How much does a "sea chicken" grouper fry cost now per fish? How are they bred?

Grouper is divided into marine grouper and freshwater grouper. Its flesh is plump, tender and nutritious. Live fish are shipped and sold to the Hong Kong, China and Macao, China markets, and it is regarded as a premium food fish and one of China's four famous fish, in short supply. Grouper is expensive, and its economic value, nutritional value and dietary therapy value are all very high. So, how much does a grouper fry cost per fish now? How are they bred?

In 2017, grouper farming performed notably well in various places, especially in Zhanjiang and other places as emerging markets, as well as in the Fujian market, where farming was quite good, and many farmers made a fortune. It is predicted that shrimp farmers in many areas plan to switch entirely to grouper farming, but it is easier said than done. Grouper is not a species that can be farmed just because one wants to farm it; the high farming costs will deter some farmers, and the cost of seed stock alone is hard to accept.

Current fry price situation: in the off-season for stocking, hatching success rates are low, and fry prices remain high

Now is not yet the peak period for stocking. Because the weather is unstable and temperatures are on the low side, it is not a suitable time for stocking, yet fry prices remain high. What is the reason? First, affected by last year's grouper prices, many fish farmers made money, and enthusiasm for farming grouper increased greatly this year; second, some hatcheries need to go to Hainan to buy fish eggs for hatching in preparation for the coming peak period, but from the end of last year to now the hatching success rate has been very low, and some hatcheries could not hatch even a single fry, causing a shortage of fry sources; third, at this stage on Hainan Island not many people are working on fry, and the price of fertilized eggs has reached 8000 yuan/kg, but due to the effect of low temperatures, the hatching rate is relatively low, and large companies have basically not started inducing spawning to avoid affecting quality.

Expert view: fry prices will rise during the peak period, but not by much

After a period of time, as temperatures rise, more and more people will stock fry. How will things look during the peak period?

Grouper farming expert Wan Chengwen believes that fry prices during the peak period are estimated to rise slightly. At present in Hainan, fry of about 6 sieve size cost more than 4 yuan each, and fry above 10cm cost 1 yuan/cm. This year the number of fish farmers farming grouper has increased greatly, which is bound to cause fry prices to rise. Especially in the Zhanjiang area, the current price of 7 to 9 cm fry is already 1.2 yuan per cm, and the fry cost has more than doubled compared with last year. Although grouper prices are expected to remain favorable in the past two years and will not drop much, the increase in fry costs will definitely greatly reduce the profits of grouper farming. Moreover, the current fry price is not the price at which everyone stocks; later prices may still rise, and costs will increase further. At present, because temperatures are relatively low, the hatching success rate of grouper fry is low, and after hatching the fry survival rate is also relatively low, so many nursery farms are unwilling to take the risk. Only after temperatures rise and the climate becomes fairly stable, when more people stock fry, will some large hatching companies carry out spawning induction and hatching.

This year enthusiasm for grouper farming has increased greatly, and ponds in many areas have been snapped up. At the beginning of the year, Hainan's fry and fish eggs were mainly sold to western Guangdong and Fujian. Now many nursery and hatching farms have been added along the coast of western Guangdong, and some have already made attempts, but the results were not ideal; some farms failed after bringing back several batches in succession. Judging by the current hatching level in the mainland, the probability of producing fry in large quantities is relatively small, and more operations focus on nursery rearing. Hainan Island has always had a relatively high early-stage farming success rate, but last year the situation was not ideal, and the survival rate of nursery rearing for fry below 9 sieve size was relatively low. This situation did not improve until June. It is estimated that Hainan will be affected by last year's situation, with fewer people stocking fry in the early period and stocking density also decreasing year on year, which will have some effect on buffering inland demand, so prices are estimated to have some possibility of rising, but the increase should not be large.

Fish farmers in western Guangdong should base fry selection mainly on large fry to reduce risk, and follow the principle of buying fry nearby

All the fertilized eggs for hatching are transported from Hainan, and the current price is about 8000 yuan/kg. Fry farms in western Guangdong mainly use three methods for hatching and nursery rearing.

The first: buy fertilized eggs directly from Hainan and hatch them in the farm's large pond; this method is fairly common;

The second: select good young fry from Hainan hatcheries, buy them, and rear them in nursery ponds;

The third: specially select poor fry from Hainan hatcheries to rear. Such fry are basically culled stock, generally mostly carrying iridovirus, and are handled at very low prices. Some farms have a gambling mentality: if handled with experience, a nursery survival rate above 20 percent means a sure profit. According to the person in charge of a farm in Donghai, once this kind of fry can be kept alive, the chance of disease later is very small.

No matter which method is used to keep the fry alive, the farming effect can only be judged during the rearing process. In any case, fry with strong activity are good fry. The stocking size should preferably be 10 cm, especially for beginners. If small fry are not managed properly, the survival rate is low, and if they become infected with iridovirus, the risk is even greater. Also pay special attention: beginners had best follow the principle of buying nearby to avoid failure to adapt to water and soil from long-distance transport, which reduces the fry survival rate.

At present, the price of freshwater grouper fry is about 0.3 to 0.8 yuan each, but prices vary greatly depending on fry size, variety, quality, market and purchase quantity. Newly hatched freshwater grouper larvae have a total length of 0.58 to 0.6 cm. After hatching at a water temperature of 26 to 28°C, the yolk sac disappears on the 6th day. After 1 month of rearing, the body length reaches about 10 cm and they can be stocked in ponds for grow-out. In the Taiwan region of China, during summer, fry with a body length of about 10 cm are stocked in ponds, and after 6 to 8 months of farming they can reach 500 grams, with a maximum body weight of up to 1200 grams.