Ways & Tips for Successful Snakehead Fish Cultivation in Tarpaulin Ponds

Cultivating snakehead fish in tarpaulin ponds is an alternative cultivation technique for beginners or for cultivators who have limited funds. One of the advantages of snakehead fish farming in tarpaulin ponds is that the operational costs for building a pond are very affordable, with only tarpaulin and some wood or bamboo as a framework. 

Not infrequently some Cultivators also make modifications by using a soil base, bricks, or walls, and using tarpaulin as a wall. 

Apart from the cultivation medium, another advantage of cultivating cork is that this fish can absorb oxygen even though the aquaculture pond does not use an oxygen assist device because of the labyrinth in the cork body. Want to know more about snakehead fish cultivation in other tarpaulin ponds? Let's look at the following discussion.

Snakehead Fish Cultivation Business Opportunities in Tarpaulin Ponds

Before knowing how to raise snakehead fish in a tarpaulin pond, you need to know the prospects for this freshwater fish farming business first. Is there much to gain or lose? 

As written on the official website of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries of the Republic of Indonesia, snakehead fish is a type of fish that has high economic value. This is because snakehead fish can be made into various types of products, can be used as a main food dish, processed fish specifically for pempek or kemplang crackers, as an alternative treatment, to become ornamental fish at home. So, you don't need to worry about your target market.

In addition, as one of the mainstay commodities in the fisheries sector, cork cultivation has quite lucrative business opportunities, especially when cultivating snakehead fish in tarpaulin ponds. You can start a cultivation business with an estimated capital of IDR 5-10 million. The capital for this cultivation business is still smaller than the cultivation of catfish and tilapia.

Factors that can reduce capital costs include operational costs for building ponds and pond maintenance which are minimal because the main material for ponds is made of tarpaulin and low feed costs.

Types of Snakehead Fish Cultivation Media

Apart from tarpaulin ponds, you can also cultivate snakehead fish in earthen ponds and concrete ponds. Each type of cultivation media has its own advantages.

The following table shows the advantages of each aquaculture pond.

Advantages & Disadvantages of Cultivating Snakehead Fish in Tarpaulin Ponds

If you compare cultivation in tarpaulin ponds and two other types of ponds, namely earthen ponds and concrete ponds, tarpaulin ponds are the most efficient option for novice cultivators or cultivators who have limited cultivation capital. 

You can even save even more if you use the biofloc system for cultivating cork in tarpaulin ponds. Yields and profits are not much different from those of soil and concrete ponds. Specifically, here is a detailed explanation of the advantages and disadvantages of cultivating in tarpaulin ponds.

Advantages of Cultivating in a Tarpaulin Pool

The most striking advantage of tarpaulin ponds is that the cost of making a pond is relatively cheaper and has a good ability to absorb water so it doesn't leak easily. You can modify the tarpaulin pool by using a soil base or concrete or adobe pool walls to make it more sturdy.

Another advantage is that for novice cultivators, maintenance of cultivation in tarpaulin ponds is relatively easy. For example, the process of drying a pool before cleaning only takes 1-2 hours. 

In addition, the pool can be moved according to your needs and wishes. Interestingly, the area of land that you need to build a tarpaulin pond is not too large. You can place this tarpaulin pool anywhere so that it is more flexible.

Another advantage that is no less important is that you can control and protect the pond from cork predators and other natural disturbances.

Disadvantages of Cultivating in Tarpaulin Ponds

However, to add to your consideration before starting to cultivate in tarpaulin ponds, you need to know that even if the tarpaulin used is leak-proof, the tarpaulin will still be easily torn and damaged when exposed to sharp objects.

The tarpaulin material itself contains certain hazardous substances that can threaten the life of the fish, so you must make some preparations before putting the fish into the tarpaulin pond. 

Another disadvantage is the difficulty of controlling the temperature and acid-base level of water. To overcome this problem of water temperature and pH, you can spread sawdust on the bottom of the pond soil before it is covered with tarpaulin to maintain the pool temperature.

How to Cultivate Snakehead Fish in a Tarpaulin Pool

Are you interested in cultivating snakehead fish in tarpaulin ponds? Here's how to cultivate it, starting from the process of preparing the cultivation pond, stocking cork seeds, feeding, to pest and disease prevention.

