pond.

Would like to hear more why you called it quits. We were cash flow positive operationally after 6 months and I expect to be in the black within 1 year.

[robint]

just an observation, you can usually get a pond dug for free if you can sell the earth, villagers often want to earth up their compounds to avoid flooding, especially this year

the excavotor contractor will normally organise a fleet of farm trucks (4 to 6 needed) to ferry the earth around, obviously cant be too far away. sometimes you can use 6 wheel tippers or better still the 10 wheelers if the road conditions permit

the contractor handles everything you just point him to where the pond is to be dug

of course they are unlikely to tell a flang this but my wife in that business so i can tell you the trick

probably best to get a respected thai man to negotiate for you while you hide in the dunnee