Raising fish for fishing lakes, earning half a billion dong each year

Walking along the cool pond banks planted with guava, fig, and si trees, Mr. Kien in Doan Ket residential group, Lam Ha district (Lam Dong) shared that it took him a long time to buy this 3ha pond. The trees he planted around the pond not only provide shade but also retain the soil, preventing the pond banks from eroding.

Mr. Kien adds synthetic bran to the fish to ensure nutritional development.

In 2002, Mr. Kien's parents let him live on his own with 5,000 square meters of water surface and a part of coffee land. Realizing that fish farming brought high income and easy work, he and his wife bought grass carp fry to raise. Every year, Mr. Kien raises 3 batches, a total of about 1.5 million fish, which are then supplied to households in need of fish fry.

“As the saying goes, ‘If you want to be rich, raise fish; if you want to be well-off, raise pigs’, for many years, the price of grass carp has been quite good, so suppliers like me have also made big profits. That’s why I have now been able to buy an additional 2.5 hectares of fish pond and about 3 hectares of land to grow coffee,” Mr. Kien said excitedly.

Mr. Kien's 3ha pond is full of fish to supply recreational fishing lakes.

That was the case before, but now, according to market demand, Mr. Kien has gradually switched to raising tilapia in large quantities. Mr. Kien explained that because many recreational fishing lakes have opened, the demand for tilapia for fishing guests is quite high.

Mr. Kien revealed: “Previously, my entire pond was designed to raise grass carp. Half of the pond would be dug down to about 3 meters deep, the rest would be dug shallow to sow rice. When the rice was big enough, I would add water up to the level of the tree trunks for the grass carp to eat. When the fish had finished eating the rice, the water would be drained again and I would continue to sow rice. I would do this until I saw the fish were big enough and then sell them to those in need.”

Talking about pond treatment techniques before releasing fish, Mr. Kien shared that initially, farmers will have to drain the water and then sprinkle lime evenly over the pond to disinfect it, while also creating conditions to maintain a stable pH level as well as helping organic matter decompose in the best conditions. Then, for every 1,000m2, Mr. Kien will pour 300 - 500kg of manure to color the water. This also helps create more plankton to help fish grow quickly.

After finishing the pond treatment steps, Mr. Kien will pump water and release fish. Currently, about 80% of recreational fishing ponds in Lam Dong are supplied with fish by Mr. Kien.

Mr. Kien delivers fish to recreational fishing lakes in Lam Dong province.

Mr. Kien added that because he takes advantage of free food sources from outside, the cost of raising fish is also reduced. Mr. Kien uses discarded vegetable leaves from gardeners to feed the fish, mainly cabbage leaves, Chinese cabbage and small sweet potatoes that companies do not use. Mr. Kien only has to spend time and money on gas to transport them home to feed the fish.

Currently, he raises fish such as grass carp, common carp, tilapia, silver carp, silver pomfret, and bighead carp. In addition to the vegetables he puts in the pond to feed the fish, every morning he supplements the fish with mixed bran.

With the current 3ha fish pond, Mr. Kien earns about 1 billion VND per year. After deducting the cost of 150 million VND for fish feed and 250 million VND for seeds and labor, he earns about 600 million VND.