1. Preparation of Tarpaulin Pool

To start cultivating, first determine the location of the aquaculture pond. Choose a location that is far from residential areas so that cultivation activities do not disturb local residents and a location that makes it easier for you to manage waste. Considering that the cultivation medium that you will use is a tarpaulin pond, it doesn't matter if the land area is narrow, such as on a terrace or yard.

After determining the location of the cultivation media, the following are the steps to prepare a tarpaulin pond as a cultivation medium:

• Cut the tarpaulin with a width of 2 m, a length of 5 m, and a height of 100-150 cm. Adjust the size of the tarp to the size of the pool you want to make.
• Build a sturdy frame for the tarpaulin pool. Make sure the pool environment is clean of sharp rocks or other objects that can tear the tarpaulin. Frames can be made of wood, bamboo, brick, or adobe. Then, attach the tarpaulin to the pool frame. 
• Fill the tarpaulin pool with water and let it sit for 3-5 days for natural foods to grow, such as moss, worms and other microorganisms.
• Fill the pond with water to a height of 60-100 cm.
• Control pool water temperature at a level of 26-30 oC with an acid-base level or water pH ranging from 4-9.

2. Selection and Distribution of Cork Seeds

The next step is selecting and stocking quality snakehead fish seeds to produce optimal snakehead fish harvests with proportional body weights. The following are the characteristics of quality cork seeds:

• The size and shape of the seed body is uniform.
• Seed body size between 5-8 cm.
• The seeds move and swim actively and agile.
• The seeds are free from pests, diseases and any health problems.
• The color of the cork seed body is golden brown.

Specifically, the criteria for the best quality male and female cork that you need to pay attention to include the following:

• Male snakehead fish: darker body color, oval head shape, and red genital opening
• Female cork fish: lighter body color and round head shape.

The next stage is spreading the seeds. The rule of stocking density for snakehead fish seeds is around 40-60 fish/m2. Sowing the seeds is done in the morning or evening, when the sun is not too hot and the water is at the best temperature. This timing aims to increase comfort and reduce the potential stress of cork seeds.

A technique that you can use when sowing cork seeds is an acclimatization technique to minimize stress levels. The acclimatization technique is carried out by placing the fish still in the plastic on the surface of the pond water for some time. Then remove the plastic and start moving the fish into the pond slowly. The goal is that the temperature inside the plastic resembles the temperature of the water in the aquaculture pond.

3. Feeding

Meanwhile, the rules for feeding snakehead fish should not be arbitrary. Feeding can be done 3 times a day with the amount of feed as much as 3-5% of cork body weight. The type of feed that you give to cork should contain the nutrients and nutrients needed by cork fish. Make sure the cork pellets contain 15-25% protein and 15% fat.

You can provide other alternative feeds such as chicken intestines or trash fish which contain high protein. Apart from that, you can also mix your own pellets with a mixture of 10% of corn, 20% of anchovies and dregs each, and 50% of bran. 

4. Harvest Snakehead Fish

Ideally, you can harvest the snakehead fish after spending 8-10 months cultivating it or when the snakehead fish has a body weight between 250-500 grams/head. However, there are also cultivators who have been able to harvest within 5-6 months by producing as many as 5 snakeheads/kg.

Tips for Cultivating Snakehead Fish in a Tarpaulin Pool

In order for snakehead fish farming in tarpaulin ponds to be successful and produce the best yields with proportional fish weight, you need to monitor and control the quality of pond water regularly by routinely checking acid-base levels, temperature, and dissolved oxygen levels in aquaculture pond water. If the quality of the pond water decreases, the snakehead fish can be stressed or attacked by pests and diseases which can lead to mass death of the snakehead fish.

Even though the snakehead fish is known as a freshwater fish that is immune to pests and diseases, there are several parasites and diseases that can attack snakeheads, including:

• Parasites: Lamproglena Chinensis and Lamproglena Trichodina sp.
• Cork Disease: White Spot, Pseudomonas, and Flatulence

The most appropriate first aid when finding snakehead fish that is indicated to be attacked by pests and diseases is to immediately isolate the fish and transfer it to its own media so that the disease does not spread to other snakehead fish.