Earn 60 million VND from 70 pairs of parent eels

Mr. Dang Van Hai in My Thanh commune, Cai Lay district (Tien Giang) has been involved in the model of breeding eels for over a year now, when he attended a training course on breeding eels organized by the Provincial Agricultural Extension Center in conjunction with the Commune Farmers' Association in My Thanh Nam commune. According to him, this is a good model, suitable for upstream floodplain conditions and has high economic efficiency.

In the immediate future, he will invest in building a complete pond system including a breeding area, an area for raising eel fry, eel fry, and raising parent eel... In which, the eel breeding area has a total water surface area of ​​about 70 m2. In the eel breeding area, he created an environment similar to the natural environment with two banks of land, growing vegetables to create shade, and a stream in the middle, 10 - 15 cm deep.

Mr. Dang Van Hai (second from left) introduces reserve eels to visitors to the model. Photo: Minh Tri - VNA

The water source used to raise eels is clean well water, not contaminated with alum or salt, and ensures a PH level of 5.5-8.5. Change the water in the eel tank once a day, absolutely do not let the water get dirty. On that area, Mr. Hai raises 70 pairs of breeding eels (140 fish). The weight of breeding eels ranges from 200 grams to 250 grams/fish. The parent eels are released into the tank about 1 month later and they begin to breed. The breeding period lasts from 20-21 days/batch. Each year, the mother eel gives birth three times.

The sign to recognize the eel's nest is that they dig holes on both sides of the land, where it meets the water surface and create white foam when laying eggs. At that time, if you observe carefully, you will see that the eel eggs are slightly yellow. The eggs hatch into eel fry. After 1 week, the eel fry are taken out and put into the tank to grow into eel breeders.

During the eel spawning period, on average, Mr. Dang Van Hai catches 400 - 500 eel fry every day to raise into eel fry to sell on the market. According to Mr. Dang Van Hai, taking care of baby eels is quite easy. When they first hatch, he feeds the eel fry with bloodworms. After that, he switches to feeding them earthworms. When the eels are 3 months old, feed them industrial pellets.

The amount of food is about 5% of the eel's body weight. You can add necessary vitamins to help increase the eel's resistance; at the same time, monitor regularly to adjust the amount of food and prevent diseases for farmed eels.

According to Mr. Dang Van Hai, with 70 pairs of breeding eels, in 2018, he produced from 15,000 to 20,000 good eel breeds. The price of eel breeds fluctuates between 3,000 - 5,000 VND/eel, depending on the size. With the above number of eel breeds, he earned about 60 million VND.

The area where eel powder is raised into eel seeds of Mr. Dang Van Hai's family. Photo: Minh Tri - VNA

In addition to being a pioneer in breeding eels, Mr. Dang Van Hai is also a typical good farmer and businessman in the locality, recognized by the Tien Giang Farmers' Association for many consecutive years as a good farmer and businessman at the provincial level. Mr. Hai's family cultivates 3 hectares of land, of which 2.5 hectares are rice fields, the rest is an orchard.

Over the years, he has been a pioneer in applying the integrated farming model to help develop a sustainable family economy. For rice fields, he skillfully applies the farming techniques: 3 reductions 3 increases, IPM, mechanization of harvesting stages, so he always achieves high productivity and output. In the Winter-Spring crop, he achieved an average yield of 75 quintals/ha, with an output of 18.75 tons of commercial rice; in the Summer-Autumn crop, he achieved an average yield of 65 quintals/ha and an output of 16.25 tons of commercial rice; in the Autumn-Winter crop, he achieved a yield of 60 quintals/ha and an output of 15 tons.