What preparatory work needs to be done before snakehead farming?

Speaking of snakehead, everyone is fairly familiar with it. Snakehead is very common in our lives, and it not only has high nutritional value but also has certain medicinal value. However, for beginners raising snakehead, there are still many things they do not understand. Let us learn about it together below!

Preparation before snakehead farming and breeding  

1. Selection of pond and water depth. Years of farming experience show that the pond area for farming is generally 1-3 mu, which is suitable; too large is inconvenient to manage. A water depth of 1.5-1.8 m is optimal. If the water is too shallow, the carrying capacity of the water body is small; if the water is too deep, the water temperature at the bottom of the water body is not suitable for rising.  

2. Disinfection of the pond and fish body. Half a month before stocking fry, the pond should be dried and disinfected, using 100-150 kg of quicklime per mu to clear the pond. Also, old snakehead must be killed or completely caught to prevent harm to the seedlings. Before the fry are stocked, their body surface may be injured and infected by bacteria, so they should also be disinfected before entering the pond. That is, the fish body can be soaked in 3%-5% salt water for 10-15 min, or soaked in 15 g/m potassium permanganate solution for about 10 minutes.  

3. Selection and release of fry and fingerlings. If stocking overwintered fry, this can be done in March-April. The stocking size is generally 110-150 g, and 30005000 fry with a length of 16-20 cm are stocked. If the stocking sizes are basically consistent, then after entering the pond they do not need to be screened and separately raised. After 6-8 months of farming, they can be marketed in the same year. If stocking fry of the current year, 30-50 g fry with a length of 3-5 cm can be stocked in June-July, and 50007000 can be stocked, but they must undergo 2-3 screenings and separate raising to avoid cannibalism, and the following year they can reach the standard size for market.  

4. Escape prevention and infrastructure. Snakehead is good at jumping and likes to swim against the current, so the pond inlet and outlet must have escape prevention measures. A fence or mesh should be set around the pond, and other equipment such as water pumps and aerators is also needed.

Snakehead farming conditions  

1. Pond selection  

The pond for farming snakehead should not be too large; generally an area of 3 mu-5 mu is preferable. The pond water depth is 1.5-2.0 m, the bottom pond thickness is 15 cm-20 cm, the water source is sufficient, and drainage and irrigation are convenient.  

2. Fingerling release  

The size of the released fingerlings is determined according to the size of commercial fish on the market. At present, snakehead with an individual weight of 0.7-2.0 kg sells well, so the size of the released fingerlings should be 75-100 g per fish.  

The stocking density should be determined based on factors such as feed sources and farming techniques. Generally, 2000-2500 fingerlings are released per mu. At the same time, 400-500 bighead carp fingerlings can be polycultured, with a fingerling size of 100-150 g per fish.  

3. Feed feeding  

Snakehead is a ferocious predatory fish, eating both live food and dead food. During artificial breeding, a method of timed and fixed-point domesticated feeding is adopted. Feed twice a day, at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Generally, after 5-7 days of stocking, all the fingerlings can float to the water surface to compete for food. When feeding, carefully observe the feeding situation of the snakehead near the feeding platform. If there are few snakehead near the feeding platform and the competition for food is not intense, it indicates that the fish are already full and feeding can be stopped.  

4. Feeding management  

Snakehead has a large appetite and produces a lot of excrement, which can quickly make the pond water fertile. Fertile water can cause plankton to reproduce in large numbers, easily causing oxygen deficiency in the pond water. Therefore, special attention should be paid to changes in dissolved oxygen in the water. Once relatively severe oxygen deficiency occurs, a method of killing in part of the water surface can be adopted, that is, splashing baichong on the water surface 2-3 m from the pond edge, at a concentration of 0.5-1.0 ppm.

Snakehead polyculture  

1. Polyculturing domestic fish in ponds mainly farming snakehead  

Because feed is put in for a long time in ponds mainly farming snakehead, residues in the pond continuously increase, and in addition the excrement of the fish also continuously increases, so the pond water becomes fertile relatively quickly and is prone to aging. After polyculturing some domestic fish, their mutually beneficial role can be fully brought into play, which can both regulate water quality and increase fish yield.  

2. Polyculturing snakehead in ponds mainly farming domestic fish  

Because carp and crucian carp in ponds mainly farming domestic fish have strong self-reproduction ability, there are many seedlings of carp and crucian carp, and in addition there are also many wild miscellaneous fish, which is not conducive to the growth of domestic fish. Putting in a small amount of snakehead can eat the wild miscellaneous fish and the self-reproduced seedlings of carp and crucian carp. In this way, it not only avoids the seedlings competing for oxygen and food, which is beneficial to the growth of domestic fish, but also obtains high-quality snakehead and increases benefits.

Nutritional value of snakehead  

Snakehead has high nutritional value. It has a very good dietary therapeutic effect on physical weakness, hypoproteinemia, malnutrition, spleen-stomach qi deficiency, and anemia. Eating snakehead has a very good anti-inflammatory effect on wounds. The meat of snakehead itself is relatively coarse, and compared with other fish its taste is not as good, so it is not very tasty to eat. However, if snakehead is used to make soup, then the taste is unmatched!  

Snakehead has very strong vitality, and its meat tastes sweet. It contains a large amount of various minerals such as iron, calcium, and phosphorus, and its nutritional components are also very rich, containing fat, protein, vitamin A, B vitamins, and so on. In addition, in every 100 g of snakehead, the protein content can be as high as 20 g, second only to shrimp, and eating snakehead is easily digested and absorbed by the human body. Regular consumption of snakehead can enhance resistance.  

Secondly, snakehead also has the medicinal value of promoting blood circulation and dredging collaterals, strengthening the spleen and draining dampness, harmonizing the middle and opening the appetite, and warming the middle and descending qi. It has a very good nourishing and dietary therapeutic effect on weakness of the kidney and spleen, ulcers, edema, asthma, bronchitis, and diabetic patients; for postpartum pregnant women, it can also tonify deficiency and promote lactation. In the chilly winter, the taste of snakehead is especially delicious. Regular eating of snakehead can not only strengthen the body but also help with weight loss, help lower blood pressure and blood lipids, and make people live longer. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that snakehead can not only tonify deficiency but also warm the middle and descend qi, and promote diuresis and reduce swelling. Plainly cooked snakehead has a very good effect on treating gastrointestinal bleeding and vomiting and nausea.

Through the above introduction, presumably for beginners in snakehead farming, you already have a preliminary understanding of farming snakehead. However, for some problems encountered in the specific farming process, you still need to communicate more with other farmers and learn from each other's experience.