Catfish (Hito) Culture

There are two common varieties of catfish in the Philippines – one

that is our own native hito that thrives in rice fields and rivers,
sometimes in muddy places; and the other one brought over from
Thailand or Taiwan. Both kinds can be raised and grown
commercially. Within four months, hito can grow as big as a size
weighing 300-400 grams or three in a kilo. In Taiwan, they grow
hito as big as two kilos each.

Clarias batrachus is a black, slippery fish with moustache to aid it in

swimming. It is called catfish in English, hito in Ilocos, ito in
Pampanga, and pantatin in Pangasinan, Cebu and Iloilo. Catfish
are usually found in marshes, ricefields, swamps, streams, rivers,
lakes irrigation canals, or in any body or fresh water.

Catfish farming requires extremely heavy stocking (75 to 100

fingerlings per squire meter) and intensive feeding (90 per cent
protein). Hito fry supplies are few; thus, those who go into catfish raising depend on natural sources for fry. But with
proper planning and management, the hito farmers can produce his own supply of frees.

The size of the ponds depends on your available capital. The minimum size is 50 square meter (sq m) and should be
located in low and flat areas. Land where pesticides have been regularly used should be avoided. Choose a shady
area so that fish will have shade when the sun is intense and lumot or moss will grow easily. The area should also
have a good supply of water either from wells, spring or run-off ponds.
There are two ways to prepare your ponds. The dug-out excavated type is made by digging the soil of the desired
area at least one to one-and-a-half (1 1/2) meters (m) deep. The soil removed is used to build perimeter dikes 2 m
high from the base to the top. The inner sides of the ponds is made firm by pressing with a heavy log or board. This
will prevent the catfish from climbing or burrowing through the sides. A water pipe, 7.62 centimeters (cm) in diameter
should be installed in the middle of the ponds so water can run through it slowly. This aerates the pond water and
discourages the catfish from digging and stirring the pond bottom.
The dug-out concrete type also follows the same principle, except that the walling is made of 10 cm x 20 cm x 41 x
cm concrete hallow blocks. The bottom is covered with a 15 cm-thick layer of clay soil and planted with aquatic
plants like tapo grass, water lily, or kangkong to create the natural habitat for the fish.

Stocking rate. The extremely heavy stocking method produces a minimum poundage of fish per unit area. Catfish
farming produces 2 crops a year at an average rearing period of 5 to 6 months. It is best to stock in the late
afternoon or early morning when it is cool.
The stocking rate depends on size of fish and depth of water. (See figures below.)

Size of fish | #of Fish | stock/sqm surface | period (months)

o 3 to 4 cm | 60 pcs/kg | 80 to 100 | 5 to 6
o 5 to 6 cm | 50 pcs/kg | 60 to 80 | 4 to 5
o 7 to 10 cm | 30 pcs/kg | 40 to 60 | 3 to 4
Catfish are carnivorous so their feed is 90 per cent meat or other protein sources. These can be ground fresh trash
fish , worms, insects, slaughterhouse by-products, chicken entrails, dried or fresh water shrimp, fish of fall and by-
products of canning factories. The remaining 10 per cent is composed of boiled broken rice mixed with vegetables
or rice bran. To augment food supply, install strong light over pond to attract insects.

Feed the catfish twice a day. To avoid waste, give the feeds slowly, by handful, until the fish stop eating. Daily feed
ration is 6-7 per cent of the fish stock’s body weight. If the fish remains small after giving them the necessary feed,
provide them with 30 kilograms of farmyard manure. Add 5 to 10 per cent carbohydrates in the feed to enhance the
stock growth rate. Trash feed should be fresh to maintain the nutritive value. Never overfeed since the excess would
only pollute the water causing death or stunted growth.
Mating and spawning. Female catfish ready to spawn or to produce offspring builds its nest of debris or roots of
aquatic plants like water hyacinths, kangkong, or filamentous algae. It spawns in shallow water, 30 cm to 60 cm
deep.
Males and females ready to make frequent the nest area. Courting starts by chasing each other, darting sideways,
pressing their abdominal regions together. This constantly movement is repeated several times until the females
releases the eggs and male milt or sperms is simultaneously ejaculated. Fertilizer takes place at 27° to 30°C water
temperature.

