Gurame Fish Seeds: How to Care and Tips for Business Success

The success of carp cultivation depends on the selection of carp seeds. When choosing baby carp, you should pay attention to the characteristics of superior quality seeds so that your carp yields are of ideal and healthy weight.

Consumers or connoisseurs of carp are increasing every year, even though the price of carp is increasing. Processed carp is also still a prima donna and mainstay menu in the majority of restaurants or diners. Seeing this opportunity, many novice and professional cultivators continue to develop a carp cultivation business.

However, it is rare for cultivators to pay attention to the prospects for the carp seed business. In fact, if you focus on running the carp seed cultivation business line, the profit will be no less different than the carp growing cultivation. Here is the full description.

Business Prospects for Gurame Fish Seeds

Ikan gurame yang memiliki nama latin Osphronemus berasal dari wilayah perairan Asia Tenggara. Di Indonesia sendiri, budidaya ikan gurame tergolong besar dan menguntungkan. 

The cultivation of carp is at a higher level, that is, many cultivators come from well-established entrepreneurs. The goal is to become a distributor or supplier of carp needed by five-star restaurants or restaurants.

The carp seed cultivation business is no exception. The price for carp seeds is as high and stable as the price for adult carp, so that you still have the potential to get the maximum profit. The following is an estimate of the price of carp seeds.

*Prices may change depending on market and area

The estimated price for carp seeds in the table above is the price normally sold on sales sites on line at the end of 2022. You can find quality carp seeds at friendly prices at eFisheryKu!

How to Cultivate Gurame Fish Seeds

The most crucial part of the process of cultivating carp seeds is choosing the right carp brooders and how to care for carp seeds so that they grow into small carp with proportional weight. Check out the following explanation.

1. Criteria for Superior Gurame Breeders

In general, cultivators will choose carp brooders that have superior quality so that the baby carp produced will also have these superior genes. However, you also need to pay attention to whether the sires are ready to be spawned. 

In general, the criteria for ready-to-spawn carp brooders are fish that have a reddish-white brood anus and a stomach that is slightly enlarged towards the back. When the stomach is touched it will feel soft. The criteria for each carp broodstock, both female and male brooders, are as follows.

Criteria for female brooders who are ready to be mated are as follows:

• Broods have a slightly open arrangement of scales.
• Pay attention to the mother's abdomen. Gurames that are ready to mate have a rounded belly shape.
• The female breeder's body color is lighter.
• The mother's movements are slower and quieter.

The criteria for male sires that are ready to be mated are as follows:

• The arrangement of the sides of the male brood under normal circumstances.
• The abdomen of the male carp has a tapered shape.
• The body color of the male breeders is reddish and bright black.
• The male parent's movements are more agile.

2. The Process of Spawning and Hatching Gurame Fish

The process of spawning and hatching carp is the most crucial process, so cultivators need to do it carefully and according to the rules. The first step is to make a spawning pond.

Materials for spawning ponds include coconut, palm fiber, or knitted sacks stored on woven ropes. The purpose of using these materials is to make it easier for male brooders when constructing nests.

Then, choose the best female and male breeders who will do the spawning. The stocking ratio of broodstock in one pond is 1 male and 3 female broodstock. The ideal stocking density for spawning ponds is 1 fish per 5 m2.

Before being transferred to the spawning pond, move the sires into a large basin or bucket filled with water so that the sires don't get stressed easily. Next, move the broodstock into the spawning pond. The spawning process will take place a maximum of one week after the sires move the pool.

In the pond, the male parent will make a nest where the female will deposit her eggs.

3. Prepare a nursery tub

While waiting for the brooders to mate, you can prepare the nursery tanks first. If the nursery uses an earthen pond, hoe the soil to speed up decomposition. 

Then pay attention to the water outlet and inlet as well as the filter that is at the water inlet. Make sure all channels work optimally to improve water circulation so as to reduce the potential for pests and other diseases to emerge. Finally, clean and dry the nursery pond.

Meanwhile, the quality standards for carp nursery ponds include:

• Water temperature between 24-30 oC.
• The acidity level (pH) of water is between 7-8.
• Water contains dissolved oxygen of 2 mg/l.
• The location of the pool is at an altitude of 50-400 meters above sea level.

4. Gurame Egg Hatching Process

To ascertain whether spawning has occurred in the pond, you can observe the water level in the pond. If the surface of the water looks oily and is followed by a fishy smell, then the sires have spawned. 

Ideally the eggs produced by one female parent can reach 5,000-7,000 eggs. Even though there are many, the potential for dead eggs can occur due to several factors such as water quality conditions and feed quality.

After successful spawning occurs, move the nest containing the baby carp eggs into a clean container such as a basin or bucket filled with water. Lift the nest carefully by holding the bottom outside of the nest. 

If you are not careful when lifting the nest, this can affect the success rate of hatching the eggs. Gouramy fish eggs will hatch after 2-3 days after spawning with water temperatures between 27-28°C. When the seeds that have hatched are 11 days old, the seeds are ready to be transferred to nursery tanks.

5. The Process of Nursery Seeds of Gurame Fish

Gouramy seeds that are at least 11 days old can be sown directly in nursery ponds in the morning. Ideally, the stocking process is done at 7-9 in the morning or in the afternoon. Setting the hours of stocking is important to ensure that the water temperature is not too hot or cold when the carp seeds are sown. 

However, before being sown, the seeds need to adapt to the pond water conditions by floating a container filled with carp seeds above the surface of the pond water. The purpose of this process is for the seedlings to adapt to the water temperature. After the carp seed containers have been floated for 30 minutes, the containers can be opened and let the seeds swim out by themselves.

6. Move the Large Gurame Seeds

When the baby carp in the nursery have grown and developed, the baby carp have become carp seeds ready to be moved to the aquaculture pond. The rules for moving them are as follows:

• Prepare a special container filled with water from the nursery tub.
• Remove the seeds using scoop net and put it in the container.
• After all the seeds to be moved have entered the container, let the container float above the surface of the pond so that the seedlings can adjust to the pond temperature.
• Then, remove the seeds slowly.

7. Caring for and Feeding Small Gurame

The last part which is quite important for the growth of carp eggs and seedlings to be proportional is to provide feed and pay attention to maintenance. Farmers can provide silk worms as natural food for small carp. 

Another feed alternative is fine pellets that contain nutrients and good nutrition for carp seeds. Give carp feed in a dose of 10% of the total weight. In addition, pay attention to the quality and circulation of pool water.

How to Choose Quality Gurame Seeds

In addition to paying attention to the quality of the broodstock, cultivators need to know how to choose quality carp seeds, including:

• Fish swim aggressively and agile.
• Choose seeds that have the same color and size.
• Ensuring the seedlings are in healthy condition and have no physical defects.