How to Raise Eels at Home? Farming Methods and Feed Selection
Farming yellow eels is a very popular farming project nowadays, and demand is also showing a growing trend. Because of the growth in demand, however, resources are constantly decreasing, making the eel market fall short of supply and giving prices a steadily rising momentum. In fact, sometimes you can also raise eels at home in a small ecological pond, and the economic benefits it brings can be considerable.
How to Raise Eels at Home
Eels are quite easy to raise and are resistant to dying. Put them in a water vat at home with just a little water; no soil or anything else is needed. The water only needs to slightly cover the eels, not too much, otherwise they are prone to oxygen deprivation and suffocation. Leaving them for a week or so is completely fine. Remember to change the water every morning. If you do not feed them, they will not die, they will only become thinner. In addition, they will also eat small shrimp, small fish, small snails and so on, depending on which is convenient for you to feed.
What to Use to Raise Eels
1. Choose a pond with good water quality, no pollution sources and little outside interference. Use moso bamboo to set up supports in the pond, and fix the four corners of the cage nets to the supports. Set up one feeding platform in each cage net. Because yellow eels have the habit of cannibalism, the stocking size is required to be basically uniform, generally 20 to 50 grams per fish.
2. The stocking time for yellow eels should be chosen in April, May, or August to September, to avoid the yellow eel sexual maturation and breeding period from mid-May to July. The most suitable temperature for yellow eel growth is 24 to 28 degrees Celsius.
3. Feeding must be done at fixed times. Yellow eels hide by day and come out at night, so feeding at 6 pm to 8 pm is suitable. The feed put in must be fresh, and moldy or spoiled feed must not be put in. Before the feed is put in, it should first be washed clean, then soaked and washed in 3 to 5 grams of table salt per cubic meter of water for 10-20 minutes, and then rinsed with clean water before it can be fed. Generally choose small freshwater miscellaneous fish, and the daily feeding amount is 3%-5% of the total weight of the yellow eels in the cage net.
4. During artificial rearing, because a large amount of feed is put in, the feces excreted by yellow eels easily pollute the water quality, so new water should often be added to keep the water quality fresh. In spring, change the water once every 7 days to 10 days; in summer, change the water once every 3 days to 5 days.
5. The cage nets should also be disinfected regularly. Use 10 grams of bleaching powder dissolved in water per cubic meter of water, and splash it over the whole pond.
6. After stocking, an appropriate amount of loach can be stocked in the cage nets. By making use of the loach's habit of moving up and down, it plays a role in diverting flow and increasing oxygen, and can also eliminate the residual bait of the yellow eels. Stock a certain amount of silver carp and bighead carp in the pond to regulate water quality.
7. Clean the cage nets in a timely manner, remove excessive debris and attached algae, and keep the water exchange inside and outside the cage nets unobstructed. It is better to place aquatic plants in the cage nets, with water hyacinth and alligator weed being preferable, to provide a good place for the growth and habitation of yellow eels. When transplanting alligator weed, it is best to remove the roots, wash it clean, and then soak it in 5% salt water for about 10 minutes, to prevent harmful organisms such as leeches from being brought into the net with the grass.
8. Yellow eel seedlings must be strictly disinfected before entering the net. Especially in July to September, when yellow eels are prone to disease, splash the whole net with 1 ppm bleaching powder every 20 days, and isolate diseased eels promptly. When disease is found, apply the right medicine promptly to minimize losses.
9. Every year in December, when the water temperature drops below 12 degrees, the feeding and growth of yellow eels basically stop. At this time, harvest the yellow eels in the cage nets for market.
What to Feed Eels
Eels like to eat live food and are also very greedy. For artificial rearing of eels, earthworms, mussel meat and so on are all good feed. You can also use lights to lure and kill flying insects into the pond, or use pig blood to attract flies to lay eggs and produce maggots as feed. Earthworms are the best; every 7—8 earthworms can increase eel meat by 1 gram. Yellow eels are strict in their choice of food. After being fed one kind of food for a long time, it is very difficult to change their feeding habits in a short period. Therefore, when changing the feed variety, do not feed for the first 2—3 days, so that because of hunger they are not selective about food and will eat the new bait. Yellow eels are accustomed to hiding by day and coming out at night. Therefore, when first stocking, the feeding time should be at 4—5 pm each day, or before dark in the evening, and then advance the feeding time day by day. After a period of bait training, they can be fed at 9 am or 2 pm every day. An alternate-day feeding method can also be used to increase their food intake. The bait can be put on a feeding platform made of a wooden frame or polyethylene mesh cloth. The feeding location must be fixed, and the feeding amount is 6—7% of the fish body weight. On the day after feeding, fresh water should be exchanged to keep the water quality in the pond fresh and the dissolved oxygen content high.
How to Prevent and Treat Eel Diseases
During the yellow eel growth period, especially for newly stocked fry and during the yellow eel breeding season, ducks must absolutely not be allowed into the pond to prey on them. In summer, sometimes because the temperature is too high, yellow eels may show symptoms of heatstroke and coma. At this time, change to cool water or provide shade to lower the temperature, and then feed fresh mussel meat. The main disease of yellow eels is plum-blossom spot disease. The symptom is the appearance of soybean-sized, yellow round disease spots on the back of the yellow eel. Treatment method: often stock some toads in the pond. Because the toad venom in toads has a preventive and therapeutic effect, it can reduce the incidence of disease. If it is found that disease has already occurred, use the head of a skinned toad, tie it well with a rope, and drag it back and forth in the pond several times; the disease can be eliminated within 1—2 days.
Artificially farmed eels are noticeably larger than wild ones, with fuller bodies and glossy color. Moreover, they only need to be fed some earthworms, fresh maggots, wild miscellaneous fish and other bait, rather than the urea rumored to be given, which can make their meat taste fresher and more vivid and their nutrition richer, winning people's deep affection.