The number of eggs laid range from a few hundreds to several thousands.

Never scrimp on feeds especially during this period, remember that catfish are cannibalistic and quarrelsome. If the
parent fish are very hungry, they may gobble up the young as quickly as any other food that come their way.

One drawback that discourages people from catfish farming is the lack of fingerlings. The following process will
assure you a continuous supply of fingerlings.

There two methods effecting spawning by hormone injection. Both methods use the most gravid or pregnant
females and healthy. mature males, each weighing at least 200 grams (g).

The body of the pregnant hito is distended prominently, the genital part pinkies, and the blood vessels on its belly
prominent. Breeders should be conditioned first in the concrete or semi-concrete tanks/vats 2 to 5 months before
they are injected with hormone.

The natural method entails injecting hormones to gravid females and male catfish through their coal regions or
bases located on the posterior side of the pelvic fin. Use commercial hormone preparation like gonadotropin or
synahorin. If these preparations are not available, use fresh of fish. Each female hito should be receive 200 to 250
IU (international units) of gonadotropin, while each male, 50 IU. Wrap fish in a small net so they will not struggle
during injection. After injection, put the male and female together in an oxygenated tank provided with an improvised
fish nest made of cabo negro(blank palm fibers).

The stripping method requires several male catfish milters to be killed. Use forceps to remove their testes which is
pinkish yellow and soak in Ringer’s solution. Extract sperm by macerating the testes in the distilled water. Use
sperm to fertilize breeder’s eggs. Inject hormone (mentioned earlier) into the gravidbreeder’s body. Inject at the side
of the fish’s body, a little above lateral line, with this dosage: gonadotropin = 750 to 1,500 IU; synahorin = 1,000 to
1,500 IU. After 12 hours, squeeze the breeder’s abdomen to force the eggs out. A 250-gram breeder produces
8,000 to 15,000 eggs. Mix eggs with sperm and stir for a minute. Spread eggs thinly over hatching troughs which
are immersed in running water with a temperature of 26° to 36°C. Eggs hatch 24 to 36 hours later.

Transfer the hatch larvae in basins half-filled with water. The young fish will absorb all the egg yolk in 5 days. After
this period, they will begin to swim active and take food.

You can rear 15,000 to 20,000 frys in a space of 1 x 3 x 6 m. Minute organisms are the best food for the fry at the
early stage. Twenty thousand (20,000) fry needs 20,000 liters (1) of zooplankton every morning plus a kilo of fish
flesh and 250 g of peanut cake in the afternoon. After one week, fry should have grown to 1.5-4.3 cm long.

Pond-raised catfish are usually attacked by bacterial diseases. Aeromonas spp. is characterized by distended
abdomen filled with opaque or bloody fluid, red spots on the body, stomach filled with yellow mucus, swollen
kidneys, eroded fins, inflamed mouth, pale or green liver and excess secret of mucus. When catfish lose their
equilibrium, are pale, their abdominal area tight with a distended anterior, and their peritoneal cavity filled with
bloody excretion , they are suffering from pseudomonas spp. The usual sources are diseased fishes and frogs.
Therefore, preventive measure must be taken during transporting and before stocking the fish. One method is to
add penicillin and streptomycin to the water at the rate of 10 to 50 milligrams of per liter.\\
Mud Crab (Alimango) Culture in Pond
Among the larger species of crabs that are known to be of
commercial value in the Philippines are the Neptunus pelagicus
(alimasag) and the Scylla serrata . Both belong to the swimming
crab family Portunidae, but the latter has been an incident product
of brackish water fishpond.

Occasionally, juveniles are collected in tidal flats and marshes and

stocked in fishponds, but usually at their own accord. The recent
years, over fishing, of Scylla serrata has threatened the fishery,
industry so possibility of culturing them in ponds was given
attention.

