BANGUS PRODUCTION GUIDE

Bangus production is one of the many profitable business anyone can try. It is easy if you have initial knowledge and knew the trade how to raise them. For those who has not an idea yet, seek professional assistance from producers of bangus in your area so that you can be given enlightenment how to start.

You need earthen pond of 1 hectare in size. Maintain the deepness of the water to one meter. The water should be free from floating debris. It should be clean and fresh. It should not be clouded by any impurities to increase the oxygen content in the water. Fingerlings cannot survive for long if lacking the normal distribution of oxygen in the pond.

The pond should have inlet and outlet. The purpose is to remove the dirty water and replace them if needed. A pond near the river is the best place in raising bangus. You don’t have to worry about the reduction of water level in the pond because you are ready to have good source of water to be taken if the need arises. 

Considering that the level of pond is much higher than the water level in the river, you need portable generator as part of your irrigation system to haul the water up to the pond. Construct 1,000 square meters breeding pond and 1,000 square meters rearing pond to have continues supply of fingerlings. You can’t rely on buying fingerlings from nurseries at all times as it entails additional cost in your part. An estimated 15,500 fingerlings is needed to be stock in the pond.

Procure breeder fish from known hatchery. Select a pair of breeder ready for mating. You need 60 breeders, 25 males and 25 females to be able to have enough fingerlings to supply your pond if you intend to increase another hectare (additional) aside from the initial one hectare you will establish.

It is most recommended that your pond has partition, an earthen dike at the center. It should be solid and firm to serve as walkway easy for the broadcasting of feeds considering that  one hectare lot is quite large to manage. Another economical option is to place bamboo poles as catways (walkways) in the ponds erected in strategic location you believed the best area to be placed.

If the mating pairs started to breed, collect the eggs daily and transfer it to the 1,000 square meters rearing pond properly covered by fish net to prevent all kinds of predators especially birds to consume the fingerlings.

Manage your 1 hectare pond properly that contains the initial stocking of 15,500 fish for rearing. Apply better cultural method to ensure high survival rate of the fingerlings. Install paddle wheels in the pond to aerate the water for proper distribution of oxygen. Feed the fingerlings regularly using commercial fish feeds. As an experienced grower, initiate what particular preventive measures are needed to protect fingerlings from disease.

Close supervision is necessary to be ready to handle any sign of problem that may occur during the growing period of the fish. As long as you follow the right procedures of raising the fish, you can harvest in 4-5 months (normal harvest). If you intend to make the fish bigger for better competitive price in the wet market, 7 months is the best. The normal costs involved in raising a 1 hectare  pond of bangus covers the procurement of fingerlings, commercial feeds, electricity for operational use, paddle wheels, irrigation supports, labor of construction and maintenance cost until harvest time.

Your continued learning of the mechanics and methods of raising them will be your guide and insurance that the next season to raise bangus will be perfected to earn more. Don’t discourage of any failure. Business is full of success and error. It is a fact that you have to accept. Don’t give up easily instead fight for your fears and doubts. Giving up will only lose you more financially and emotionally.

GOURAMI PRODUCTION GUIDE

Gourami is a fish not popular in many people, maybe because it is almost a bony fish with little flesh on it. But it has taste acceptable to some especially if it is fried.   

Crossbreed gourami was much bigger and tastier compared to native breed. They are being cultured commercially. The native species were found in rivers and streams.

The cultured gourami is bigger in size and can reach over 2 kilograms. It has not been raised in many fish farms because it grow so slow not suitable for commercial production. The slower they grow the bigger the cost of raising them.

The only benefit is that it can easily adapt to any kind of environment. They can be raised even in rice field as long as there is enough water to live with. They grow in man-made pond even in tanks.

In raising gourami in pond, it should have higher dike level to protect them from getting away. A pond of 5 meters wide will do with recommended deepness to store water. It should have water source ready in case the water level of the pond reduces to the required height. It is better if the man-made pond is near the river easy to irrigate the pond if the need arises.

To aid the fish of their food requirements, the pond can be planted with floating weeds. The best plants are water lily or water hyacinth that will invite flying insects. Other insects and tiny organisms are favorite foods of the fish.

