A farmer in Gongcheng ecologically breeds giant salamanders, reaching a leading level in Guangxi
The breeding giant salamanders raised by Chen Niangui are quite hefty.
Giant salamanders are hard to raise, and artificial breeding is also difficult; for ordinary people it is a tough job. However, in Jiaoshanyuan Village, Guanyin Township, Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County, the giant salamanders ecologically bred by villager Chen Niangui were evaluated by Guilin giant salamander breeding experts as "raised to a leading level in Guangxi." A few days ago, the reporter came to his breeding farm to find out.
Chen Niangui's breeding farm is located at the foot of the mountains behind the village. The mountain is covered with green trees and has gurgling streams, and a thick water pipe leads the mountain spring water into the farm. The farm of more than 400 sq m has more than 20 pools, each 4 to 5 sq m. Chen Niangui, in his 40s, bent down and gently moved aside the stone slab on a pool, revealing a giant salamander as thick as a human thigh lying motionless at the bottom of the water. "Giant salamanders are cave-dwelling animals; they usually hide in their 'rooms' under the stone slabs sleeping, and the biggest one weighs more than 40 jin!" Chen Niangui said.
Chen Niangui told the reporter that giant salamander breeding has high requirements: there must be a year-round continuous flow of water, the altitude must not be lower than 1000 m, and the water temperature must also be maintained at 22°C to 24°C. Jiaoshanyuan Village meets these conditions and is a very ideal place for giant salamander breeding.
In fact, around 2003 Chen Niangui had tried raising a pair of giant salamanders at home, but at that time he was in the timber business and did not focus on breeding giant salamanders. It was not until 2008, when a friend who ran a restaurant in Guilin visited his home and saw that the village had clear mountains and waters and conditions very suitable for raising giant salamanders, that he encouraged him to carry out small-scale ecological breeding, saying "there will definitely be great prospects."
Chen Niangui went to the market specifically to conduct a survey for more than a year. From 2010 to 2011, he "borrowed some money" from relatives and friends, successively went to Hunan, Hubei and other places to investigate, and spent over a million yuan to buy more than 50 pairs of breeding giant salamanders, formally devoting himself to the giant salamander breeding business.
In 2012, Chen Niangui's giant salamanders successfully laid eggs. But when it came to hatching, he was stunned: only a pitiful 100 or so hatched.
Chen Niangui began to feel anxious and even somewhat panicked. In the past, trial breeding did not matter, but now he had invested huge amounts of money; what if there was still no progress?
In his predicament, Chen Niangui thought of experts and technical guidance. To this end, he specially invited a professional company from Guangdong to guide the hatching, squatted in the breeding farm every day observing the living habits of the giant salamanders, consulted experts every day, including how long the giant salamander's estrus period lasts, how often to manually turn the eggs after spawning, how much to feed the small giant salamanders after hatching each time, how often to feed them, and so on. He recorded all the details one by one in a notebook, constantly summing up experience.
"For giant salamander breeding, pairing is the most critical." Chen Niangui said that through observation and exploration he found that giant salamanders with similar strength of temperament, because of similar feeding habits, pair up with the best results. At the same time, because giant salamanders are fairly aggressive, this kind of pairing can also prevent the weaker side from being attacked and injured by the stronger side. Grasping this key point, in 2013 Chen Niangui's giant salamander breeding made a breakthrough; that year the hatching rate reached 60%, and in 2015 it was as high as 90%, far higher than the 50%-60% hatching rate of ordinary ecological breeding; the survival rate was above 85%, and the total breeding number also reached 13,000.
"With a fertilized egg hatching rate above 90% and a number reaching tens of thousands, this level is undoubtedly leading in ecological breeding in the whole region," said Tang Chun, head of the Guilin Aquatic Technology Center Extension Station, who had twice visited Chen Niangui's breeding farm for research. According to his understanding, among giant salamander ecological breeding farms in the whole region, there are some with several thousand, but not many with tens of thousands. Tang Chun further told the reporter that giant salamander hatching involves pairing, spawning, water temperature control and various other technical links and management. Once hatched, because the water environment for growth is good, giant salamanders have fewer diseases and a relatively high survival rate, so the hatching rate is an important indicator reflecting the level of breeding.
The reporter saw in the fry breeding farm in Chen Niangui's village that in the dark breeding room large pools with constantly flowing water had been built, and tadpole-like black baby giant salamanders lay "sleeping" in red baskets in the pools, quietly growing.
The reporter learned that the giant salamander is known scientifically as the Chinese giant salamander, and is the largest and most precious amphibian existing in the world today; the wild giant salamander is a national second-class protected animal. According to regulations, only the second filial generation may be eaten and traded. The giant salamander has relatively high nutritional value and medicinal value, contains rich high-quality protein and trace elements, and is known as "ginseng in water," so it has always been very popular in the market.
"Our ecologically bred giant salamanders generally have to be raised for 3 years to reach about 3 kg before they are sold." Chen Niangui said that at present his giant salamanders sell for 140-150 yuan/kg, mainly to Nanning and the Guangdong area, and in recent years the annual income has reached more than 200,000 yuan. Having succeeded in breeding, Chen Niangui did not forget to lead the villagers to get rich together. Starting last year, he gave giant salamander fry free of charge to 6 villagers willing to breed them, and provided technical guidance. After the grown giant salamanders are sold, the two sides then share the proceeds according to a ratio.
"This year I plan to give away several thousand more fry to more than a dozen villagers to raise." Chen Niangui said with a smile that in this way he can both expand the scale and lead the villagers to get rich, so why not do it?