Catfish (keli) update

It's been a while since I updated this page. As usual, I choose to use "busy with work" as an excuse.

Well, about 3 weeks ago we load pond #4 with 50 000 catfish (keli). We choose catfish because the turnaround is much faster. It only require ~70days before you can sell them. The different between tilapia and catfish is the bigger the tilapia the better the grade but the bigger the catfish, the grade goes down. We started with 2" long fry. It was funny when feed them since the pallet is bigger than their mouth. So, they tend to gather around it and bite on it. Then I realised there's a few bigger size. They are not 3" or 4" but rather like 10" long. So they can be consider a monster to the little one. When I look at them carefully, the monster catfish actually prey and feed on the small one. So, there goes ~10 of the 2" fry into the monster catfish. We called up the Fish Department people and they said it's normal behaviour for catfish. A few of them will become "The King" and eat the little one. So, you actually need to catch "The King" and put them separately. Since the majority of the fish is small, we use "jala" to catch "The King" and we put them in the tilapia's pond. Actually, it's good to have a few variety of fish in the same pond since it can balance out enviroment. Not quite sure how to explain it but I know it's always good to have a variety... Just like people...

Gred A Tilapia for sale

We have ~7 tonne of gred A tilapia for sale. Location : Kota Tinggi Johor. Please call Mazmi : 012-3456 433 if you are interested.

Kami mempunyai 7 tan ikan talipia gred A sedia untuk dijual. Lokasi: Kota Tinggi Johor. Sila talipon Mazmi 012-3456 433 jika berminat.

My bro took good picture of the farm. http://wheyy666.fotopages.com/?entry=1267178

English vs Bahasa Melayu

I am wondering should I continue writing in English or start writing in Bahasa Melayu.....

Fish Farm Financial Analysis 1

A lot of people (including me!! ) start the fish farming without doing the financial analysis. Yea... it is nice to have a fish farm especially if its your passion. But again bussiness is bussiness. We are in this for the money right? Unless your are so wealthy and care more about passion than money, keep on reading. So, to give you rough estimate - lets start with what you need most. First - to build the ponds itself. Concrete, natural water reservoir, or build a pond? It's all depends on $. All have it's pro and con. Concrete can be the most expansive at the very beginning but it's good for long term and maintenance is very low. It's a good option if you have 50 years in your mind for the bussiness. I don't have a big start up capital - so I dig out dirt from the earth. It's cheaper. The risk - if it rain heavily - the dam can collapse and you risk losing the fish and the cost of repair etc etc. So, it could cost you more in long term but hey ... you choose. So, roughly it cost me RM320/day to hire JCV. To make the process faster, rather than using one - I used 2 JCV at one time. So that 1 can dig while the other move the dirt to create the dam. My latest 2 ponds took 5 days. So it cost ~ RM3200. Then there's natural water reservoir - how much does it cost to build it? FREE. It's naturally there...

Bussiness Opportunity in Abu Dhabi ?

I'm now in Abu Dhabi for work. Looking out of the window of the hotel - i see nothing but the desert. What did I think about? Hmm... can I build my fish pond here? Where do I get water from? Hmm.... can the fish withstand the hot weather? It's like 42deg out here during the day... Maybe if I go close to oasis it can be done. With loads of palm tree - it can be nice right... Let see if I can come up with something.

Welcome to Obsession with Tilapia Fish

Welcome ... or Selamat Datang (Malay) to Obsession with Tilapia Fish. The obsession started when my father start to build a pond and breed Tilapia. The pond was located in a valley with water supply from the stream that flows from the mountain. The farm was ~ 2 km from main road therefore there was no noise from cars/lorries/bike. The only thing that you can hear is the sound of birds and water flowing at the stream. I wake up at 7am (on weekends!!) just to go to the pond and feed the fish. I don't know if fish have ears or not but once they heard my fathers truck - they will all start to gather at the area where we feed them. The pond was big - 400ft by 100ft and we feed them right in the middle. So, you can see the fish start to swim towards you from all corner of the ponds and we have 10 000 of them in that pond !!!! I can spend hours feeding them. There was a couple of catfish in the pond and a lot of time you can see them as well. You can see their moustache (misai).

Well something about me - I'm and engineer by profession but when I grow up I want to be a farmer. I live in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia but my father's pond is in Johor. The pond bussiness actually stop after my father build the 2nd pond on mid 2006. He run out of capital to operate.... Back in March 2007 - after discussion between me and one of my sis - we decided to start again. So here we are with 4 ponds currently.

The purpose of this blog? I want to share the knowledge that I gain while starting up with the pond। After starting - I actually realise I don't have the knowledge thus started to find the info in bookshop, internet and getting advice from LKIM (Lembaga Kemajuan Ikan Malaysia - Fishieries Department of Malaysia). I made mistakes here and there ... but I learned from them. So again.... welcome to Obsession with Tilapia Fish !!!!