A pair of male and female gourami with the size of 160 grams is enough to be breeder in the small breeding tank. One breeder can raise many thousands of fingerling (fry). The fry are then transferred to rearing pond until they are ready for harvest if the size reaches 100 grams. The duration of rearing time is about 7 months.

Gourami fry are feed on small plants and plankton found in the water. Regularly, the fry or adults are feed with fish meal and other food residue.

In order to raise many organisms in the pond, the application of organic fertilizer (animal manure) will create activities in the pond. In addition to giving them supplemental feeding (rice bran), it can support thousands population of gourami fry until adulthood. The rate of application is 16 kilos of organic fertilizer per hectare per day for 2 months.

A one hectare pond is ideal for commercial production to be able to have better harvest in marketable size of adult gourami.

It is a must that the fry are raised separately from the breeder to avoid cannibalism of its own kind. The survival rate of the fry will depend on how the fishpond owners make the necessary control against many kinds of predators around the pond especially during the early days of their growth.

DUCK BREEDING GUIDE

Raising duck is a profitable business. You only need little effort to start in order to produce meats and eggs. Ducks does not need heavy effort to maintain. They only need any kind of shelter and minimal care.

They can eat anything around like the palatable young leaves of plants including weeds, insects, snails, corn and small organisms in the mud. No need for them to be vaccinated as they are tolerant to animal diseases and parasites except in extreme cases but not all. Continues production of meat and eggs you can have throughout the year.

A little shade made of bamboo poles and bamboo slats and nipa are enough to shelter them from heavy rain and intense heat of the sun. You can let them roam around the house if you are willing to be molested by their eating habits even your ornamental plants can be damage by their hard bill.

But the most ideal place for them to stay is to make a bigger pond. Make distant enclosure for easy movement. Don’t let the pond dry up. You should have source of water to fill up. They are fond of swimming and eating whatever they can find in the water. Backyard growing of ducks is another alternative if you don’t have nearest river or stream around.

Select right breed that can produce more eggs during the year. Khaki Campbell is the best. They are resistant to disease.

He has good larger size of eggs. They never set eggs or raise or brood the chicks. It is for egg production only. It subsists on any kinds of grains and food remains.

Put drinking trough or bigger metal container to accommodate enough water. It should be clean free from any impurities.

The measurement of your enclosure will depend on your choice. If you want to raise bigger number of ducklings or young then size will vary to avoid congestion due to little space they can move.

Keep the surrounding area of the enclosure clean from many kinds of weeds to give ducks a homely environment.

The matured ducks will weigh 1.9 kilograms. The drake can weigh 2 kilograms. They are good source of meat. One female alone can produce a total of 320 eggs in a year.

In early stage of caring the young, proper attention is needed especially in feeding them. Have enough stocks of grind grains as feeds as they can’t swallow a bigger one. A powdered vitamin supplements for animals to be mix in water will be given to the ducklings according to schedule for fast growth and development until they are capable of mending their own food choices.

During the flowering stage, the animal shade should be made of bamboo slats easy to clean their droppings.

Give occasional supplement of grind vegetables or leaves of young grass to keep their voracious eating habits.

In extreme cases when there is sign of intolerable flu-like disease, prevent it by giving necessary antibiotics to get rid of infection. It should be done immediately. Separate diseased ducklings from unaffected one to stop the spread.

BULLFROG RAISING GUIDE

Bullfrog meat already gained popularity in people’s taste. Cooking bullfrog with complete ingredients will result to a delicious menu on the table.

Without experience knowledge in raising bullfrog it may be difficult to raise them. But anyone wanted to develop interest and try raising bullfrog for meat has to learn his first lesson.

Construct a concrete tank in a place shaded with trees. It should be constructed in rectangular shape. The walls should be 4 feet high from the ground level of the tank. This is where the last phase of raising is placed.

Take note that there are many stages in raising bullfrog.

First, there is a breeding cage for the eggs where the couple bullfrog has to mate. It should be 2-1/2 feet high and 15 meters long. There is no water in it except carabao grass to place the couple bullfrogs for mating. Bullfrog mating commonly occurred early in the morning and evening. The copulation period will last about 2 days. The breeder should not be disturb that will delay the laying of eggs.

