How to Rear and Sell Carp Fish for Higher Profits

Carp fish farming/rearing is a profitable and well-liked industry. In India, Bangladesh, Thailand, and other South Asian nations, commercial fish farming is particularly a lucrative business.

Fish farming is economically significant, and many people work full-time in this industry. Therefore, this field offers rural residents a good source for employment generation. These fishes are traditionally bred in clay ponds. Today, however, individuals are using very little room to cultivate these fish in aquariums.

These fish are excellent sources of protein and might be crucial to the overall dietary supply and are grown and available throughout the world, not only in Asia.

Recently carp fish demands have soared and are reasonably priced. Therefore, if you want to start this business, you don't need to worry too much about marketing your products as it already has an established marketplace.

How to Start Rearing of Carps?

Fish farming for carp is quick and easy, as demonstrated below. Follow these steps to start a successful carp-rearing business:

1. Select a Good Place

To start carp fish farming, you must first choose an excellent, peaceful, and secure location.

You can start this farming on your current agricultural land or acquire a new one. When choosing a location for this farming, take into account the following points.

• Choose a location that is quiet and noise-free.

• Everything you need for this farming should fit on the entire plot of land you choose.

• It will be best if you can stay away from polluted and flood-prone locations.

• A crop field is close by, but avoid choosing that area because farmers typically use a lot of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The water in your pond will become contaminated by these substances and pesticides.

What Type of Farm to Choose?

Choose the best strategy for starting your fish farming. Fishes can be raised in tanks, ponds, lakes, or cages. Additionally, you can also start either an extensive or intense fish production system.

2. Design and construction of ponds

If you wish to rear the fish in an earthen-styled pond it's important to construct the area. Get an expert's approval before building the pond according to a plan. To learn more about particular pond designs for specific fish species, you can also get in touch with your local fisheries institution.

3. Rearing Place

Fishes related to the carp family can be raised in ponds, lakes, cages, and tanks. They often thrive in tropical climates. The optimal temperature range of water for growth and rearing is between 25°C-30°C. Additionally, most species of carp fishes don’t have tolerance towards saline conditions.

4. Preparation of the Pond:

A good aquaculture technique depends on the fish pond being built, prepared, and maintained properly. There are several pond components, such as breeding ponds or spawning ponds, nursery ponds, rearing ponds, production ponds, and segregation ponds.

The other ponds are somewhat deep, but the nursery ponds are shallow. Water depths of two to three meters can be kept in bigger production ponds.

Making the pond free of weeds and predators is part of pond preparation. Another crucial aspect of pond preparation is the production of enough food to guarantee the survival and healthy growth of the fish. This process consists of the two steps of conditioning and maturing.

5. Choose Good/Best Fish Species

It is important to choose the correct fish species in order to maximize productivity and earnings. Choosing the species based on its availability in your location, as well as on-demand, cost, and other factors are very important. The most typical types of carp fish are; Rui, Catla, Mrigal, Common Carp, Grass Carp, Silver Carp, Black Carp, and Bighead Carp.

Carps' distinguishing characteristics

Carps stand out for the following qualities that make them ideal for culture:

• Eating low on the food chain.

• Accept contaminated water.

• Adapt both to acidic and alkaline water.

7. Culturing of the Fish

All of the following steps are involved in the culture of fish:

Spawning: Spawning may be caused intentionally or naturally. On the pond's vegetation, the brood fish naturally spawn. In the hatcheries, hormone injections are used to force the brood fish to reproduce.

Pre-larval phase: During this time, the freshly hatched fish emerges from the eggs. As they swim up during the larval stage, the fish is now referred to as hanging fish. Rotifers are the primary food source for these fish.

Phase of nursing: Ponds and tanks made specifically for this purpose can both be used to nurse carps. Tanks are the greatest solution if there are lots of predators around the pond. Rotifers and Paramecium must be present in large concentrations in the tanks or ponds. When the nursing fish reaches adulthood, they are known as fingerlings. In addition to natural meals, fingerlings must be fed artificial proteins.

Breeding: Most carp fishes won't reproduce on your farm. For breeding, artificial conditions are required. But don't stress about this, fish breeding hatcheries usually work on this. All you need to do is buy the fingerlings from them.

8. Feeding and Care

The most crucial aspect of the commercial breeding of carp fish is feeding the fish, which should be of extremely high quality and nutritional value. Several businesses sell ready-made fish meals in the market nowadays. Such commercial foods can be used to promote the growth of fish.

However, you can also give the fish homemade pellets to feed on. You can make the pellets, with readily accessible ingredients including maize, canola meal, alfalfa meal, linseed meal, rice bran, oat groats, and certain vegetables.

For the fish to grow properly, adequate care is necessary. As a result, constantly make an effort to provide them with proper nutritious food. Maintain the water's purity and monitor their health regularly.

The productivity of the fish culture pond is mostly influenced by the quality of the feed and water. The quantity of fish produced is also determined by the quality of the seed, stocking levels, and other management practices. Hardness, alkalinity, turbidity, pH between 6.5 and 9.0, dissolved oxygen, plankton culture, and other factors are all regulated in order to maintain water quality.

8. Harvesting

Carps are often raised in ponds with lengthy harvesting canals that are both drainable and non-drainable. During harvest, the must be carefully emptied. A tiny amount of water is pumped into the pond close to the drainage location to concentrate the fish since carp have a tendency to swim toward incoming water. Aeration should be provided when a significant number of fish is concentrated in the harvesting pits. Drag nets are then used to harvest the fish.

Reaching the harvesting size might take between six months or a year. When the fish reaches your preferred size, for example, 800 grams to 1 kilogram, you can start harvesting. You can harvest the fish using nets or any other harvesting technique.

9. Handling, Processing and Marketing

The fish are pre-conditioned by repeated stressing before netting if harvesting is done in warm water. Fish can be transported live for three to five hours in ventilated tanks. Fish size, temperature, and aeration level affect the density of fish in transport tanks and the length of the trip. Most carps are delivered live to marketplaces where they are either sold alive or freshly dressed.

Fish species like carp are relatively easy to market. The majority of carp fish species are in high demand and have high market values. As a result, you don't need to worry too much about product promotion. Just focus on increasing the yield.