Biology of Mud Crab

Mudcrab is a swamp crab that spawns in the sea but the larvae are
carried by tide along the seashore. Juveniles migrate to the tidal
flats and marshy lands along rivers. It becomes sexually mature in
the first year of its life after the female undergoes the precopulatory molt which cannot be readily distinguished from
ordinary molting. At this stage the abdomen of the female changes from its triangular shape into broad rounded
form.

Mudcrab spawns throughout the year with a peak season for about four months staring from the last week of to the
third week of September. As early as April, the stage precopulatory molt which cannot be readily distinguished from
ordinary molting. At this stage the abdomen of the female changes from triangular shape into broad rounded form.

During spawning season, the fertilized eggs get out of the ovary and attached to the pleopods where they hatch
within a few weeks. The eggs hatched into a planktonic zoea. After passing through several zoea stages and a
single megalopa stage within about a month, the larvae metamorphose to benthic juvenile crabs that are found
crawling in the shallow areas.

The mudcrab is a voracious feeder. It crawls on the pond or seabed searching food or may also be seen swimming
on the surface hunting for food. They feed on natural food, such as: algae, decaying animals, crustacean, or
decaying matter.

Suitable Crab Farm Site

Mudcrab prefers brackish water ponds with no less than one meter depth of water. It is the usual practice of
fishpond operators to stock mudcrab juveniles in newly constructed or partially developed fishponds, although they
are also cultivated in developed ones. In fully developed fishponds, some operators placed hollow-blocks along the
dikes to prevent the crab from burrowing along the dikes thus causing leakages. These blocks serve as refuge or
hideouts when not actively feeding.

Generally, the most suitable places for mudcrab culture are underdeveloped fishponds with numerous high mounts
and submerged region which the animal can take shelter.

Culture Method
The culture of mudcrab in the Philippines is only incidental to bangus culture, except in not fully developed
fishponds. Young crabs or juvenile stages are allowed to enter in the pond during high tide when water is admitted
to the fishpond. In some cases, seeds are purchased from fry collectors or fishermen with size ranging from 2 to 7
cm along the length of the carapace.

They are caught by scissors nets (sakag) along the sandy shores. Young crabs when purchased have no pinchers
as they are removed for ease of handling and to prevent them from fighting or hunting each other during transport.
This is no problem, whatsoever, because they have ability of regeneration and other pair of pinchers will grow within
three weeks after stocking in the ponds.
Pond Management
As previously mentioned, mudcrab are usually cultured along with bangus, the pond management employed is
primarily for milkfish. In developed fishponds, where alimango is solely cultured not much preparation on growing
the natural food is done but water freshening is made during high tide.

In ponds, alimango aside from feeding on the natural foods can be given artificial feeds like trash fish, kitchen
refuse, by products of slaughters houses and other feeds of animal origin.

Harvesting
Alimango reared in ponds, if properly fed can reach marketable size in six months. Alimango are usually harvested
using different kinds of traps like “bintol” or liftnets baited with meat or small fish or shrimp or by bare hands. Only
the big ones are harvested and the smaller ones are set free in the ponds to attain bigger sizes.

