Ornamental fish farmers in Danyang, Jiangsu, China celebrate a colorful harvest season

We often see on TV professional fish farmers hauling in net after net of heavy crucian carp, black carp, and catfish... That scene is thrilling, and today our reporter will also take you to watch a fish harvest, but I believe you have never seen a scene like this one.

This morning, at a fish pond in Maling Village, Danyang Development Zone, Jiangsu, China, the fishing masters were slowly drawing in the nets they had set. The pond looked very calm at this point, making it impossible to sense that there were fish in the nets. Could this year's harvest be poor? Just as the reporter was wondering, a surprise appeared: as the masters gathered the nets on both sides toward the pond bank, koi of all kinds and bright colors gradually floated to the surface, splashing and leaping. After preliminary sorting and cleaning, the masters transferred the heavy schools of ornamental fish from the large pond into their “small private rooms.”

Ornamental fish farming

Farmer Wu Liguang told the reporter that he has been engaged in the farming and sale of ornamental fish for more than thirty years. This year he contracted 7 fish ponds with a total surface area of ten mu for ornamental fish farming. What was just harvested was only a portion of the fish in the ponds, because ornamental fish harvesting is not a matter of catching them all in one net; rather, however much a buyer has ordered, that is how much is caught in appropriate amounts. This batch of fish just caught was urgently requested two days ago by a customer from Jiangyin. Although they had already been caught, Wu Liguang did not ask the buyer to come pick them up immediately.

With his rich farming experience, Wu Liguang has indeed had a bumper harvest this year. The output of colored crucian carp is around 20 million fry, and that of koi and goldfish is around 8 million fry, with both output and quality better than in previous years. Wu Liguang told the reporter that since August, customers have been coming to him in an endless stream to make purchases, and now the vast majority of the ornamental fish have already been sold.

Next year, Wu Liguang will increase fish farming density through bottom aeration. By then, a single fish pond will be able to produce 10 million fry. We here also hope Old Wu will achieve great success and have fish every year.