Fish Farming

[junglechef]

Interested in doing some fresh water fish farming in Chiang Mai.

 

Looking for a contact here or any help

 

Thanks

[Hereinthailand]

Why not just do a fish contract with CP ? Do it once and learn the biz. I dont think thais contracted with them do all that well but you will learn alot.

[junglechef]

4 hours ago, Hereinthailand said:

Why not just do a fish contract with CP ? Do it once and learn the biz. I dont think thais contracted with them do all that well but you will learn alot.

 

Considered that and actually called them yesterday, couldn't get anyone who spoke English except HR and she didn't know what fish farming was. Believe me I tried, called six times and they either didn't care or were out right rude. 

 

Does anyone have a contact there who is interested in helping a customer? 

[canuckamuck]

Don't have a contact for you, but what kind of fish were you thinking of? There are a few members with some experience here.

[junglechef]

1 minute ago, canuckamuck said:

Don't have a contact for you, but what kind of fish were you thinking of? There are a few members with some experience here.

 

Thanks, I will send CP an email today and see if I get less frustrating results 

 

Probably start with Pla Nin (Tilapia) and go from there.

I now have Tilapia, Snakehead and Catfish in the pond in my garden but just for the kids to fish for our dinner. 

 

Also I think it would be interesting to try fresh water shrimp (prawns) 

 

My real goal is to do on a small scale, perhaps 1 rai of ponds to start, "organic" fish farming.

I haven't been able to source any for my own table so figure I'm not the only one who would want it. 

 

Our general plan is to turn our 3 Rai of rice fields into an organic farm as it has recently had the klong covered over so there is access for vehicles now. 

 

Any and all advice would be appreciated. 

 

Thanks, JC

[canuckamuck]

Pla nin (tilapia) in ponds is a pretty good choice for a first try.  There is a resident expert here @ozzydom I hope he still posts. He will probably have helpful advice about raising the fish and pond construction and care. Your problem will come when you want to sell them. I have no info for you on that. I raise tilapia as well, but we sell them to a restaurant these days. We are too far off the beaten path and raise too few to have any wholesaler interested.

As far as organic farming is concerned. It is pretty organic from the start with Tilapia. We do supplement their diet with store bought feed. But this is basically  proteins and organic material. I don't think they add any hormones or medicines to it. Maybe someone else could educate us on that issue. Nothing else is done at any time. You throw the babies in and you take em out when they get big.

You should know that the only way to make real money in fish farming is to have sufficient scale (ha ha).

[Hereinthailand]

You really need someone who speaks thai to get anything done as they cant legally do business with you as a foreigner. Im not sure they would be interested in 1 rai of production either, and dont even bother sending them an email in english. I would find the local nearest local college with a fisheries or agriculture dept. and go there, they always seem willing to help. 

[junglechef]

2 minutes ago, Hereinthailand said:

You really need someone who speaks thai to get anything done as they cant legally do business with you as a foreigner. Im not sure they would be interested in 1 rai of production either, and dont even bother sending them an email in english. I would find the local nearest local college with a fisheries or agriculture dept. and go there, they always seem willing to help. 

 

The land is in my Thai wife's name, 5 1/2 rai. The 1 rai figure was just a thought to test out the viability as all our ideas now are just possible plans we're looking into. 

The farm project is my wife's hobby/business. Believe me I'm just a Gentleman Farmer  (LOL)

 

All around where we live are small fish farms, not sure yet how it all works but there is a local farm cooperative that we are investigating.

 

We happen to be lucky to live very close to Mae Jo University, which I believe is one of the largest agricultural schools in Thailand.

They not only sell fish to farms but also offer continuing-ed courses on farming, both which my wife is looking into. They have been very helpful with other project we have undertaken incl. selling us converted oil drum to make charcoal to having students help harvest our Lamyai crop. Our last batch of turkeys, Bourbon Reds this time, were bought at their most recent Agricultural Fair. 

 

My role besides financing (ok that's really my main involvement - DUH!) is to help with the big picture and try to bring some Western thinking into the decision making which includes gathering info. 

I don't see any backside in sending an email, will take less time then writing this post and though I don't expect much to come from it you never know. As I teach my kids, no harm in asking (which I know isn't always the locals way, hence my job )

 

I appreciate the feedback, I figure with a positive attitude we can make it happen or at least make it enjoyable trying!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gary A]

We were stocking three ponds. The fish thieves probably appreciated that. You have to live nearly on top of your fish farm or you won't have  any fish to harvest. My wife has restocked the nearest pond and regularly feed them. The fish are nearing market size and I fully expect the thieves to harvest them again. My wife has thrown brush into that pond to make it difficult or impossible to use nets.

[junglechef]

1 hour ago, Gary A said:

We were stocking three ponds. The fish thieves probably appreciated that. You have to live nearly on top of your fish farm or you won't have  any fish to harvest. My wife has restocked the nearest pond and regularly feed them. The fish are nearing market size and I fully expect the thieves to harvest them again. My wife has thrown brush into that pond to make it difficult or impossible to use nets.

Thanks good advice, we are thinking of surrounding with chain link fence hopefully to keep them out and my dogs in.

 

Also building a katom (small house) for the farm workers (and their rotweiller)  to live in right in front of the pond.

