How much does a "sea chicken" grouper fry cost now per fish? How do you breed the fry?
Grouper is divided into saltwater grouper and freshwater grouper. Its flesh is plump, tender and nutritious. Live fish are shipped and sold to the Hong Kong and Macao markets, where they are regarded as a premium food fish and one of China's four famous fish, in short supply. Grouper is expensive, with high economic, nutritional and dietary-therapy value. So, how much does a grouper fry cost per fish now? And how do you breed the fry?
In 2017, grouper farming performed notably well in various places, especially in the emerging markets around Zhanjiang and 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 deter some farmers, and the cost of fry is especially hard to accept.
Current fry price situation: in the off-season for stocking, hatching success rates are low, and fry prices remain high
This 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 to stock fry, yet fry prices remain high. Why? First, affected by last year's grouper prices, many fish farmers made money, and enthusiasm for farming grouper has increased greatly this year. Second, some hatcheries need to bring in fish eggs from Hainan for hatching to prepare 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 supply. Third, on Hainan Island at this stage not many people are working on fry, and the price of fertilized eggs has reached 8000 yuan/kg, but due to the impact of low temperatures, the hatching rate is relatively low, and large companies have basically not started inducing spawning, so as not to affect quality.
Expert view: fry prices will rise at the peak, but not by much
After a while, as temperatures rise, more and more people will stock fry. How will the peak period play out?
Grouper farming expert Wan Chengwen believes that fry prices will rise slightly at the peak. At present in Hainan, fry of about 6 mesh cost more than 4 yuan each, and fry over 10cm cost 1 yuan/cm. This year the number of fish farmers farming grouper has increased greatly, which is bound to drive fry prices up, especially in the Zhanjiang area, where the price of 7 to 9 cm fry is already 1.2 yuan per cm, and the fry cost has increased by more than double compared with last year. Although grouper prices are expected to look good 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 everyone pays when stocking; 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 survival rate of the fry is also relatively low, so many nursery farms are unwilling to take the risk. Only when temperatures rise and the climate becomes fairly stable, with more people stocking fry, will some large hatching companies carry out induced spawning 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 along the coast of western Guangdong many nursery and hatching farms have been added, and some have already made attempts, but the results have not been ideal. Some farms have brought back several batches in succession only to end in failure. Judging by the current hatching level in the mainland, the probability of producing fry in large quantities is relatively small, and most operations focus mainly on nursery rearing. Hainan Island has always had a relatively high early-stage farming success rate, but last year's situation was not ideal, and the nursery survival rate of fry below 9 mesh 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 will also decrease year on year, which will help buffer inland demand to some extent. Therefore, 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 buy fry according to the nearest-source principle
All the fertilized eggs for hatching are shipped over from Hainan, and the current price is about 8000 yuan/kg. Fry farms in western Guangdong mainly hatch and rear fry through three methods.
The first: buying fertilized eggs directly from Hainan and hatching them in the farm's large ponds. This method is fairly common.
The second: selecting good young fry from Hainan hatcheries and buying them to rear in nursery ponds.
The third: specifically selecting poor fry from Hainan hatcheries to rear. Such fry are basically culled stock, generally mostly carrying iridovirus, and are disposed of 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 such 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 note in particular that beginners had best follow the nearest-source principle to avoid the acclimation problems caused by 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 degrees 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, 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.