Earlier, we had produced a video on a water park around the house, and explained how we can set an aquarium on our own. That was five or six months back. The Tilapia fry, we had introduced into it then, grew in size and number. They could no longer be accommodated here. The expense on fish food became unsustainable too. There is an optimum point of growth in the life of any creature, beyond which it will not develop. Feeding it further becomes a waste of resources if we consider the commercial viability of the project. I’m not growing them on a commercial basis but feeding the full-grown fish had become an expensive exercise. So we caught and distributed them among the friends we met that day. With the fish tank now empty, we introduced pearl spot fry. Let us see how they fare in this environment.
Meanwhile we also did a few experiments and this video is to tell you about some of them. Firstly, we introduced mangroves in fresh water to see whether they will grow as abundantly as they usually do on lake sides and sea shores. They did well, and after they had grown a bit, we transferred them into special, designer trays with holes in them, and put them here. It is only two weeks since then. We hope they will thrive. The rest have shown a good rate of growth. When the plants grow and shed leaves, they will fall into the water. They are high in protein content and therefore good as fish food. After they dissolve in water, they become rich in vitamins. This means the fish will get nutritious food. That is the first benefit. The second is that some of the mangroves have been planted in mire. Fish like pearl spot make their nest in the mire and raise their fry. I don’t know whether they produce eggs or little fish. Nevertheless, pearl spot needs mire to grow their young. We have planted lotus bulbs too in the mire. So they are growing well too.
The other experiment is that we are raising a species of flowering plantain in this water. It is growing thick and fast. If a guest appears here without prior notice, we don’t have to go searching for plantain leaves. These are good enough to serve breakfast on. After they grow bigger, they can be used to serve lunch on too. We have planted five to eight such plants here, with this future benefit in mind. The other benefit is that they offer plenty of cover for the fish, especially the small fry. It is fun to watch the parent fish keeping watch over her brood, initially from the top and later from the bottom of the tank. Yet we cannot ignore the possibility of the fish of one species attacking and eating another. In order to prevent that, we have placed short culms of elephant bamboo upside down in the tank, after boring a few holes on its walls. The young fish can enter through the holes and seek safety from the bigger ones, inside these culms. Another thing we did was that we heated green bamboo stalks until they became totally dry, inserted them in the tank, filled them with mire and planted mangroves in them. The whole arrangement looks natural and it has a better aesthetic appeal. These are experiments that you can do on your own.
The most important part of the whole project is the harvesting of fish. In four months’ time we had nearly 200 fish in this tank. Personally speaking, I am not a great lover of fish but will eat fish curry if someone makes it for me. I don’t like to be involved in the preparation process. But those of you who like fish will be able to catch three or four on a daily basis all through the year. Please try out this model. The question this issue raises is: Won’t water seep into the foundation and destroy it? I suggest that you cement the tank well, and give it a fibre coating. I’ve spoken of this in an earlier video. It costs Rs 90 per sq. ft. Sometimes, they charge you up to Rs 120 per sq. ft. I had this fibre coating done a year back, and have not had any problem so far. As to whether water will seep into the house, all I can say is that there is such a risk with every water tank. There isn’t much damage that such a problem can do. You can grow lotus in tanks like this. If you are interested in gardening, you can have all types of aquatic plants. That can be a good pastime.
Another related query is about purification of tank water. I haven’t cleaned this water for the past six months. That is because we have made provisions for rain water to fall into it, and for excess water to overflow. It is only a week only since the rains stopped. Since Onam, we have had uninterrupted rain. So water has been falling in this tank and overflowing continuously. It was very pure and transparent. In these couple of days it has grown a bit cloudy. I plan to fix a filter, and shall show you how to do it in another video.
Therefore, if you are interested in fish farming, don’t hesitate. You need not have a fish tank designed to surround the house. Instead you can fix it in the front or elsewhere. It does not require much maintenance. Now that we are cooped in our houses due to Corona, and don’t know how long it will continue, having a fish tank in your compound can be a source of joy. It may lift your spirits. So I recommend that you try this out.