Tips on How to Cultivate Milkfish, Fast Harvest & Big Profits!

Hello, Mr/Mrs Cultivators! BMilkfish cultivation is now increasingly widespread. Moreover, now milkfish has also been used as an export commodity. With its delicious taste and affordable price, what else could make milkfish farming a business opportunity?

This article will discuss business opportunities for milkfish along with ways to cultivate them. Come on, see below!

Milkfish Cultivation Business Opportunities

Milkfish farming business opportunities in Indonesia are very good. Because milkfish has a delicious taste that is liked by all people.

This fish, which is usually priced at IDR 28,000 to IDR 35,000 per kilogram in traditional markets, will be very profitable if you use the right method in the cultivation process. By maintaining and improving the quality of harvested milkfish, this business can have long-term prospects.

In addition, milkfish is a fish that grows very fast. Milkfish can grow 1.1%-1.7% per day. This will certainly benefit you because you can have several cultivation cycles in 1 year.

How are you, sir/madam? Are you interested in cultivating milkfish? If so, keep reading this article to find out the morphology and how to cultivate it!

Characteristics & Body Shape of Milkfish

Milkfish has an elongated, flat body with slimy eyes and large scales on the pectoral, abdominal and tail fins. Milkfish is a fish that can live in fresh, brackish and sea water because it can survive in waters with a salinity of 0-158 ppt, so it is classified as a fish. euryhaline.

However, milkfish has the most potential if it is cultivated in brackish water. Milkfish is also easy to adapt to changes in temperature, water pH, turbidity, and is resistant to disease.

Morphologically, adult female and male milkfish are very difficult to distinguish because they have the same size, scale color, and head shape. The only difference between them is the discharge hole.

How to Cultivate Milkfish

1. Preparation of the Cultivation Pond

The first step in cultivating milkfish that you have to do is prepare a pond for cultivation. The pond is one of the most crucial things in the success of cultivation, therefore the pond must be properly prepared.

Here are the things you need to do to prepare the pool:

• Make a sluice
• Add filters, inlet, outlet, water pump, circular mesh, etc
• Clean the silt so that the fish avoid harmful poisons
• Add lime to increase soil pH and kill bacteria
• Fill the pond with water

2. Pemilihan dan Penebaran Bibit Ikan Bandeng

For the selection of seeds, you are advised to buy milkfish seeds that have been prepared CPIB (Good Fish Hatchery Practices) and CBIB (Good Fish Farming Practices) certified.

If you doubt the health of the milkfish seeds that you have, here are the characteristics of healthy milkfish seeds:

In order for the seedlings to adapt to pond water, you should carry out the acclimatization process, namely the process of adapting the seedlings to a new pond.

The acclimatization process is carried out by pouring the seeds in the bag into a bucket with 20 liters per 25,000 seedlings. Then feed the seeds in the bucket to find out how high the numbers are Survival Rate (SR) seeds. Finally, put the seeds back into the bag for 30 minutes so that afterwards they can be slowly spread into the pond.

3. Kualitas Air Kolam

Ensuring that pond water remains of good quality is very crucial in milkfish cultivation. The quality of pond water is very influential on the growth of fish because to grow properly, milkfish need water that is rich in oxygen and does not contain harmful substances.

To ensure the quality of pool water, here are the things you need to pay attention to:

• Make sure there are no blockages in the water inlet and outlet
• Make a wheel over the pond to increase the oxygen level in the water
• The water level should not be less during the dry season and more during the rainy season

4. Pakan untuk Ikan Bandeng

Feed is something that must be given sufficiently, not less or more. If the fish are not given enough food, the fish will die. If fish are fed too much, the feed will actually poison the fish.

In milkfish cultivation, the feed given is natural feed and artificial feed. Natural feed for milkfish can be in the form of phytoplankton that grows naturally from ponds or from sprinkled fertilizers, while artificial feed can be in the form of pellets.

Pellets for milkfish are available in various sizes, and you just need to adjust them according to the size of the fish. Most importantly, the feed must contain protein, carbohydrates, fats, fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals.

In order for milkfish to grow healthily, provide feed in the following way:

• Let the seeds only eat the plankton in the pond when they are just put in
• Crushed pellets can only be given 7 days after the seeds are spread in the pond
• Feed is given in the morning and evening
• If the seeds are 7.5-10 cm in size, there is no need to grind the pellets

5. Panen Ikan Bandeng

You can harvest milkfish when the fish weighs 300–350 grams/head. To reach this weight, usually milkfish takes 4 months.

Harvesting should be done in the morning when the fish have not been fed to avoid damage to the digestive organs. To avoid injury to the fish to be harvested, don't empty the water in the pond and take the fish using a net. After that, transfer the milkfish to the tarpaulin using a basket. Milkfish is ready to be marketed!

In order for the milkfish to remain fresh when marketed, try to harvest the milkfish while it is still alive and not dead in the pond. Do not market milkfish that have wounds because wounds can accelerate decay. In addition, you are advised to wash the freshly harvested milkfish and then cool the fish with ice cubes before the fish is marketed.