Shrimp/ Prawn Culture

This new technology on shrimp farming in
brackishwater ponds incorporates pollution
management which constitutes 9% of annual
shrimp production cost per ha of the farmer.
Pollution management is worth the cost
considering that a shrimp farmer could lose it all
during a disease outbreak.
Environment-friendly practices include:
(1) Lowered stocking density – this may decrease
harvest volume by 20-30% but the harvest value
could increase by 8-10% due to bigger size and
improved feed conversion. Feeding and nutrient loading is reduced by 20%, and the risk
of opportunistic diseases is reduced as well.
(2) Improvement of pond bottom management – this may increase plowing or tilling cost, add
netcage construction to the expense but these costs could be recovered from the sale of
added fish crop. Bacterial profile of sediment is improved, however, as well as water
effluent quality. The pathogenic Vibrio count is reduced.
(3) Crop rotation – one shrimp crop may be lost but there is some income from fish culture.
Crop rotation improves sediment bacterial profile, reduces Vibrio count, reduces incidence
of white spot, and ultimately allow time for organic waste to break down.
(4) Improvement in feed quality – SEAFDEC/AQD has formulated a diet much improved in
nutritional quality and lower nitrogen and phosphorus discharges. Farmers may also use
probiotics.
(5) Stocking of laboratory-screened fry – there is a cost to fry analysis and screening and
waiting time for the results, but the farmer is reducing the risks for white spot and
pathogenic Vibrio infections.
(6) Use of greenwater technology – culture area maybe reduced by 25-50% due to the
requirement for bigger reservoir but cost can be recovered from the sale of fishes raised in
the reservoir. There is also added expense for modifying the water supply channel. The
advantage is more stable water quality, and suppression of growth of pathogenic Vibrio.
(7) Use of probiotics in water and feed – this can add a cost of P20,000 to P40,000 per ha
per crop but healthy, antibiotic-free shrimp is produced. Improved water quality and lower
sludge accumulation are the benefits, in addition to reducing the risk of developing more
virulent antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria.
(8) Increase in aeration – addition of P150,000 to 200,000 per ha for aerators and 50-60%
increase in power consumption but the shrimp grow faster and improve its feed
conversion with increased dissolved oxygen levels and reduced noxious metabolites.
(9) Use of settling ponds – additional cost of P2,500 to 5,000 per ha per year but settling
ponds lower load of suspended solids in effluent water and reduce the
sediment accumulation in receiving waters.
(10) Employment of biosecurity measures – additional cost of P15,000 to 20,000 per ha per
year for pond sanitation, carrier exclusion devices, filters, and worker hygiene but these
measures significantly reduce the risk of introducing viral diseases to the pond facility.
Technology Profile
(1) Re-engineer the farm layout by providing a bigger reservoir; impounding a portion of the
mangrove area near the ponds to where effluents may be held; and assigning
sedimentation and biological treatment ponds containing fish, bivalves and seaweeds.
(2) Prepare the ponds. Drain totally. Level the pond bottom. Dig peripheral and central
canals. Crack-dry. Remove the black sludge that accumulated in previous cropping. Flush
the pond with water then drain. Apply either agricultural lime at 2 tons per ha or hydrated
lime at 0.5 to 1 ton per ha. Till the pond bottom. Compact. Install the central and side
sludge collectors. Install catwalks and feeding trays in grow-out ponds. Let in water.
Position the aerators and the pumps. Apply teaseed powder at 50 kg per ha to kill
predators and competitors. Apply dried chicken or cow manure at 300 kg per ha together
with urea (45-0-0) at 18 kg per ha by the “tea bag” method. Fertilize again if necessary.
(3) Stock biomanipulators. In the reservoir (25% of the grow-out farm), stock
biomanipulators like all-male tilapia and milkfish at 5,000 to 10,000 fish per ha. Hold water
for at least a week before using it in grow-out ponds.
(4) Acclimatization. In the grow-out ponds, acclimate then stock disease-free shrimp (at
least postlarvae day 18) at 25 pieces per m2, which gives the highest net profit per ha of
P1.8 million. Stocking lower at 15 pieces per m2 can get you P1.1 million; while stocking
higher at 40 pieces per m2 gives only P0.6 million. Biomanipulators may be stocked inside
walled net enclosures (10 x 10 x 1.5 m) that are placed in the middle of the grow-out
ponds. These fishes can feed on the sludge that the paddle-wheel aerators tend to deposit
at the center. The sides of the ponds may also be enclosed similarly and stocked with
biomanipulators.
(5) Follow the usual pond routine. Feed according to the feed manufacturer’s instructions,
sample stock regularly to adjust feeding demand, monitor water quality and bacterial
populations regularly, keep complete records. If probiotics is an option, follow
the application rate in the label. Operate the aerators from 6 pm to 6 am.
(6) Discharging water. In the low discharge system, a small amount of water is discharged
from the grow-out pond and released to the sea after passing through the settling or
mangrove impoundment. To be effective, hold pond effluents in mangroves for 6 hours or
more.
(7) Water circulation. In the recirculating system, effluents from the grow-out pond are
reused after passing through the treatment pond. Water is fully circulated by pumping
twice, first from the head reservoir to the grow-out pond and then from the treatment pond
to the grow-out pond.
(8) Filtration system. In treatment ponds, the effluent from the grow-out ponds passes
through several hurdles. Note that the main drain canal can serve as one of the treatment
 ponds. Install baffles to serve as mechanical filtration units and to settle suspended solids.
Dissolved nutrients can be taken up by biofilters like oysters, the seaweed Gracilaria, and
green mussel, and these are stocked in the treatment ponds. Finally, a filter box fitted with
a 2 hp submersible pump is installed at the end of the pond.
(9) Harvesting. Harvest in 4-5 months by totally draining the ponds. Chill and sort before
packing shrimp. Average weight is at least 25 grams.

