Red-tailed dolphins sell for half a million dong/kg

The red-tailed dolphin, scientifically known as Botia modesta bleeker, is a typical freshwater fish in the tropics. The fish has a small size of 3 - 5cm/fish, shiny green smooth skin, red orange tail. This fish is found in the Mekong basin of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

Red-tailed dolphins were previously caught in the wild, especially during the annual flood season in An Giang. In recent years, taking advantage of the water surface area, many farmers build cages on the river to raise red-tailed dolphins. This model is bringing high and stable income.

About Hoa Lac commune, Phu Tan district, An Giang province, inquired about the fish raft area of the red-tailed dolphin farming group of 3 brothers, Ho Van Many, Ho Ngoc Em, and Ho Quoc So no one is unknown.

Mr. Ho Van Many from Hoa Binh 3 hamlet is considered as the pioneer to bring red-tailed dolphins to develop in An Giang. The farming method he chose was to build a floating raft on the river to raise fish, taking advantage of natural water sources for fish to grow. With the initial quantity of 800kg of fingerlings, after 7 months of rearing, the fish reached a weight of 40 fish/kg. The number of fish in the raft from here also increased to 1 ton.

 “After deducting all expenses, I pocketed nearly 200 million VND. Here, I continue to build more fish rafts and share my experiences as well as replicate the model for family members,” said Mr. Many.

Mr. Ho Ngoc Em's fish raft, a member of his family In the past few seasons, he also stocked 700kg of fingerlings, after 9 months of farming, his family won 2.2 tons of commercial fish, after deducting costs and profits. over 300 million.

Realizing the good profit from the red-tailed dolphin farming model, Mr. Loi, Mr. Em and many other family members are determined to invest and develop this aquatic species. To date, a total of 12 red-tailed dolphin rafts have been built.

Sharing about the stocking density to achieve high efficiency, Mr. Many added: “Fish are reared in two types of rafts, large rafts (4 x 6m) stocked with 1 ton of fingerlings and harvested over 2 tons. commercial fish. With small rafts (3 x 5m) stocking 300-500 kg of fingerlings, by the time of harvest, the yield is over 1 ton of commercial fish.

The biggest difficulty when stocking red-tailed dolphins, as pointed out by Mr. Many, lies in the selection of seed and techniques to treat fungal diseases on fish. Besides, rearing fish is a process, it is necessary to understand the techniques and habits of fish to avoid loss. The fingerlings brought back will be raised in nets for about 4 months, then transferred to rafts, the whole process takes 5-7 months to harvest.

Ho Ngoc Em said, entering this July, the price of red-tailed dolphins of 25-30 pieces/kg was purchased by traders at a price of up to 450,000 VND/kg. The type of 15-20 fish/kg also has a high price at the threshold of 500,000 VND/kg. This price helps many farmers to develop their economy from red-tailed dolphins, making them more determined to replicate this farming object.

The success of this project has helped the aquaculture industry to actively breed red-tailed dolphins, reducing its dependence on nature as before. The project, after acceptance and completion of the process, was transferred to An Giang and Dong Thap Aquaculture Seed Centers and farmers for production.

Source: Kim Anh - nongnghiepviet.vn