Experience in raising giant freshwater prawns

With many advantages, giant freshwater prawn has changed the lives of many households and helped them become rich. In Dong My commune, Thanh Tri district, Hanoi, Mr. Nguyen Duy Nam's pond is the address that many people in the area come to learn from his experience.

With a scale of 1600m2, Mr. Nam releases shrimp at a density of 25-30 shrimp/m2. After 8 months of raising, Mr. Nam can harvest shrimp. With the selling price of shrimp meat from 120-130 thousand VND/kg, Mr. Nam achieves an average profit of about 100 million VND per year.

According to Mr. Nam, giant freshwater prawn is a food with high nutritional value, delicious meat, and export value. Shrimp farming does not require as much effort as rice farming, is easy to consume, and brings high profits. However, it requires farmers to understand farming techniques and be meticulous in every step such as: pond renovation and management, seed selection, feeding... If done well, the success rate will be high.

Regarding pond renovation and management, Mr. Nam uses EMC biological products twice a month to improve the water environment. Using biological products will help create beneficial microorganisms for the water environment, absorb toxic gases from the bottom of the pond, and reduce the risk of disease outbreaks.

Mr. Nam believes: “The water environment must always be kept clean. To ensure cleanliness, we must treat it with microorganisms, or by changing the water. But if we treat it with microorganisms, we rarely have to change the water.”

To ensure that the amount of dissolved oxygen provided to shrimp is always greater than 3.5 mg/1 of water, Mr. Nam arranges an aeration system in each pond. In addition, according to him, all fluctuations in pH and alkalinity of pond water always affect the life of shrimp: "In addition to water and oxygen, alkalinity and pH are also very important. If the pH and alkalinity are too high, it is not good, and if they are too low, it is also not good. If the pH is too high, the shrimp will often get black gill disease which is very difficult to treat, or if the pH is too low, the shrimp will get black gill disease, and if the alkalinity is low, the shrimp will die when molting, and if it is too low, the shrimp will have difficulty molting."
Therefore, it is necessary to regularly monitor and measure the pH in the water to adjust it to the appropriate level of 6.5-8.5.

Regarding food, Mr. Nam uses both types of food, which are pellets and natural food. Natural food includes protozoa, polychaetes, crustaceans, etc. Farmers need to ensure the right amount of protein for each stage of development.

In addition, according to him, it is necessary to pay attention to the environment and timing when feeding: “Feeding is also very important when there is pollution, the shrimp is weak, so the feeding should be reduced, when the shrimp is healthy, the feeding should be increased. Feeding should be done in stages, day by day. When the shrimp molts a lot, the next day it eats less, so you have to feed less to avoid damaging the water environment, and when it is about to molt, you need to increase the amount so that it has enough strength to molt. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor regularly.”

Regarding disease prevention and treatment for giant freshwater prawns, Mr. Nam adds minerals and vitamins to the feed to increase the prawns' resistance and help them grow quickly.

The giant freshwater prawn farming model of Mr. Nguyen Duy Nam's family not only brings high economic efficiency to him but also helps local people access new breeding objects, gradually increasing the economic value per unit of aquaculture area.

According to VTC - LY