Tilapia Culture In Ponds:

Pond culture is the most popular method of growing tilapia in the world. They are grown in fertilized ponds where the fish
utilize natural foods from ponds.

The major problem to overcome in this system is the prolific breeding of the fish that occur in ponds under mixed sex
culture. This breeding if not controlled results to overcrowding in the ponds and small size fish (less than 100gms) which
may not be of market value. Therefore strategies for producing tilapia in ponds should aim at
controlling spawning and recruitment.
a) Mixed-sex culture
In mixed-sex culture of tilapia, both males and female are cultured together but harvested before or soon after they reach
sexual maturity. The disadvantage in this is that fish is harvested at a smaller size due to the limited growth period.

In this culture practice, fish are usually stocked at low rates to reduce competition for food and promote rapid growth. One
month-old, 1-gram fry are stocked at 1 to 3 per square meter into and grown for about 4 to 5 months. In cold areas where
the water temperatures are low and therefore slow growth, tilapia might not reach marketable sizes in that period.
Newly-hatched fry should be used all the time because older ones will reach sexual maturity at a smaller, unmarketable
size. They could also be mature fish but stunted. Supplemental feeds with 25 to 32 percent protein are generally used.
The average harvest weight is about 250 grams, and total production about 0.25 Kgs/sq m for a stocking rate of 1 fish/m 2.
Higher stocking densities can be employed to achieve higher production but must be combined with better management.
Expected survival is about 80 percent.
In Kenya two to three crops of fish can be produced annually depending on the water temperatures.

b) Mono sex culture

To overcome the problem resulting from prolific breeding of tilapia, ponds are stocked with males only because the males
grow almost twice as fast as females.

Male fingerlings can be obtained by three methods:

 Hybridization
 Sex-reversal and
 Manual sexing.
None of these methods is always 100 percent effective, and a combination of methods is recommended. Hybridization
can used to produce better results of males only. The hybrids can then be subjected to hand sexing and/or sex-reversal
treatment. Sex-reversal requires obtaining recently hatched fry and rearing them in tanks or hapas where they are
subjected to hormone laced feed for about three weeks.
Tilapia males are preferred for culture because they grow faster than females. All-male culture permits the use of longer
culture periods, higher stocking rates and fingerlings of any age. High stocking densities reduce individual growth rates,
but yields per unit area are greater. If the growing season can be extended, it should be possible to produce fish of up to
500 grams. Expected survival for all-male culture is 90 percent or greater.

