Want a Prawn Cultivation Business? Check Out These Tips!

Not only in demand in Indonesia, the delicacy of giant prawn meat is also well-known abroad. The small amount makes the price of giant prawns often high in the market. Therefore, if you are interested in cultivating giant prawns, the opportunity is still wide open!

Business Opportunities for Prawn Cultivation

Giant prawns have the largest size when compared to other types of freshwater prawns. In addition to its large size, the potential is also large to generate profits. This shrimp also has high economic value because it is very popular in Japan and in several European countries, making it one of Indonesia's main export commodities.

Even though the business opportunity is very high, the giant prawn business also has several obstacles. One of them is the limited availability of shrimp fry. The giant prawn fry is very difficult to find in the market.

If you want to start cultivating giant prawns, you must pay attention to this. In addition, giant prawns are shrimp that are vulnerable to unfavorable water conditions. Poor water quality can cause the death of giant prawns.

Tips for Successful Prawn Cultivation

1. Persiapan Budidaya

In this stage, what you should pay attention to is the location of the pond and the preparation of the aquaculture pond. Try to choose ponds in strategic locations that can be passed by 4-wheeled vehicles. Do not place ponds in locations near industrial areas because the waste and pollution produced by industrial areas will affect pond water quality.

For pond types, you can use tarpaulin, earth or concrete ponds. Ponds should also be sprinkled with lime and fertilizer to facilitate cultivation. Before you sprinkle fertilizer and lime onto the pond bottom soil, you should loosen and level the pond bottom.

Here the fertilizer functions to grow phytoplankton and zooplankton as natural food for shrimp. While Lime functions to maintain the degree of acidity of water (pH 7-8.5). In addition to maintaining the degree of acidity, liming is also useful for killing predatory fish eggs and fungi.

You also have to prepare tools such as nets, fry carriers, drains, buckets, cloth sieves, and hoes to support the cultivation process.

2. Pemilihan dan Penebaran Benur Udang Galah

Selection of fry is a step that is no less important in giant prawn cultivation. If you want to get quality crops, you must choose healthy and quality seeds.

There are 2 ways to get giant prawn seeds. First, Mr / Ms can do nursery yourself to save capital. Nursery is carried out for 30-60 days from shrimp that are still larvae until they become fry with a size ready for cultivation. However, the nursery process is a process that is not easy and takes a long time. The fry produced are not necessarily of good quality.

Which secondYou can buy giant prawn fry directly at the fry shop. Buying fry directly at the store will indeed cost more, but they are ready for cultivation so you don't have to bother doing nursery anymore. However, you should not be careless in choosing fry at the store, because not all fry at the store are of good quality and healthy.

Below are some of the characteristics of fry that have good quality:

1. The growth is fast
2. Well adapted to ponds
3. Resistant to viruses and bacteria
4. Moves nimbly when transferred to another container
5. No defects or injuries
6. High degree of resistance to disease

After you get fry that are healthy and of good quality, it's time for you to carry out the acclimatization process before the fry are stocked in ponds.

The acclimatization process is a process that must be passed by the seedlings so that later they can adapt well to the pond. After the acclimatization process is complete, you can start the process of stocking fry by first irrigating the pond for 15 minutes before stocking the fry. Stocking should be done slowly and carefully in order to avoid stress on the fry.

3. Pemberian Pakan Udang Galah

Not only vannamei shrimp, but giant prawns can also cannibalize each other if you are late in feeding them. Cannibalism in shrimp is the process of eating each other by shrimp when they are hungry. Therefore, you must always be on time to feed the giant prawns with sufficient portions.

You also have to pay attention to the content of protein, vitamins and other nutritious substances in the feed. To grow with good quality, giant prawns need feed that contains high protein. You can buy factory-made feed or make your own feed, you know. Usually the ingredients needed to make their own feed are plants such as coconut dregs, taro, cassava, corn, etc. However, feed should not be given too much because it can cloud the pond water and will harm the fry.

You can provide feed in the morning, afternoon, evening and at night. Adjust the amount of feed given to the size of the fry that you care for. Don't let it be lacking or lacking, sir/madam.

4. Pest and Disease Prevention

Pests, viruses, diseases, and bacteria are things that can cause losses because they will reduce the quality and quantity of giant prawn production. To prevent pests from entering the pond, make a pond filter at the entrance and exit of the water.

Apart from that, you also have to check the health of the fry periodically by conducting random sampling. This sampling was carried out by observing visually and microscopically to check the symptoms of the disease and the perfection of the body shape of the shrimp. Usually disease in shrimp can also be caused by poor circulation in the pond. To improve this bad circulation, you can install a waterwheel over the pond.

5. Panen Udang Galah

Ideally giant prawns are harvested when they reach a weight of 20-25 grams per head. To reach this weight, giant prawns need 5-6 months. The bigger the size of the giant prawns, the better for you because the price will also be higher.

To avoid sunlight so that the shrimp are not stressed when harvesting, do the harvest at night or early in the morning. In addition to paying attention to harvest time, giant prawns should also be put in box filled with ice cubes or freezer to keep it fresh.

However, you will only get a quality harvest if you do the cultivation properly and correctly. Apart from providing good feed, you must also pay attention to maintaining the cleanliness of the pond and water quality.

Read detailed tips for cultivating giant prawns on eFarm