 

As we are many fish farms near us, incl one adjoining our property hopefully the fish thieves are equal opportunity  robbers. 

[farmerjo]

Here's an in depth thread on catfish.https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/249638-my-catfish-farm-operation/#comment-2596348

[thoongfoned]

7 hours ago, junglechef said:

 

The land is in my Thai wife's name, 5 1/2 rai. The 1 rai figure was just a thought to test out the viability as all our ideas now are just possible plans we're looking into. 

The farm project is my wife's hobby/business. Believe me I'm just a Gentleman Farmer  (LOL)

 

All around where we live are small fish farms, not sure yet how it all works but there is a local farm cooperative that we are investigating.

 

We happen to be lucky to live very close to Mae Jo University, which I believe is one of the largest agricultural schools in Thailand.

They not only sell fish to farms but also offer continuing-ed courses on farming, both which my wife is looking into. They have been very helpful with other project we have undertaken incl. selling us converted oil drum to make charcoal to having students help harvest our Lamyai crop. Our last batch of turkeys, Bourbon Reds this time, were bought at their most recent Agricultural Fair. 

 

My role besides financing (ok that's really my main involvement - DUH!) is to help with the big picture and try to bring some Western thinking into the decision making which includes gathering info. 

I don't see any backside in sending an email, will take less time then writing this post and though I don't expect much to come from it you never know. As I teach my kids, no harm in asking (which I know isn't always the locals way, hence my job )

 

I appreciate the feedback, I figure with a positive attitude we can make it happen or at least make it enjoyable trying!

 

 

 

 

around us there are afew contract fish farms and allso loads of one man band type families that have been operational for a good few years.

if you go the contract route. go to the local/nearest office for said company, ie your wife and ask what about/how to go about it ect... in our amper there is now a que system for people waiting to get into this. ie all of this years "stock" is already booked/taken. its all taken by word of mouth, the contracts.... ie the company has alarge presence around our amper....

most people that i have seen seem to do ponds that stock 40,000 fish at one time, diametions at a guess 20m wide 30 plus metre long, depth about 3 ish metres, the over flow pipe is set at around the 2m mark. ie have high banks then blue netting around the top to stop the fish walkin jumping over.... example.farm i was at the other week they have dug 6 ponds, 4 will be used and the other 2 for dumping water... again they plan to have 40,000 in each pond - 90 ish day cycle and from what i have been told people are getting about 3 fish per kg. a good farm would get 2 fish per kg??? (i know little about fish...) to run these 4 ponds they have one submerge water pump. other cost lorry access road/electric and feed shed, small house for sleeping. nets for taking the fish out for sale, beer to drink for everyone that helps..... i think they have spent about 350,000 baht so far, now waiting for the little fish..... they choose not to sell the dug out mud, so can be done alot cheaper. company surply all the "stuff" to keep water clean ect.... paper work will be done daily (not alot) monthly check on feed stock and general up keep of ponds land. the "doctor" as they call them will help if you ask but it will be mainly down to you to find your feet.

starting 1.5 baht per kg will have incentives if good kg/good up keep/paper work ect...  people seem to thing that they can earn 90,000/120,000 bant per cycle on 2 ponds of 40,000 each? me i have done the maths and it dont add up. some friends will be "selling" there first crop of fish this month so i will see........

family members that farm themslves for 3 or 4 years stock around 1million fish in one cycle, start a new cycle every 30 days or so ie always have fish for sale, they take about 120/150 days to get the fish at around 600 gramms, sell at the local markets and also whole sale to pickup type people, this way its all about contacts and a large amount of "spare" cash for the feed. they are onto my wife to get them into the contract game at the mo because they say it is hit and miss with profit once you cost everything down.......

all above is what i have heard first hand (wife works for company) and i aslo talk to the "doctors" the depth and diamentions of the ponds could be out as i did not really take much notice when i was there.(i was helping with the submerge and it was hot)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[finnomick]

Firstly as Canuckamuck wrote, Ozzydom is a minefield of information from digging the ponds for ease of catching fish, to, well, everything. The misses and I looked at the CP operation and spoke to some growers. They managed to put us off CP, maybe on purpose or maybe not. They said they had to invest financially to become a ' member '. This entitled them to special fish food with a very high protein content but also expensive. They had to ' produce ' a set quantity of a specific size and weight fish to retain their 'membership ' on a weekly/monthly basis. This was enough to put us off right there. We spoke to some growers at the local fishery in Buriram where they bought their hormone treated fry. I think they had just loaded 40,000 fry --they rear them in pens in a huge lake at Nongdindaeng. They told us to expect a fairly high mortality rate in the first couple of days but after that it should all be OK. The fish were pla Nin. They reckon on a span of nine months from the hatchery to the plate and a fish weighing about 1kg. We've never achieved this sort of growth rate even though we use CP fishfood and have our water green with an algae bloom ( I think that's what you call it anyway ). So we just sell locally and eat the fish as and when I catch them with a rod and line. Not quite the fish farming which we had originally imagined but it's fun and keeps me occupied. Good luck with your enterprise. I'm thinking of trying Baramundi next time around if I can find the guy who rears them -- lost his details.

[junglechef]

Seems like we'll also just go the casual route at first as the wife prefers the gardening aspect of having a family farm.