A stocking rate of 2 fish/m 2 is commonly used in Kenya to achieve yields of 1kg/ m2. At this stocking rate the daily weight
gain will range from 1.5 to 2.0 grams. Culture periods of 6 months or more are needed to produce fish that weigh close to
500 grams. There are cases in Kenya where stocking densities of 6 juveniles/ m2 is practiced with a production of up to
3kg/ m2.
Higher stocking densities will require water aeration and sub-optimal feeding rates may have to be used to maintain
suitable water quality.

a) Polyculture
Tilapia are frequently cultured with other species, mainly catfish (Clarias gariepinus) to take advantage of many natural
foods available in ponds and to produce a secondary crop, or to control tilapia breeding. Polyculture uses a combination
of species that have different feeding niches to increase overall production without a corresponding increase in the
quantity of supplemental feed. Polyculture can improve water quality by creating a better balance among the microbial
communities of the pond, resulting in enhanced production.

BANGUS CULTURE

Chanos chanos Forsskål, 1775 [Chanidae]

FAO Names: En - Milkfish, Fr - Chano, Es - Chano

Biological features
Body fusiform, elongated, moderately compressed, smooth and streamlined. Body colour silvery on belly and sides
grading to olive-green or blue on back. Dorsal, anal and caudal fins pale or yellowish with dark margins. Single dorsal
fin with 2 spines and 13-17 soft rays. Short anal fin with 2 spines and 8-10 soft rays, close to caudal fin. Caudal fin
large and deeply forked with large scale flaps at base in adults. Pectoral fins low on body with axillary (inner basal)
scales. Pelvic fins abdominal with axillary scales and 11 or 12 rays. Scales cycloid, small and smooth, 75-91 on lateral
line. No scutes (modified pointed scales) along belly. Transparent 'adipose' tissue covers eye. Mouth small and
terminal without teeth. Lower jaw with small tubercle at tip, fitting into notch in upper jaw. No bony gular plate
between arms of lower jaw. Four branchiostegal rays supporting underside of gill covers. Gill rakers fine and
numerous. Attains typical length of 1 m but may reach maximum length of 1.8 m (male).

Images gallery

Adult
milkfish

Milkfish sell at the market

Floating
net cages Milkfish pen in an estuary

Broodstock Brackish water grow-out pond

milkfish tank (Courtesy GRIM)

Profile
Historical background
Milkfish farming in Indonesia, Taiwan Province of China and the Philippines started about 4-6 centuries ago. Culture
methods in a variety of enclosures are constantly being improved upon. Since the 1970s, large investments have been
made in the Philippines (as well as in Taiwan Province of China, Indonesia and Hawaii) in terms of infrastructure,
research, credit and training in support to the milkfish industry. For example, the Southeast Asian Fisheries
Development Center (SEAFDEC) Aquaculture Department (AQD) was established in Iloilo, Philippines in 1973 with a
special remit to find solutions for milkfish aquaculture problems. Government agencies and fisheries institutions were
also involved in a national effort to intensify milkfish farming from the mid 1970s until now. In this work, research and
development on farming systems, breeding and fry production technologies was carried out. There was no attempt at
genetic improvement but fry translocation and trade occurred between Indonesia, Taiwan Province of China and the
Philippines and geographic variations and heterogeneity were documented. More recently, unconfirmed reports
indicate that milkfish are now being cultured to fingerling or juvenile size in the South Pacific Islands and in Singapore
as tuna bait.

Milkfish farming was previously a traditional industry, with little emphasis on producing sexually mature,
reproductively active fish in captivity. The traditional milkfish industry depended totally on an annual restocking of
farm ponds with fingerlings reared from wild-caught fry. As a result, the industry suffered from regional, seasonal and
annual variations in fry availability. These variations are generally unpredictable, and may be quite large over short
periods of time.

Thus, the central problem faced by the international milkfish industry was to find a way to produce a reliable,
adequate, high quality supply of milkfish fry that was not subject to large unpredictable variations in time and space.
During the past decade, much progress has been made, particularly in regard to milkfish propagation and the mass
production of fry by private hatcheries, research institutions and government agencies. Instead of relying on wild-
caught fry, milkfish farms in the Philippines, Taiwan Province of China and Indonesia now obtain the majority of their
fry from hatcheries, mainly due to the significant shortage of wild-caught fry.

