Old farmer earns billions from eel farming

Mr. Anh said that his family had been cultivating rice for many years but the income was unstable. Seeing that, he switched to raising snakehead fish, which brought in a good income. In 1999, thanks to an acquaintance's introduction, Mr. Anh learned about the model.eel farmingbring high economic efficiency. So he decided to dig a large pond, buy fish to raise for testing.

With 40 eel ponds, Mr. Anh earns billions in profit every year. Photo: Duy Tan

Initially, he bought 20 kg of fish fry (20 fish/kg) from Khanh Hoa to raise. Thanks to his experience in raising snakehead fish, he was quite successful in raising eels. "Honestly, when I first started raising them, I was worried because at that time in Ca Mau there was no freshwater eel farming model. I was afraid that the fish would grow too big.traders"If you don't buy, there's no output and you're out of business," Mr. Anh said.

Food is put in small cages for fish to swim in and eat. Photo: Duy Tan

Surprisingly, after 18 months of raising, Mr. Anh harvested 330 eels, weighing from 1 - 3 fish/kg, and traders came to buy them all. Thanks to that, he earned 65 million VND, equivalent to 20 taels of gold in 2000.

With a good source of capital from many years of raising eels, in 2019, Mr. Anh decided to invest more than 8 billion VND to buy 5.5 hectares of land in Hamlet 3, Tan Thanh Commune tomodel expansionHe hired machinery to dig 40 ponds, each pond has an area of ​​800 m2.²and catch eel fry to raise more systematically.

Eels can be harvested after about 18 months of farming. Photo: Duy Tan

Mr. Anh said that eels are easy to raise, rarely get sick, and their main food is trash fish. However, the investment capital for the fry is quite high, and it takes a long time to harvest... Regarding the technique to help eels grow quickly, after digging the pond, you must soak it in water for 15-20 days, drain all the old water and pump in new water. Then, use lime powder to treat the water. The suitable water level for raising eels is about 1.6 m. To limit intestinal diseases, Mr. Anh feeds the fish every other day and at fixed times.

He raises 1,000 eel fry in each pond. After 8 months, depending on the size, he separates the fry into other ponds. It takes about 18 months for the fish to be harvested. “From the time of stocking until harvest, the fish must be transferred to another pond twice. This helps clean the pond bottom, the eels grow quickly, and there is little loss,” Mr. Anh shared his experience.

Eel food is mainly trash fish. Photo: Duy Tan

With 40 ponds, Mr. Anh harvests in rotation, ensuring that there are fish to sell regularly. Currently, he sells over 4 tons of eels each year. Fish weighing 1 kg or more cost 550,000 VND/kg; fish weighing 700 - 900 grams/fish cost 440,000 VND/kg. Thanks to that, he earns over 1.5 billion VND in profit.

In addition to raising eels, Mr. Anh also grows over 600 coconut trees, 150 sapodilla trees and over 50 mango trees to increase his income.