I am new here but read a bit already. As you can see by my name I'm living in the neighboring Lao PDR (Laos). We have some land here and one of the ideas is to do a bit of fish farming. We have a small pond (6 m x 3 m and 1,50 to 2 m deep). I know a bit about it but not enough I think. I wonder if people have some advice regarding the kind of fish, the food etc.? We are well aware that a small pond will also mean small outcome, but we will give it a try and I can always extent the pond, I also dug this one myself.

Thank you very much in advance! Kop chaj lai lai!

Keep digging and whilst your there erect a big mother electric fence around the perimeter

you will loose more to theft than anything else

what would they be staeling? the small fish? cheaper to buy fish @ the market!

sorry if i presume small fish grow into larger fish my comment was taken from direct experience

costing of fish feed is not a joking matter... try selling on the local market for higher profits. You can contact redbullhorn to see if he's willing to share some knowledge... I visited him last year and through causal chatting I realized you need a certain depth of experience to farm fishes...

Say you build the fence. whats to prevent theifs from staeling the fence.....................hahahahahaha.

I would grow Pla Duc if I was in your position,I would dig out a few more meters on your pond and buy some fingerlings for 1 or 2 baht each that way they will be hardy already and not prone to dying,

I would start them off on small pellets with at least 30% up in protein,its around 400baht for a 20/25 kg bag,

Pla Duc don't mind the water being a little dirty and I would change half the water out only when it started to get a little smelly,

Easy to maintain easy to sell and you can sit and have a beer and catch some for dinner after a few months

Pla Duc love earthen ponds.

I would also go to a neighbouring pond or stream and take some of the floating veg and weeds and transfer them to your pond-

-The fish will enjoy the cover and eat the weeds,it will spread quickly just clear it out every now and then.

There is a lot of information on here about taking care of them,

Best of Luck

Regards

Derek

P.s Not everyone in Thailand is a thief as I find some of the hard noses on here believe,but I would cut down some tree branches and throw them in your pond so no-one can come in and (Sai Hair) cast net your pond in the middle of the night or when your away.

I agree with Chowna, The pla duc will be happy there, but the bigger the pond the better.

I have several ponds, concrete and earthen. And theft is an issue, but not a big issue. Usually my father in law is the culprit.

I think it depends on easy access and who your neighbors are. If your pond is out of sight you will have more trouble, obviously.

Haha I do know what your saying Canuckamuck I did transfer 30kg of Pla Duc to a smaller concrete ring with a little bit of dirt to change their color before I sold them a few days ago and when I went to take them out I had around 15kg left, But in fairness I did have 5 guys (family) building an exterior wall and I said they could barbecue some if they wanted....bad idea really lol!But in general I don't have any problems and now I have my exterior walls finished I will be buying some Kangal or similar that will have free range of our little farm !!