Main producer countries

Main producer countries of Chanos chanos (FAO Fishery Statistics, 2006)

Habitat and biology

Milkfish (Chanos chanos) is the only species in the Family Chanidae. Its distribution is restricted to either low latitude
tropics or the subtropical northern hemisphere along continental shelves and around islands, where temperatures are
greater than 20 °C (Red Sea and South Africa to Hawaii and the Marquesas, north to Japan and south to Victoria,
Australia; and in the Eastern Pacific from San Pedro, California to the Galapagos).

Adults occur in small to large schools near the coasts or around islands. They are well developed, migratory, large (up
to 1.5 m and 20 kg), and mature sexually in 5 years. Milkfish only spawn in fully saline waters. The activity is most
often correlated with the new or full moon phases, takes place mostly in the night and, in most regions, has one or
two seasonal peaks. In the natural environment, spawning takes place near coral reefs during the warm months of the
year, and populations near the equator spawn year-round. Juveniles and adults eat a wide variety of relatively soft
and small food items, from microbial mats to detritus, epiphytes and zooplankton.

Milkfish is a heterosexual fish; hermaphrodism has not been reported. In natural spawning stocks the sex ratio is
almost equal, with a slightly higher amount of females. The determination of sex is very difficult, because there are no
easily identifiable morphological differences between males and females; however, the pheromone PGF2a
(prostaglandin) has been found to be an effective way to identify mature male milkfish.

Milkfish eggs (1.1-1.2 mm in diameter) and larvae (3.5 mm at hatching) are pelagic and stay in the plankton for up to
2-3 weeks. Egg division begins an hour after and hatching occurs 35-36 hours after spawning. In the wild, eggs are
probably released in deeper oceanic waters and in the outer reef region. Older larvae migrate onshore and settle in
coastal wetlands (mangroves, estuaries) during the juvenile stage, or occasionally enter freshwater lakes. The larvae
eat zooplankton and can thrive and grow in water as warm as 32 °C. They then migrate onshore and where they can
be caught by fine-mesh nets operated along sandy beaches and mangrove areas; these 'fry' are 10-17 mm long and
are used as seedstock in grow-out ponds, pens and cages. In the wild, juveniles are found in mangrove areas and
coastal lagoons, and even travel upriver into lakes; they go back to sea when they get too large for the nursery
habitat, or when they are about to mature sexually.

Milkfish can reach a maximum size of 180 cm SL (male/unsexed) and 124 cm SL (female). The maximum recorded
weight and age is 14.0 kg and 15 years respectively. Resilience is low, with a minimum population doubling time of
4.5 - 14 years. Its fisheries importance is highly commercial, especially in aquaculture, and it is also used in game fish
as bait. It is especially valued as a food fish in Southeast Asia.

Production
Production cycle

Production cycle of Chanos chanos

Production systems
 Seed supply
Milkfish fry can either be obtained through collection from coastal areas or littoral waters or can be produced in
captivity. The supply of wild fry is often unpredictable; catches in recent years have diminished and cannot satisfy the
demand from ongrowing farms.

Fry from captive broodstock and spawners

To develop broodstock under captive conditions, large juvenile milkfish may be stocked, fed and maintained in floating
sea cages in protected coves or in large, deep, fully saline ponds (as practiced in the Philippines), or in large deep
concrete tanks on land (as practiced in Indonesia and Taiwan Province of China), until they reach sexual maturity with
an average body weight of at least 1.5 kg. Land-based broodstock facilities are entirely dependent on fresh pumped
seawater supplies and are often integrated with a hatchery.

Broodstocks reach maturity in five years in large floating cages, but may take 8-10 years in ponds and concrete tanks.
On average, first-spawning broodstocks tend to be smaller than adults caught from the wild. As a result, first-time
spawners produce fewer eggs than wild adults, but larger and older broodstocks produce as many eggs as wild adults
of similar size. Broodstocks of about 8 years old and averaging 6 kg produce 3-4 million eggs.

