How can rice-field eel farming achieve high yields?

With the gradual development of the aquaculture industry, eel farming has become one of the most popular farming projects today, and it is expected that the demand for eels will gradually increase in a few years, so how can high yields be achieved by raising eels in rice fields?

In rice-field eel farming, the eels can feed on aquatic insects and their larvae, which is beneficial to rice growth, and the rice itself also creates conditions for the eels to inhabit, a mutually beneficial relationship that both increases rice yields and yields a certain number of eels, with remarkable overall benefits, and is another path to increasing agricultural income and helping farmers prosper.

Selection of rice fields for eel farming

Fresh, pollution-free water quality, abundant water, convenient irrigation and drainage, and solid field ridges that do not leak water, with lower-lying rice fields that can maintain a certain water level being preferable.

Building field engineering and escape-prevention facilities

Raise and widen the field ridges, with the ridge 70cm high, 60cm wide at the base, and 45cm wide at the top, and install plastic film or gauze netting on the ridge as escape-prevention facilities, with the film or net extending 20cm above the ridge surface and buried 10cm underground.

Eel stocking

Select uniformly sized, disease-free and injury-free eel fry for stocking, and choosing yellow body color mixed with large spots as the farming variety is better, as it grows faster, with a stocking size of 5-20cm. Before the transported eel fry are put into the pond, this can effectively prevent water mold disease and also eliminate parasites on the body surface of the eel fry, with a certain preventive effect.

Feeding management

Water quality management

Keep the water quality in the field fresh, and add new water in a timely manner; generally change the water once every 7d in spring and autumn, and once every 3d in summer. Ensure the water quality is “rich without rotting, lively without being sparse, tender without being old, and refreshing without being bland.”

Bait management

Do not feed within 3d after the eel fry are stocked, so that all food in the bodies of the eel fry is digested and they become empty-stomached, putting them in a state of hunger, then feed at night with earthworms and chopped small miscellaneous fish or animal offal that eels like to eat, with a feeding amount of 1%-2% of body weight. After they eat normally, silkworm pupae, fly maggots, fish meal, rice bran, melon peel, etc. can be mixed into the attractant feed for feeding, and the feeding amount can be gradually increased to 3%-4% of body weight depending on how they eat; when the water temperature is 26-28°C, the most suitable temperature for eel growth, the feeding amount can be increased to 6%-7% of body weight.

Disease management

The prevention and control of diseases holds a very important place in the farming industry. Not only must the fry be disinfected before stocking, but 7-10d before the eel fry are put in, the farming ditch must be cleared and disinfected with 0.3kg of quicklime per sq m, and ordinarily every half month disinfect with a 15mg/L quicklime solution, doing good preventive work. During capture, transport, and stocking, the eel fry should be kept from being scraped as much as possible, to prevent bacteria from invading and causing red-skin disease, with symptoms of: bleeding and inflammation on the body surface, most obvious on the abdomen and both sides, appearing in patches, requiring combined treatment with oral medicine and external medicine disinfection. Prevention methods: strictly disinfect when stocking the eel fry, persist in frequently patrolling the field, and check whether all facilities are damaged; especially on rainy days, strictly inspect the inlet and outlet holes and the embankment to prevent eels from escaping.

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