The farmer in the West took a risk to raise fish, but he did not expect to collect a lot of money

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Thick fish (or thick fish) is a freshwater fish, shaped like a snakehead, but shorter and rounder. The head of the fish is thick and long, sharper than that of a snakehead. Thick fish has more eye-catching patterns and scales than snakehead, delicious, nutritious meat, and is popular with many people.

In recent years, thick fish has become scarce. So, Mr. Pham Van Phuc, 35 years old, in Thoi Lai district, City. Can Tho decided to successfully raise and breed thick fish in tarpaulin tanks.

Mr. Phuc works in the tourist car service business, but has a passion for fish farming. Seeing the thick fish is a specialty of the West, but it is very difficult to find and buy, and no one breeds it. Seeing that they were in great danger of extinction, Mr. Phuc came up with the idea of ​​raising this fish.

“Once, I was able to eat thick fish in a very expensive restaurant. At that time, I thought why don’t I raise thick fish to sell,” Phuc said.

In 2017, Mr. Phuc asked his friends in Hau Giang to buy seeds for him, but he didn’t have any. Fortunately, after that, an acquaintance in Miet Thu (Kien Giang) bought 11 thick fish for Mr. Phuc to breed, priced at 110,000 VND/kg. However, the fish lost only 8 fish the size of a thumb. Taking advantage of a small piece of land of 500m2 behind the house, Mr. Phuc built a tarpaulin tank to raise fish.

From a tourist car service worker, it is difficult for Mr. Phuc to switch to raising thick fish. However, with determination, plus the willingness to learn and explore, in a short time, Mr. Phuc has acquired knowledge about thick fish.

“Because no one has raised thick fish, I did not have the opportunity to visit and learn. At that time, the reproduction rate was very low. I researched, learned and accumulated experience, finally grasped the technical process of raising and breeding thick fish”, Phuc shared.

From the initial 8 fingerlings, Mr. Phuc has produced about 30,000 fingerlings so far. According to Mr. Phuc, thick fish is easy to raise, has great disease resistance, and only changes the water every few days, so it doesn’t take much care.

With an area of ​​10m2 and a water surface of 8-9 inches, 5,000 fish can be released. Besides, thick fish are omnivores but eat very little. Only need to feed them once a day, so it doesn’t cost a lot of food.

The fish spawn 3 times/year. According to Mr. Phuc, the propagation of thick fish does not require the use of machinery or oxygen. Thick fish mate with each other and lay eggs.

“I have to constantly monitor the spawning process of fish to keep an eye on my own eggs. Newly hatched fish eat eggs with worms, then feed minced fish. Thick fish raised from 70 days can be sold for sale, 3cm size. If raising fish for meat, it takes about 1.5 years for the fish to reach a weight of 350-400 grams/fish,” Phuc said.

The price of seed sharks ranges from 4,000-7,000 VND/fish; broodstock price 150,000 VND/pair. In addition, Mr. Phuc also sells about 90kg of thick fish for 250,000 VND/kg. Thanks to that, he has an additional income of more than 100 million VND.

Mr. Phuc said: “Currently, many people in the provinces and cities come to buy fish seed and raise it, but I can’t sell it. The day before, someone from Tay Ninh crossed a few hundred kilometers to come down here to quickly breed fish. They say that the thick fish in the wild is gradually exhausted, so the market is scarce, and they want to buy fingerlings to raise to resell.

Mr. Tran Van Tin (41 years old) drove a truck more than 110km from Tran De district (Soc Trang) to Ho Chi Minh City. Can Tho buys fish seed from Mr. Phuc. He shared: “In the past, there were many thick fish in the West. The fish meat is delicious and sweeter than snakehead. Because people use electricity, many types of fish, including thick fish, are less and less frequent. Going to the market is very rare. Recently, seeing that Mr. Phuc successfully raised fish, I drove up here to find out and buy 10 pairs of broodstock for 1.5 million VND to raise and breed.”

H.Thanh