Magur fish farming require patience. Furthermore, there is specific management strategies that will be required of those who enter into the magur fish farming venture. While magur fish has the ability to survive in water with low levels of dissolved oxygen, careful management of the fish are required to allow them to gain weight.
Beyond focusing on the number of fish that is harvested from each pond, the grower must also manage the growth of the fish. Magur fish grow from the egg stage to the market size stage, and each stage of their growth influence the following stage of growth. The eggs will take one day to hatch if the temperature in the pond is correct, and the fish larvae rely upon there yolk sacs for the first week of their lives.
How to Grow Magur Fish from Egg to Market
However, after the larvae begin to eat live zooplankton, they begin to gain growth. During the fingerling stage, the young fish begin to hunt for food, during which the grower must make a decision regarding the stocking density of the pond; either the grower can maintain the stocking density, or the grower can thin the pond. After this initial stage, the focus shifts to weight gain of the fish, and the final month of growth will determine whether the fish weigh towards the lighter or heavier end of the expected weight of a market sized magur fish.
The method of culture for growing magur fish will change the timeline of growth, but it will not change the biology of the fish. If earthen pond are used, they have the solid results required of small fish farmers, mainly due to the food web in earthen ponds that supplements the diet of magur fish that is composed of pellets. If using concrete tanks or cages for culture, more control can be exerted over the water quality, and greater control over water quality leads to faster growth of magur fish during their early life stage.
Finally, if using biofloc systems to culture the fish, the systems will allow for an increase in the numbers of magur fish because the waste from the fish will provide additional protein for the fish, though requiring more dailyly attention from the farmers who culture the fish. Within each system, the stocking density can never be increased without also increasing the management of stocking density; stocking more magur fish into the pond without improving aeration and monitoring will lead to a decrease in the survival of those fish. Additionally, feeding methods will change the growth of the magur fish, but they will not change the biology of the fish.
The larvae will require live feed to be provided several times each day, as their digestive system are still developing. However, once the magur fish reach the juvenile stage, high protein pellets will be required for their diet, and the amount of pellets provided daily will need to match the total amount of biomass of the fish that are living within the pond. As the magur fish grow larger, the percentage of their body weight that they consumes decreases.
Thus, the feed conversion ratio improve for the middle months of the farming period. The growth of the magur fish slows down if either the temperature of the water drop or if the dissolved oxygen levels in the water become too low for the fish during nighttime hours. The water parameters is important for the magur fish, and they directly impact the amount of food that the fish consume.
If the pH of the water is outside of the ideal parameter for the fish, it can fall as a result of rain, and the magur fish will stop eating for several day. The ammonia levels should be near zero in the water, as any ammonia will slow the growth of the fish. The fish can gulp at the air in the water if the oxygen levels is low in the water.
While this provides a safety margin in regard to the oxygen levels, it may also mask any problems with the dissolved oxygen for the water. The light cycle for the tanks should be maintained to the natural cycle of daylight to maintain the feeding of the magur fish. There is a pattern to the types of disease that often affect the magur fish.
If the water temperatures fluctuate or if there are too many fish in the pond, there is an increased chance of the development of diseases in the pond. These diseases typically present with a reduced eating appetite or red patches on the skin of the fish. These can be treated before the development of ulcers on the fish.
These early signs of illness are easy to miss if not busy with other aspect of the fish farm. The best strategy to avoid the development of diseases in the pond is to use preventative strategies, such as maintaining proper water quality and regularly grading the size of the fish. If the fast-growing fish are separated from the slow-growing fish, there will be less competition for the food in the pond, and there will also be less chance of the spreading of the disease from one fish to another in the pond.
The yield of the fish is based off how well the decision made at the earlier stages of the farming of the fish are executed. The farmer who chooses to grade the fish each month will ultimately get a higher yield of magur fish at the end of the farming period than the farmer who does not grade the fish during the growing period. While the fish do not change, the management of the fish does change based on the management decisions made by the farmer.
Therefore, the farmer must pay attention to each of the different stage of the farming period, whether those be the early weeks of the fish pond or the last phase of growth. By following each of the rules regarding the feeding and the water parameters of the pond, the farmer can easily manage the growth of the magur fish from fingerling to final harvest.
