Detailed Explanation of the Key Technical Points for Domesticating Wild Swamp Eel (Monopterus albus) Fry and Fingerlings

When wild swamp eel fry are used for artificial culture, at small scale and low density, feeding fresh live baits such as earthworms, small trash fish, freshwater mussels, snails and insects allows the swamp eel to quickly form feeding habits. However, in large-scale (over 1000 sq m) and high-density (stocking rate above 1 kg/sq m) culture, feeding these types of bait has obvious drawbacks, such as difficulty in ensuring a stable long-term supply of bait and a high feed conversion ratio. Therefore, large-scale artificial culture of swamp eel must involve artificial domestication to make them feed on artificial compound feed. At present, special feed for swamp eel production already exists in China, with advantages such as a high feeding rate, fast weight gain and a low feed conversion ratio. The specific domestication procedure is as follows:

Domestication Methods

Select fresh mussel meat, and after freezing treatment, process it into minced meat with a meat grinder using a 6-7 mm die plate. Mix the minced meat with clean water, then splash it evenly over the pond. Feed once a day between 5 and 7 p.m., with the feeding amount controlled within 1% of the total swamp eel biomass. This feeding amount is far below the satiation level of the swamp eel, so the swamp eel remains in a hungry state, which helps establish a conditioned reflex for concentrated feeding by the swamp eel population. After 3 days, once vigorous feeding is observed, switch to feeding at fixed points. Generally, set 4-6 points per 20 sq m and continue feeding for 2 more days, still at 1%; at this point the swamp eel can basically finish the feed within 3 minutes. On the 6th day, switch to artificial compound feed, feeding once a day between 5 and 7 p.m., scattering it directly into the fixed feeding areas, with a feeding amount of 2% of the fry's body weight and finishing within 15 minutes as the criterion, in order to improve feed utilization.

Preparation of Artificial Compound Feed for Swamp Eel

The special feed produced by feed mills cannot be fed directly; it must first be prepared by mixing 65% special swamp eel feed with 35% fresh river mussel meat slurry (processed with a 3-4 mm meat grinder) and an appropriate amount of Wanlong No. 5 (a digestion-promoting agent for swamp eel), thoroughly mixing by hand or with a mixer into a dough-like consistency, then pressing it with a 3-4 mm die plate meat grinder into soft strip-shaped bait 3-4 mm in diameter and 3-4 mm in length, and it can be fed after slight air-drying. The feeding effect of feed prepared in this way is extremely ideal. In large-scale culture with soil, the feed conversion ratio is 3; in soil-free flowing-water industrial culture, the feed conversion ratio can drop to 2-2.5.