Académique Documents
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Culture Documents
1. An overview
2. BMP-1: Identify an ideal location to enhance the chances of
success
3. BMP-2 : Assess the availability of water and suitability of
chosen site for proposed activity
4. BMP-3: Identify the species of ornamental sh to be
cultured before initiating construction
5. BMP-4: Draw a sketch for location of different facilities at
site and its detailed design
6. BMP-5: Develop a rain water harvesting system and water
re-circulation facility to ensure availability of water and also
to reduce cost on water
7. BMP-6: Legal & social responsibility of safeguarding the
surrounding environment by avoiding non-environment
friendly activities.
8. Important suggestions
Setting up of freshwater ornamental sh production facilities
1. An overview
st
The ornamental sh farming in India prior to beginning of 21 century was
limited to selected villages of a few coastal states mainly
located in the states of West Bengal and Tamilnadu. The
farming facilities were primarily backyard units based on
low input traditional practices. The farm designs and
facilities were very simple as these were built based on
availability of space and included a few earthen ponds,
earthen bowls and a small number of brick/cemented
tanks. Secondly, the production units were in a cluster
so, the individual efforts on location and site feasibility
were not of much concern. Moreover, ornamental sh
farming was not a primary income generating activity
but a secondary activity so it used to marginally support
the family income where all members of family were
engaged in the profession.
It was only since the beginning of present century that ornamental sh
farming was adopted as a mass scale commercial activity and several
medium to large size units were established in several parts of the country
that included both coastal and inland states. Many of the old production
units also remained to continue either as such or with modications and up-
gradations. The new farming units are not in a cluster and located far apart
A proper site from each other that necessitate examining the location suitability and site
feasibility. Now a days, it is no more a backyard type house-hold activity but
selection is key a major activity that involves large investment through bank nancing.
to the success of However, it has been observed that many of the units are not operating
successfully and protably in spite of high initial investments. Many a times
production unit it is because of improper selection of location, unsuitable sites, poor quality
and inadequate availability of water and unplanned construction &
designing. With this background, a set of Best Management Practices is
being suggested related to setting up of a freshwater ornamental sh
production facility.
Hatchery
Ponds gate. Now, you had to construct an additional road of
500 m up to the shade/ofce building from main gate.
Hatchery
Secondly, all the visitors who are coming to your ofce
Ponds
Other advantages of Plan B: Easy handling of aquarium and the more number of glass tank
units will be helpful to stock more varieties/stages of sh.
Design of a Pond
Dyke
Free board 0.5m Water depth
1.5 m
1.0 m
pe
WIDTH
Slo
LENGTH
Pond bottom
An earthen pond
b 3h
c 3h
e. Cut a lm of required dimension from the roll. As the size of ponds for ornamental sh culture is
small, the poly-lms of required sizes will be readily available. In case a lm of larger size is required it
could be pasted through thermal sealing.
f. Spread the layer of poly-lm uniformly in the pond by providing at least 5% extra length covering
bunds.
g. Remove all the wrinkles from the middle part and collect at the corner of pond.
h. Fix all the four ends in the bunds and overlay the sides with about 2 ft deep layer of soil.
i. Cover the bed of pond initially with 5 cm layer of ne soil followed by 40 cm layer of earth.
j. The side slopes can be covered by dry stone pitching preferably with round river boulders. Stone
pitching is done by placing large boulders at the bottom of slope followed by gradually reducing the
thickness of the boulders. The gap between boulders is subsequently lled with soil. The stone
pitching in free board section could be plastered with cement mortar (1:6) for longevity.
k. The poly-line pond will be ready for use.
c. Cemented Tanks
The cement tanks of different sizes and water
holding capacity both indoor and outdoor are
highly essential and useful facility at an
ornamental sh breeding farm. However, the
decision about size and water holding capacity
should be subjected to technical and operational
feasibility as it was described above. The
cemented tanks could be made up of either
ferro-cement, reinforced cement concrete
(RCC), or bricks depending on the need.
i. The ferro-cement tanks are
circular/rectangular tanks that are normally
available in different size in the market as ready
to use tanks. These tanks are very useful for
keeping and breeding of small size shes such as
live bearers, barbs, tetras as well as for keeping
brood stock of gold sh, gouramys, etc. A good
quality ferro-cement tank may last for many
years if kept undisturbed on a plain surface.
ii. The reinforced cement concrete (RCC) tanks are made up of
steel bars and cement-concrete mortar similar to construction of
buildings. These types of tanks are constructed when tank size is
very large as the cost of construction is very high. These are
Repairing of tanks
Water leakage in brick tanks and RCC tanks can be repaired by using water proong
compounds along with a geo-textile membrane
e. Glass Tanks
The glass tanks of different sizes are very useful at an ornamental
sh breeding and culture farm. The major advantage of glass
tanks is that large number of sh could be maintained in a small
volume of water which is easily manageable and all the activities
of sh are visible from front unlike cement tanks. Glass tanks are
very good option for indoor hatcheries. The glass tanks of small
size can be built in-house after a little training and it will cost
about 40% less than to market price. The glass of required
thickness and dimension can be purchased from a local glass
supplier.
