A Detailed Guide to High-Density Monoculture of Snakehead in Ponds

Snakehead is a fairly common food fish in China, with large individuals, fast growth and high economic value. Before starting to farm snakehead, many novice farmers are very concerned about the methods and techniques of farming snakehead. Below, let's take a look together at information related to snakehead!

Pre-farming Preparation  

1. Farming facilities: earthen ponds, cement ponds, etc. The water depth should be 1-2 m. Water-lifting equipment should be complete.  

2. Water source: river water, reservoir water, underground well water, etc. are all acceptable; the water quality should preferably be neutral or weakly alkaline.  

3. Area: for the convenience of production management and sales, the pond area should preferably be small, ideally about 1 mu, and no more than 2 mu at most.  

4. It is best to have an inlet and outlet. A 40-60 cm net barrier and other anti-escape facilities must be installed around the pond.  

5. Plant aquatic plants on the water surface around the pond, generally no more than about 20%, as shelter, to facilitate shading from sunlight, avoiding heat, and catching food, while also purifying water quality and regulating water temperature.  

6. Before stocking fingerlings, pond clearing and disinfection must be done well.  

Snakehead Farming Techniques  

1. Fingerling stocking:  

① Fingerling size: select fingerlings of the current year over 10 cm (preferably 14-20 cm, 60 g-100 g); the fingerlings must be uniform in size, uninjured and disease-free.  

② For the source of fingerlings, it is best to choose locally produced fingerlings.  

③ Stocking time: for the current year, it is best from September to early October, so they can feed and recover their condition, improving the overwintering survival rate. Stocking after the New Year is in March-April.  

④ Disinfection: strict disinfection must be carried out before entering the pond, generally soaking in 5% salt water for 10-15 minutes or in a 10 ppm malachite green solution for 10 minutes.  

⑤ Stocking density: at a depth of 1.2-1.5 m, stock 8000-9000 fish per mu for fingerlings of about 50-60 g, and 5000-6000 fish per mu for fingerlings of 80-100 g; if the average water depth decreases, the stocking amount should be reduced accordingly.  

2. Feeding management: feeding must adhere to the “four fixeds”. Before feeding, use tapping sounds as a “signal” to form a “sensory” response, gathering the snakehead around the feeding ground; this easily forms a feeding frenzy, increases feed intake and reduces feed waste. The feed types are mainly fresh animals, primarily small marine and freshwater trash fish and shrimp. In freshwater there are Hemiculter leucisculus, topmouth gudgeon, sand loach, young white fish, small crucian carp, small tilapia, Rhodeus, small qingtiao, small green shrimp, etc.; in seawater there are sardines, herring (yellow croaker) and various other small trash fish. During the peak feeding period, the amount of bait is about 8% of the fish weight, and can reach more than 10% at the high end. During the off-season, it is 3-4%. Using the “slow, fast, slow” feeding method gives good results and less feed waste; once most of the fish are full and swim away, feeding can be stopped. The feeding amount of the fish varies greatly depending on the weather, air pressure and water quality.  

Daily Management of Snakehead  

1. Pond patrols. Observe the fish's feeding, activity, water quality changes, signs of surfacing for air, and diseased fish, etc.; if problems are found, handle them promptly.  

2. Water changes. Snakehead take in high-protein feed every day, so the ammonia concentration in the pond water is relatively high; especially in summer when water temperature is high, the water body can easily deteriorate. Therefore, the water body needs to be changed in time, generally replacing 1/3 every week and 4/5 every half month, flexibly controlled according to water quality changes; where conditions permit, it is best to maintain micro-flowing water farming, and during the farming period the water temperature should preferably not exceed 30°C.  

3. Preventing escape. In the early stage of stocking snakehead fingerlings, the fingerlings are still small and have poor jumping ability. As they gradually grow, their jumping ability increases considerably, especially when changing water on rainy days or in the early morning, when jumping is very active. Therefore, the height of the pond ridge above the water surface should generally be greater than 50 cm; sturdy anti-escape nets must be installed at the inlet and outlet, and anti-escape nets or anti-escape walls must be installed around the pond.

Snakehead Farming Cycle  

Snakehead fry of the current year are generally stocked from May to July, with the specific time depending on differences in regional air temperature, water temperature, climate and other conditions.  

It is hard to determine how long it takes for snakehead to grow to 1500 g; this is related to factors such as your farming skill level and the quality of the feed selected, and depends specifically on the actual farming environment, etc. It is recommended that during farming you choose ponds with good conditions, high-quality fry and good-quality feed for rearing, and carry out daily management and disease prevention and control work well in normal times, so as to shorten the snakehead farming cycle as much as possible. If the farming method is correct, the snakehead farming cycle is one year of farming to reach one and a half to two jin.

Snakehead is very common in our lives; it not only has high nutritional value but also has certain medicinal value, so it is very popular among the general public. Therefore, in the process of farming snakehead, mastering some snakehead farming techniques and daily management is very effective for reducing the cost of snakehead farming.