The Rui or Roho Labeo (Labeo Rohita) is a species of fish of the carp family. Generally, it is a South Asian fish found in freshwater or relatively low salt-water. It is a large, silver-colored are easily found in India, China, Bangladesh, Nepal Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and in some African countries.
Actually Rui fish farming business is the most important among the three other native major carp fishes used in the polyculture farming system in the Indian Sub-continent. The other two species are Catla and Mrigal respectively.
Rui Fish Farming
Rui fish is most popular among all the carp fish species for its great taste and high popularity which are the main reasons for its good market demand for all time. So, you can expect good profits from Rui fish farming business if you do it commercially. It’s farming process is almost same to carp fish farming.
As we know to accomplish anything there must have some necessary steps to have flowed, and here we discuss how to start Rui fish farming step by step.
Table of Contents
1. Site Selection
First of all, you need to find out a very good site or location to construct a pond for Rui fish farming business though you can start your Rui fish farming business if you already have ponds. But it should be suitable for Rui fish framing. If you don’t have any pond then you must flow the following necessary information to construct a pond.
First, you should select relatively level clearer empty land, ensure that there are no big trees around it and sloped lands should be avoided totally.
Second, it will be better if you can select a large piece of land but it would many small plots, where one can perform all types of necessary farm activities.
Third, you should avoid flooding, polluted, and congested areas because flooding areas can harm your business seriously. Polluted and congested areas will hamper to grow up the fish.
Fourth, don’t select fish farming land near the crop fields and poultry farm even dairy farm.
Fifth, it will be better, if your selected land becomes slightly lower than the main water source but the bank of the pond should be higher than the usual plane land.
Finally, there should be a good transportation system and infrastructural development, such as electricity supply, which is available in your selected area.
2. Pond Design and Construction
After selecting your respective site for the pond you need to construct a suitable pond as per your design. Before design the pond you have to ensure the facilities from the site or area like getting water properly and sufficient when it is needed, getting sun-shine properly because sun-shine is important to produce fish, without proper sun-shine it impossible to grow-up fish in time.
The design of a pond depends on the fish species you intend to raise and the location. So if you don’t have enough knowledge you can consult with your nearest fisheries institute to learn more about specific pond design for specific fish species.
You can use manual labor. But you can use mechanical power also to construct faster your pond. First, we recommend starting Rui fish farming in a one-acre area pond, though you can stock fish in any other sized ponds if you already have one.
Always try to maintain a good environment in the pond. A good environment helps to live and grow the fish well, and it directly involved with better production and maximum profits.
3. Filling and Pond Preparation
After pond construction perfectly you need to prepare the pond by drying for some days in the sun and use calcium oxide then leave for several days. You can also use both organic and inorganic fertilizer which will sterile the pond and start natural food production and greener the pond after filling with water. Before stocking fish into it you must be ensured that there is enough natural food for fish primarily created in the pond.
4. Seed Collection
Every problem has in it the seeds of its own solution. If you don’t have any problems, you don’t get any seeds.- Dr. Norman Vincent Peale. So the success of any difficulties depends on the best way of solution and here the solution is seeds that you need to get better output from your farm. So, always try to collect the best seeds from trusted sources. There may many breeding centers or hatcheries available that provide Rui fish seed around you.
You should collect the seeds from any of your nearest hatcheries easily but never compromise with qualities for. If you don’t have any idea then you can communicate your nearest agriculture extension office or any fisheries institute to get more information about available Rui fish breeding hatcheries in your area.
5. Fingerlings Rearing
Rearing the fingerlings is an important fact for Rui fish farming. You can stock up to 0.2 million fries per acre for rearing the fingerlings. The fries are raised in the nursery pond until they reach about 10 grams of body weight. When the fry has developed scales, working fins, and grow up to 10-15 cm size, the conversion to a juvenile fish is complete and it is called a fingerling.
Fingerlings are generally about the size of fingers and it is the proper size for stocking them to the main growing pond.
6. Stocking in the Growing Pond
Stock the fingerlings in the growing pond when they are weighing up to 10 grams. You can stock a total of up to 30,000 fish in a one-acre pond.
It is known that Rui takes food from the middle stage, Catla takes food from the upper stage and mrigal takes food from the lower stage of the pond.
So to use the feed properly these three types of fish cultivation can run at the same time. The perfect ratio of Rui, Catla, and Mrigal can be 3:3:4.
7. Feeding
Rui fish is an omnivore with specific food preferences at different life stages. During the early stages of its lifecycle, it eats mainly zooplankton which is created naturally in the pond by the pond greening process, but as it grows, it eats more and more, as a juvenile or adult is a herbivorous column feeder, eating mainly phytoplankton and submerged vegetation. But for commercial business purposes, you need to feed Rui fish properly and adequately.
Providing adequate feeds are very important for commercial Rui fish farming business. You need to provide subsidiary fish feeds along with natural feeds to get better output from fish-farm. You can also use ready-made commercial fish feeds which are available and thought as better for Rui fish and may others.
The amount of feeds depends on the number of fish stocked in the pond to be given per day. Generally Rui fish grows very well if you feed them with about 6% food daily of their total body weight, but never provide the fish with all feeds at a time rather feed them several times in a day.
8. Harvesting
Rui generally reaches maturity between two and five years of age. But as a commercial fish farming, you can harvest it in around one year. Though Rui fish grows pretty faster, by providing proper feed you can get good growth of fish within one year also.
At the end of one year, a Rui fish reaches around 1 Kg by body weight which is your desired size for marketing. But if there is high market demand you can harvest it early or slightly late.
9. Marketing
Harvesting and marketing both are related closely. You can’t wait for a long time after harvesting, You have to send the fishes to the market immediately after harvesting as customer prefer fress fish. Rui fish is very tasty and nutritious, and it has very good demand in the market also. So, it is used on many occasions. Rui fish curry and fry both are very popular for all ages of people.
These are the most common steps for commercial Rui fish farming business. So, are you ready for Rui fish farming business? Let’s start…