1. Place back glass on a plain 2. Raise bottom panel. 3. Apply sealant on bottom and
surface and apply silicon sealant back glass panels and x
the side glass panel
.4. Place another side glass panel 5. Place front glass panel 6. All glass aquarium is ready
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Bio ltration
(Ammonia removal through benecial bacteria) Ammonia Nitrite Nitrate
The layer of foam removes all particulate materials from the incoming water.
The layer of activated charcoal and granular zelite absorbs all soluble
ammonia whereas coarse gravel provides surface for the growth of bacteria.
A large surface area supports large number of bacteria that increases
efciency of the ltration system. The quality of ltered water could be
further improved by passing the same through UV light and injecting ozone
through an ozonizer. The UV light helps in removing any harmful bacteria
from the water whereas ozonizer acts as a sterilizer as well increases
concentration of dissolved oxygen in the water.
8. Important Suggestions
Select a suitable location to set up an ornamental sh production farm based on
assessment of activities of similar farm units in the locality, demand and supply gap in
the local or selected market, future development potential, connectivity and means
of transportation, socio-culture values, availability of electricity, availability of labour
as well as local law and order situation.
Make a visit to local ofce of state sheries department or MPEDA and nd out if any
permission is required from any government agency.
Identify a specic site at the selected location based on sources of water supply,
potential of each resource, quality of water, quality of soil including its water holding
capacity and connectivity to main road. In case a bore well is to be installed at the site,
it shall be done on the basis of hydro-geological survey.
Identify the species and varieties of ornamental sh to be produced based on demand
assessment of market and select some easy-to-breed sh only initially. Effort should
be made to procure good quality brood stock.
An entrepreneur should try to gain both knowledge and skill of ornamental sh
breeding and culture technology either through attending a training programme or
on-farm experience, if these are not available to hire experienced persons.
An ornamental sh producer shall also consider the option of setting up a retail outlet
for trading of sh as well aquarium and aquarium accessories.
An outline sketch shall be drawn specifying location of different facilities/units
including roads, etc. that are planned to be developed before starting the
construction. The advantage and disadvantage of the same shall be analyzed so that
a technically feasible, operationally convenient and cost effective design is
developed.
The type of facilities viz; earthen, RCC or brick ponds and level of production system
viz; traditional, semi-intensive or intensive shall be decided before starting the
construction.
The design shall be nalized in consultation with a structural engineer. It shall include
detailed design of all the structures as well as cost estimates.
An ornamental sh production farm shall have both indoor and outdoor facilities. The
outdoor facilities may include few numbers of earthen/poly-lined ponds and
cemented tanks whereas indoor facilities may include cemented, FRP and glass tanks.
The size of earthen or poly-lined ponds shall be small (0.01-0.05 ha) and the ponds
should have a depth of about 3-4 ft., slope of 1: 1.5, dyke width of 5-7 feet and free
board of 2 ft. The ponds shall be protected from entry of predators mainly snakes and
birds.
The construction of poly-lined ponds is very successful in sandy soils. The cost of
poly-lining of ponds using 250 micron LDPE sheet is about Rs.10 per sq.ft.
The ferro-cement tanks of circular/rectangular shapes with a water holding capacity
of 200-300 liters are highly useful for keeping of brood stock of small sized sh as well
as breeding and rearing of live bearers, tetras and barbs varieties of sh.
The cemented tanks of above 3000 liters capacity shall be normally constructed of
RCC.
The average width of brick tanks should be about 5 ft so that only one person can net
out the sh with the help of a hand net.
All types of cemented tanks should be treated with water proong compound at
various stages of construction so to avoid problems of water leakage in future.
The fabrication of more number of small size glass tanks is much more economical
than few numbers of larger size tanks while the water holding capacity remains the
same. The glass tanks of small size can be fabricated in-house with about 40% cost
saving.
The use of submersible pumps over external pumps is more effective for different
uses at farm as submersible pumps require less maintenance than external types of
water pumps.
It is more benecial to use air compressors of smaller capacity separately for different
sections of production facility than a single air blower of larger capacity.
The construction of an over headtank is highly useful. The water holding capacity
should be about 2 times of the daily exchangeable water requirement and OHT shall
be placed at 15-20 ft height so that water reaches to all the points of uses through
gravity only with high velocity.
A proper network of water supply lines should be laid from the OHT to different
points of uses. The water supply lines can be installed by using UPVC or CPVC pipes
which are light weight, about 70% less costly than G.I. pipes and easy to x.
Attend time to time to repair and maintenance of all civil structures and
mechanical/electric equipments. A sudden failure results in heavy losses and higher
maintenance cost.
The availability of good quality water can be ensured through developing a rain water
harvesting facility. The size of storage tanks should be decided in relation to total area
of roof top and amount of rainfall.
All the roofs, drainage channels and water collection tanks should be properly
cleaned before rainy season so to avoid any type of contamination to the harvested
water. The collection tanks shall be kept covered.
Installation of a bio-ltration system is highly useful at any ornamental sh
production farm so to facilitate re-use of water.
Any type of exotic sh should not be released in to open water systems. Proper
measures should be adopted even to control accidental escape.
The efuents of farm that are rich in suspended organic matters and nutrients should
not be directly released into open water system but could be used as manure for
growing plants or in hydroponics.
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