A Detailed Guide to Selecting and Breeding Ricefield Eel Fry

Ricefield eel has extremely delicious meat and is rich in nutrients, with both medicinal value; it is a nourishing aquatic product much loved by the public. In addition, the ricefield eel is highly resilient, easy to transport, and can be sold live, so developing artificial ricefield eel farming has a certain market prospect. At present, the ricefield eel farming industry has already developed fairly maturely, so the key work lies in doing a good job in the early stages of seed selection and fry rearing; so how should ricefield eel fry be selected? What breeding methods are there? Let us find out together below.

How should ricefield eel fry be selected?

1. Pay attention to whether the ricefield eel farm is legitimate: when buying fry, you must check whether the farm is legitimate and whether the ricefield eel seedlings are artificially bred. Generally, ricefield eel fry artificially domesticated by legitimate farms have strong stress resistance, a high survival rate, and adapt quickly to feed.

2. Pay attention to the purchasing season: it is best to choose April, early May, or August-October each year to buy ricefield eel seedlings.

3. Pay attention to the variety of ricefield eel fry: ricefield eels can generally be divided into three types according to body color, among which one has a yellow body surface mixed with large spots; its weight-gain multiple is 1:5-6, it grows relatively fast, and it is better to use it as a breeding variety.

4. Pay attention to the selection of ricefield eel fry: choose ricefield eel seedlings with a well-proportioned body shape, a robust constitution, no injuries, no disease, and uniform specifications.

5. Pay attention to the source of the ricefield eel fry: when buying ricefield eel seedlings on the market, you must clarify the source of the ricefield eel seedlings, and by no means buy ricefield eels caught by electric shock, ricefield eels caught by hook, or ricefield eel seedlings with internal injuries that cannot be seen with the naked eye.

6. Pay attention to suitable transport tools: the transport of ricefield eel seedlings is also an important link. First place the ricefield eel seedlings to be transported into a wooden bucket filled with water, and keep them temporarily for 24 hours in clean river water so that the ricefield eels can discharge dirt cleanly, then use the method of transport with water or oxygenated transport for transportation.

How should ricefield eel fry be bred and cultivated?

1. Preparation of the eel fry pond

The cultivation pond for ricefield eel fry should be chosen in a place with sufficient water sources, convenient drainage and irrigation, good water quality, and no pollution; it is best to use a small cement pond. The pond should have a water inlet and an overflow outlet, and an escape-prevention net should be used; add about 5 cm of mud to the bottom of the pond. Then inject new water until the water depth is 10-20 cm for later use. At the same time, some water hyacinths with well-developed fibrous roots can be cultivated on the water surface; it would be even better if water (thread) earthworms can be introduced into the fry-rearing pond.

2. Stocking of eel fry

Before stocking, carry out overall disinfection of the fry pond and application of base fertilizer and other work. The stocked eel fry must be uninjured, disease-free, robust, and smooth on the body surface; those with a golden-yellow body color are best. Generally, choose eel fry of about 80 fry per kilogram. If the eel fry specifications are too small, it will affect their feeding and weight gain, and they cannot be harvested in the same year. The stocked eel fry must be neat in specification and uniform in size. Be sure not to mix large and small ones in cultivation, to prevent them from eating each other. For stocking density, about 100 eel fry weighing 10 grams each can be stocked per square meter. Stocking eel fry in early spring gives better results, helping the ricefield eels start feeding earlier and extending the growth period.

3. Feeding of eel fry

The feed sources for ricefield eel fry are relatively wide, such as small fish and shrimp, earthworms, animal internal organs and scraps, snail meat, rice, melon peel, vegetable scraps, and so on. Feeding techniques should follow the "four fixed principles" of fixed time, fixed location, fixed quality, and fixed quantity. The daily amount of bait fed is about 6% of the ricefield eel's weight. When feeding, make appropriate adjustments according to the ricefield eels' feeding situation on the previous day, and it is appropriate to leave a slight surplus after feeding.

4. Daily management

① Water quality regulation: from eel fry to eel seedlings, as individuals grow larger, new water needs to be added and changed every few days, gradually increasing until the water depth reaches 13-16 cm. In hot weather, it is also necessary to often add new water as appropriate. Note that the eel fry pond should not be filled with water all at once, but rather in stages.

② Adjusting water temperature: usually the water depth of the eel fry pond should be kept at 5-7 cm, and in the hot midsummer season the water depth should be increased to 10-20 cm. During high summer temperatures, a shed can be built beside the eel fry pond to plant melons and vegetables for shade, so that the pond water temperature is kept at 25-30 degrees C, which is suitable.

③ Scientific pond inspection: inspect the pond in the morning, at noon, and in the evening every day, observe the activity and growth of the eel fry, and promptly remove residual bait and pollutants from the pond. In addition, pay attention to weeding and do a good job in preventing and treating eel diseases.

④ Timely separation for rearing: in order to ensure that the eel fry grow rapidly and avoid self-cannibalism, they should be separated for rearing twice during the fry stage. Generally, the first separation for rearing is after about 15 days of rearing, reducing the density to 150-200 fry/m². After 30 days of rearing, the second separation for rearing reduces the density to 100-120 fry/m².

It is reported that many farmers fail in ricefield eel farming due to low survival rates caused by not understanding seed-purchasing techniques, resulting in serious losses. Therefore, every link in purchasing ricefield eel seedlings must be strictly controlled, and after selecting good seedlings, the follow-up can simply follow the traditional farming process.

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