There is hatching tank where the eggs are transferred to hatch. Slowly scoop the eggs in the breeding cages and transfer to the tank. The eggs will float in the water tank. Plant is with aquatic water lily or water hyacinth to cover the eggs that are laid in the tank. It has outlet for water to go out through a small gate valve to control the flow of water outside. Periodic replacement of water is necessary to ensure that the tank is clean and has fresh water.

There is tadpole pond used for metamorphosis when the tadpole loses its tails and grow limbs. It has 30 centimeters deep to help the tadpole swim up to the surface and breathe air. It can accommodate thousands in per square meter size. It is then segregated to prevent the bigger one to cannibalize the smaller tadpole.

There is froglet pond where the metamorphosed bullfrogs are stocks. The ponds contain floaters, water lily and feeding boxes. This is the stage that the feeding habit of the frogs has to be modified from vegetables to life feeding consist of small insects that moves. The pond is much larger than the hatching tank. The bottom has clay loam or mud soil that can hold and retain water.

There is grower cage where the bigger froglets are transferred. Those smaller froglets where later on are stocks to this cage. The cage has earthlike platform in the dug-out canal. It has inlet pipes to regulate water supply and drainage. Any fecal matter and dirt should be removed. They can swims in shallow water. The feeds are simply drop through the cage opening. They are feed twice daily one in the morning and one in the afternoon. You can use water hyacinth as feeds mixed with fish to have a fishy odor to invite froglets to eat. Using squirming maggots with vegetables and dead fish or cultured earthworms are best as it can induce movements among the froglets.  Other foods they can eat are tilapia fingerlings, kangkong leaves, dead shrimps, golden snail and other moving pond pests.

To sell to the wet market, the bullfrog were skinned without inner parts leaving only the upper chest without head and lower portion of the body especially the thigh.

GROUPER RAISING GUIDE

Grouper farming is profitable if you know how to raise them. It is a meticulous project to be able to raise them properly. The fish are found in marine water living freely in their watery environment.

It is an expensive kind of fish in the market few people can afford to buy. There were only limited catch a fisherman had in his fishing days causing the price of the fish so high due to limited supply.

To remedy the shortage of supply, fishpond owners resorted to grouper farming. They constructed fishpond based on the desired size. The pond has higher dikes for the fish to be secured. The owner maintained the water level of the pond to 4 feet. The bottom of the pond was layered with sand not mud controlling the presence of organic matter that may affect the growth of the fish. They raised fingerlings in the pond that measured 3 to 6 inches. In a hectare, it can accommodate more or less 5,500 stocks. If the fingerlings are less than 3 inches in size, the pond can be stock 11,000 fish in a single farming.

In raising grouper, it has stages to observe. If the stocks are still small, they are raised in the nursery pond. Then when they become bigger, they are stock in rearing pond. The bigger one is separated in another pond away from the small size to avoid cannibalism.

They are feed with fish meal or commercial live fingerlings of other fish raised by breeder for feeding purposes.

It was recommended that the feeding rate with life fingerlings is 10 tin containers weighing 50 kilos enough to handle grouper fingerlings in a hectare pond. They are feed every 2 weeks aside from feeding with commercial fish meal or other food alternatives.

The feeding schedule is later in the afternoon at dusk or early in the morning at dawn before the early morning light where they are most active.

Most fishponds were placed near the sea. The pond is little higher to the sea in low tide. The purpose is to change the quality of water during high tide. With enough gate entrance, the water valve controls the outbound water to the sea during low tide and during the inbound water to the pond in high tide. Fouled water may affect the growth of the fish or in higher mortality rate if there is no enough oxygen in the water. But if proper care is carried out with better feeding techniques and clean water atmosphere in the pond, it gives higher survival rate.

After rearing period of six months, the fish can attain the average weight of 1 kilo.

The fishpond owners or caretakers are very observant to the condition of the raised fingerlings. They checked it daily that they are not diseased that will cause the reduction in their population. Bacterial infection to the fish is common in pond especially if care and maintenance is poor not in accordance to strict supervision and control.

If proper maintenance is done properly, better feeding techniques, quality of water and disease prevention, fish can be harvested to the size competitive in the wet market.

In harvesting the adult fish, the caretaker of the pond has to catch them using net or by drawing the water out of the pond retaining only a little to be able to harvest them. Selection process depends on the size most profitable to sell. Those that are substandard in size will remain in the pond waiting for the next batch of harvesting.