Fish-farming questions and ideas.

**tsicar** · 07-10-2009, 10:13 PM

Originally Posted by cambtek

Originally Posted by tsicar

Originally Posted by cambtek

Some good info here.I have a block on the bassac river near phnom penh where I could build a netted pond in the river to grow fish.
However I would only have water about 8 months of the year,in the dry the water disappears and I have a huge sand bank in front of the place.
Could I grow fish successfully in eight months?

you could grow out catfish in around 45 days, but not in your nets.
with high quality feed and good fingerlings, you could probably do two batches in that time (3to4 months growout) depending on water temperature.

Thanks for that,but what do you mean about not in your nets?
I can create a netted pond as large as I want.
How many catfish to the cubic metre?
How much does it cost to feed them.
The beauty of the river is that I have a continual flow of water to get rid of the nutrients.

the 45 days thing you could achieve in a recirculating system where you have absolute control of all the variables. it is an ideal situation, total control of water quality, ph and temperature.
the nets (i used them at first), if made from that blue "paa-faa" shit, do NOT flow water after a short while: algae and slime clog them very sucessfully (if you don't believe me, try lift one out of the water after a month of rearing)
stocking density:
dunno, i used to, but i dumped the system after a while (HUGE losses): i would suggest not much more than the thai ag dept recommends for a normal pond. (pretty low)
even in a "perfect" recirculating system in thailand, your profit margin is probably around 10000 baht per ton, if you do not sell to the retailers.
you are very unlikely to come across good quality fingerlings in thailand, unless you breed them yourself, good quality feed is expensive, and unless you can afford the learning curve, (a few years of losses) i would suggest you rather relax on your porch and admire the view of the tranquil river flowing by........

sorry if i sound like a pessimist, but i have tried all the options, and the closest i ever got to making any money at all was the recirculating system, controlled environment on high protien feed, plus (and this was the key), producing my own fingerlings and discarding the non-performers (around 70%) which you will buy from the thais and waste your money on.
i can only speak for catfish, and mellow has experience in tilapia,
perhaps the figures work out better for them.
or else you could look up on tv,a lying (or confused) asshole called redbullhorn, who, in spite of his obvious lack of training, has confounded the known science and made huge profits out of farming catfish in temperature ranges where they will NOT grow, uses cheap feed that will NOT sustain growth, sells to wholesalers at far below the rearing price, and buys non-performing, third grade fingerlings from a thai rip-off hatchery.
evidently he has discovered something that scientists and biologists have missed out on during the past 40 years or so that the rearing of catfish has been studied, and perhaps when he publishes a paper or two about his amazing sucesses, the universities of the world will find out that all their research was in vain, and recommend this genius' rearing methods....
in the meantime i suggest you do a lot of research and spend a lot of time with a calculator, pencil and paper.
making money from fishfarming is a far cry from simply stocking a pond or a net and throwing in feed for a while. if it was THAT simple, then all of the thais would be doing it, instead of just concentrating on rearing buffalo..........

**mellow** · 08-10-2009, 01:05 PM

Thanks for your reply tsicar. I'm gonna do the spray bars for now, see how they perform then go from there. Got 3 biofilter towers up for this system, will check flow rate prior to adding media, spray bars, and after. See how close I can match the initial flow rate. It will be about 2 weeks till this happens, will let you know how it works out.

**mark131v** · 09-08-2011, 12:58 AM

Originally Posted by mellow

Thanks for your reply tsicar. I'm gonna do the spray bars for now, see how they perform then go from there. Got 3 biofilter towers up for this system, will check flow rate prior to adding media, spray bars, and after. See how close I can match the initial flow rate. It will be about 2 weeks till this happens, will let you know how it works out.

