How to Raise Loach? A Detailed Explanation of the Key Technical Points of Loach Farming

Loach is a widely distributed, abundant, eurytopic small-sized special-type fish, with tender flesh, rich nutrition and a delicious taste, and it sells well in both domestic and international markets. It not only has high food value, but is also a nutritional tonic with high medicinal value. Loach meat is light and tender, with a delicious flavor and rich nutrition. According to analysis by authoritative departments, loach meat contains many nutrients essential to the human body, such as protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamin B2, vitamin B5 as well as calcium, phosphorus, iron and 12 other trace elements, with the protein content in particular reaching as high as 22.6 grams per hundred grams of loach meat. Loach grows in most regions nationwide, has a relatively strong ability to adapt to the environment, and its farming techniques are relatively easy to master; loach can be farmed in rice paddies, ponds, lakes and ditches, and farmers can choose a suitable farming model according to their own conditions. The investment in loach farming can be small or large: a few hundred yuan or a thousand yuan can be used for small-scale trial farming, or several million yuan or tens of millions of yuan can be invested in large-scale farming, and the problems of fry and feed can be fully resolved. Among the relatively large-scale farming methods nationwide, the rice paddy farming model and the pond net-enclosure intensive farming model are relatively common and efficient. Case: This is a relatively simple farming method, and it has formed a fairly large farming scale in many places. Dong Bing, a farmer from Macheng Town, Huaiyuan County, Anhui Province, contracted 2000 mu of low-lying land in 2004, and with a try-it-and-see attitude stocked loach in more than 100 mu of rice paddy, harvesting 50 kg of loach per mu that year and increasing his income by 80,000 yuan in total. After tasting the benefits, he continuously expanded the farming scale, and by 2005 the farming area had reached 1100 mu, with loach income per mu of rice paddy reaching more than 1000 yuan. Old Dong said that loach droppings can fertilize the fields, and since loach likes to eat pests in the rice paddy, raising loach in rice paddies can reduce the amount of fertilizer and pesticide used in the paddy by 2/3; his family's rice yield per mu rose from 450 kg in the past to 650 kg now, and growing rice plus raising loach in the paddy can increase income by nearly 2000 yuan per mu. With the continuous improvement of rice paddy loach farming techniques, rice paddy loach farming in Huaiyuan County can now reach a yield of 150 kg of adult loach per mu. Brief description: The rice-loach combined cropping type, that is, the rice-loach co-culture type, means growing rice while raising loach, without neglecting either rice or loach, striving for a double harvest. After the rice paddy is plowed and the field is sun-dried, organic fertilizer is spread on the bottom of the fish ditch as base fertilizer, mainly used to cultivate biological feed for the loach to eat, and then the field is leveled. Loach fry are generally stocked after the rice seedlings are transplanted; for single-crop rice paddies it is best to stock them after the first weeding, and for double-crop rice paddies it is best to stock them after the second crop of rice seedlings is transplanted. Case of the pond net-enclosure intensive farming model among loach farming models: This farming method mostly involves first simply remodeling the rice paddy and then setting up net enclosures around it to carry out loach farming. This farming method began around 2003, and at present this farming method is used across the country for high-density loach farming. In Dunshang Town, Ganyu County, Jiangsu Province, 16,000 mu of pond net-enclosure loach farming was developed as early as 2007, achieving a relatively high benefit of an average profit of 20,000 yuan per mu. Brief description: The pond should have good water retention capacity, and a cement pond or earthen pond is suitable. The area of a cement pond is suitably 150 sq m to 300 sq m. The area of an earthen pond is 667 sq m to 2000 sq m, and the pond bottom is suitably clay. The pond depth is 80 cm to 120 cm, the pond bottom mud is 10 cm to 20 cm, and the water depth is maintained at 50 cm to 80 cm. The pond bottom slopes toward the drainage outlet, forming a certain gradient. 1. Water quality: Abundant water source, fresh water quality, and convenient irrigation and drainage. The source water quality should comply with the provisions of GB11607. The water quality used for farming should comply with the provisions of NY5051. The farming drainage should comply with the provisions of GB18596. 2. Farming site: Good ecological environment, and within the farming area and in the upwind direction and upstream of the irrigation water source, there are no pollution sources that pose a threat to the environment of the production area (including industrial "three wastes", agricultural waste, sewage and waste from medical institutions, urban garbage and domestic sewage, etc.).