How to Raise Snakehead Fish? Detailed Guide to Farming Techniques and Precautions

The snakehead fish enjoys the reputation of “treasure among fish” and is a valuable freshwater species. It has long been deeply loved by people, who regard it as a health food that is nutritionally complete and delicious in meat, and it is often eaten for recovery after illness. At present, the number of people farming snakehead fish is also growing day by day, and to join this farming industry, one still needs to master certain techniques.

How to Raise Snakehead Fish

1. Pond Conditions

The fish pond area should preferably be 10 mu, with a water depth of about 2 m, the pond ridge 50 cm above the water surface, and bamboo fences or mesh panels around the pond as anti-escape walls, to prevent the snakehead fish from escaping when the ground is wet and slippery during the rainy season. The water source must be sufficient, the water quality fresh, the dissolved oxygen content of the pond water above 5 mg/L, and the transparency above 30 cm.

2. Pond Disinfection

Half a month before stocking the fingerlings, thoroughly clear and disinfect the pond with quicklime. After an interval of 3 days, add new water to a depth of 1.0 m, and once the toxicity has dissipated, test the water and then stock the fingerlings.

3. Fingerling Stocking

Fingerling stocking must be comprehensively considered in light of local actual conditions, and a stocking plan should be made to obtain the best farming results. The stocking time for snakehead fish is in early July.

4. Feed Feeding

Snakehead fish feed is divided into two types: one is fresh animal feed consisting mainly of small wild trash fish, and the other is artificial compound feed: floating pellet feed, hard pellet feed and powdered compound feed. At present, the composition of artificial compound feed for the snakehead fish has not yet been completely solved, mainly because a kind of active substance needed for the growth of carnivorous fish——factor H, exists in fresh animal tissues but not in fishmeal.

Snakehead Fish Farming Techniques and Precautions

I. Farming Techniques

1. Pond Construction: Choose an east-west oriented, rectangular pond, with a mud bottom, a pond depth of 2-2.5 m, a water depth of 1.5-2 m, anti-escape facilities at the inlet and outlet, and apply quicklime at 100-150 kg/mu 15 days before farming for thorough disinfection.

2. Fingerling Stocking: Before the fingerlings are put into the pond, soak them in 3%-5% salt water for 10-15 minutes, then put them into the pond. For fingerlings with a body length of 10-14 cm, the stocking density is 9000-10000 fish/mu; for those of 16-20 cm, the stocking density is 8000 fish/mu.

3. Daily Management: Pay attention to observing the snakehead fish's feeding, activity, disease trends and environmental changes. In spring, change 4/5 of the pond water every week; in the high-temperature season, change a small amount every 3 days and a large amount every 7 days. Install anti-escape nets at the inlet and outlet, and it is better for the pond ridge to be more than 50 cm above the water surface. The discharged sewage should undergo necessary sewage treatment.

4. Feed Feeding: The feed for raising snakehead fish includes artificial compound feed, freshwater or seawater small trash fish, and offal from livestock and poultry slaughter. Before feeding small trash fish, they need to be sorted to remove fish with hard spines, such as yellow catfish. Before feeding, use tapping as a signal to gather the fish from afar near the feeding platform, reducing feed waste. The initial feeding amount is 10% of body weight, and later it can be appropriately reduced to about 5% of body weight. It should be fed one scoop at a time, so that less feed is wasted. Feeding should follow the “four fixed” principles, and 3-4 feeding points should be selected for each pond.

II. Precautions

The snakehead fish has a large appetite and produces a lot of excrement, and can make the pond water fertile in a short time. Fertile water will cause plankton to reproduce in large numbers, thereby making the pond water lack oxygen.

Common Diseases of Snakehead Fish

1. Hemorrhagic Disease

Symptoms: There are bleeding stripes perpendicular to the lateral line of the fish body on both sides of the body wall at the base of the pectoral fins and near the rear edge of the gill cover; after bleeding symptoms appear, mass sudden death occurs in 3-4 days; it is prone to outbreak from June to September.

Prevention and Treatment: After winter fishing, thoroughly clear the pond, and disinfect the bait fish with salt water before feeding; splash formalin over the whole pond so that the pond water concentration reaches 20-30 mL/m3, or splash chlorine dioxide solution over the whole pond so that the pond water concentration reaches 0.5 g/m3, and repeat once after 4-6 days. Oral administration of Yufukang No. 2, Yuxuesan or Yuxuekangtai is all acceptable, with the dosage used according to the instructions.

2. Red Skin Disease

Symptoms: Local bleeding on the body surface of the fish, loss of scales, especially on both sides of the abdomen, with fin rot; the fish moves slowly, and sick fish often float on the water surface, weak and powerless. It often is followed by saprolegniasis, until death.

Prevention and Treatment: Thoroughly clear the pond with quicklime to avoid harming the fish body; disinfect with Xiaoling at 0.5 mg/L or other chlorine-containing disinfectants, such as trichloroisocyanuric acid, sodium dichloroisocyanurate, chlorine dioxide, etc.; orally administer Yufukang or Yuxuekang, using 250 g per 100 kg of fish weight or according to the instructions, mix into the feed and feed continuously for 3-5 days.

Artificial Breeding of Snakehead Fish

1. Broodstock Selection: The quality of snakehead fish broodstock is a key factor in artificial breeding. Individuals selected at an age of over 2 years and with a body weight of 500-1500 g are more suitable. Broodstock that have reached sexual maturity, are free of disease and injury, and are large in size with good growth performance should be selected.

2. Broodstock Pairing: Snakehead fish broodstock are paired at a ratio of 1:1 and then placed directly into the spawning pond to wait for natural spawning. The spawning pond area should preferably be 0.1-3 mu, and it is best for the pond bottom to have two parts, deep and shallow, with the deep part 1 m and the shallow part 0.3 m. Plant grass or put grass in the pond, and greater transparency with lean water is better.

3. Artificial Induced Spawning: Artificial induced spawning of snakehead fish should select those with gonads developed to the late stage IV, at a water temperature of 25-28 degrees C, generally from late May to mid-June. For artificial induced spawning drugs, chorionic gonadotropin and carp pituitary are more effective.

That is all for now on snakehead fish farming techniques, and I hope it is helpful to everyone. Snakehead fish farming is relatively simple, but everyone must pay attention to water quality issues during the farming process, so as not to affect the growth of the snakehead fish.