Hi fellas,

just wanted to bump this thread to find out how things are progressing (or not!!) as I am looking at having a go at tank raising Tilapia

any advice positive or not gratefully accepted

Mark

**tsicar** · 09-08-2011, 11:15 AM

Originally Posted by mark131v

Originally Posted by mellow

Thanks for your reply tsicar. I'm gonna do the spray bars for now, see how they perform then go from there. Got 3 biofilter towers up for this system, will check flow rate prior to adding media, spray bars, and after. See how close I can match the initial flow rate. It will be about 2 weeks till this happens, will let you know how it works out.

Hi fellas,

just wanted to bump this thread to find out how things are progressing (or not!!) as I am looking at having a go at tank raising Tilapia

any advice positive or not gratefully accepted

Mark

don't waste your time on the tilapia in a tank system.
they are too dependant on oxygen and much better suited (cheaper) to raise in ponds using the green water method i.e. feed costs are greatly reduced.

raise catfish in tanks- they actually do better at incredibly high stocking densities than what you could stock in a pond, grow much faster and easy to manage, tougher than tilapia, easy to transport without high mortality rates and very easy to produce your own fingerlings.

all this of course assuming you can keep nitrite levels properly under control using biofiltration, ie. good water quality is the key to sucessful rearing of fish.

**mark131v** · 09-08-2011, 11:15 PM

Tsicar,

Iam all ears (not literally!!) the reason I had looked at Tilapia, and this is all fairly new, is because a Fillipino guy I work with was talking about this and we have just moved over to our own house and now have land to do this

I had initially thought of catfish as we have 2 round concrete tanks in the garden in the house we have bought full of baby catfish (about 4 inch long when I left to come back to work) and these fellas seem tough but quite shy and happy with the water being dirty. At the moment all the missus does is feed them and renew some of the water every few days.

I know there must be far better ways to do this in order to raise fish for our own consumption and who knows maybe cover our expenses at some stage perhaps.
I have had a bit of a look on here and TV and tbh I hadnt realised people where raising catfish in tanks and thought it was more a green water pond type thing

I am looking at the whole biofilter concept but my knowledge of fish farming could be written on the back of a fag packet so any advice from you guys who have been there and done it would be very gratefully accepted

many thanks Mark

**tsicar** · 13-08-2011, 10:52 AM

Originally Posted by mark131v

Tsicar,

Iam all ears (not literally!!) the reason I had looked at Tilapia, and this is all fairly new, is because a Fillipino guy I work with was talking about this and we have just moved over to our own house and now have land to do this

I had initially thought of catfish as we have 2 round concrete tanks in the garden in the house we have bought full of baby catfish (about 4 inch long when I left to come back to work) and these fellas seem tough but quite shy and happy with the water being dirty. At the moment all the missus does is feed them and renew some of the water every few days.

I know there must be far better ways to do this in order to raise fish for our own consumption and who knows maybe cover our expenses at some stage perhaps.
I have had a bit of a look on here and TV and tbh I hadnt realised people where raising catfish in tanks and thought it was more a green water pond type thing

I am looking at the whole biofilter concept but my knowledge of fish farming could be written on the back of a fag packet so any advice from you guys who have been there and done it would be very gratefully accepted

many thanks Mark

the recirculating system with biofilter requires 100%committment and without the proper knowledge can break you.
circular tanks are also unsuitable for this type of aquaculture.
you cannot buy quality fingerlings in thailand and the sucess of such an operation, which relies on small profit margin but fast turnaround would require that you breed your own.
i would suggest you carry on as you are doing, and if you want to farm fish, study up on tilapia in ponds on the greenwater system.
feed cost is minimal and you could make a nice profit this way.
make sure that you source single-sex tilapia for this purpose

**mark131v** · 13-08-2011, 10:44 PM

Thanks Tsicar,

I will keep watching and listening, thanks for the advice

Mark

**David48atTD** · 28-01-2019, 02:28 PM

Yes, I know it's a bump, but just after reading the first page there are some good contributors who know their Plar Nin from their Pla Duk

Thread: Fish-farming questions and ideas.

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