Breeding milkfish in captive conditions and the mass production of fry, as practised in Taiwan Province of China,
Indonesia and the Philippines, is mostly dependent on natural spawning, which assures high survival rates. Artificial
induction is not normally used. On days when natural spawning occurs, the fish may feed less than usual but show
increased swimming activity and exhibit chasing, occasional leaping, and water-slapping activities from late noon to
early evening. Spawning usually takes place around midnight but daytime spawning sometimes occurs.

Wild-caught fry

Wild-caught fry are collected with fine-mesh seines and bag nets of various indigenous designs in the Philippines,
Taiwan Province of China and Indonesia. The most commonly used gear are push net 'sweepers' and dragged seines.

Hatchery production
Milkfish hatcheries consist of larval rearing tanks, culture tanks for rotifers (Brachionus) and green algae
(e.g. Chlorella) and hatching tanks for brine shrimp (Artemia). Larval rearing may be either operated in outdoor or
indoor systems, depending on the specific conditions in the countries where fry are being produced.

Hatchery operations utilize either intensive (high stocking density, high volume tanks, daily feeding and water
exchange) or semi-intensive (low stocking density, high volume tanks, minimal water exchange, feeding with mixed
diet) systems, with an average survival rate of 30 percent (from stocked newly-hatched larvae). After hatching, the
larvae are ideally kept at 50/litre in hatchery tanks (either concrete, fibreglass, canvas or polypropylene-covered
earthen tanks) maintained with Chlorella and fed with rotifers during the early stages and later with copepods or brine
shrimp for a total of 3-4 weeks. Following this, their size ranges between 2-3 cm and they are ready for transport to
nurseries.

The fry may change hands two or more times before being used for grow-out; each time this happens, they are sorted
and counted, transported, and stored for different periods of time. Fry are a highly perishable commodity and some of
them die during gathering, storage, transport, nursery rearing and grow-out. The technologies for fry storage and
transport are generally effective, although perhaps not yet optimized. Fry are stored in a cool place in plastic basins or
clay pots at 100-500/litre, in water of 10-25‰, which is renewed daily. Dealers may store fry for 1-7 days,
depending on the demand. Fry can be maintained on wheat flour or cooked chicken egg yolk for 1-2 weeks but soon
begin to die, despite continued feeding. Recently, micro-encapsulated feeds have become commercially available for
finfish but the cost compared to conventional live feeds is higher.

Nursery
Nursery operations in milkfish producing countries vary according to established cultural practices.

In Taiwan Province of China, where commercial hatchery and nursery productions are integrated enterprises, milkfish
fry are generally grown in either earthen ponds or elevated canvas or concrete tanks at intensive stocking densities of
>2 000/litre.

In Indonesia, a well established backyard-type nursery is used. This consists of a series of elevated canvas or
concrete 1-2 tonnes tanks and similar stocking densities to those used in Taiwan Province of China are employed.

In the Philippines, milkfish nurseries are integrated with grow-out facilities, where wild-caught or hatchery-reared fry
are first acclimated into nursery compartments which comprise one third to one quarter of the total area of the
Brackish water pond. Fry are stocked at a density of up to 1 000/litre and are fed with a naturally-grown micro-
benthic food known as 'lab-lab' which grows on the fertilized pond bottom. Nursery rearing has also been carried out
in hapa type suspended nylon nets installed in Brackish water ponds or lagoons and in freshwater lakes within the
grow-out compartments, a traditionally practice in the Philippines. When natural food is becoming depleted, artificial
feeds such as rice bran, corn bran, and stale bread or formulated feeds are provided. In about 4-6 weeks, the fry
grow to 5-8 cm juveniles, which is the ideal size for releasing into grow-out ponds or pens. Depending on the desired
grow-out period, juveniles or fingerling size milkfish are kept in nurseries or transition holding tanks up to the
required stocking size of 30-40 g. Nursery rearing from fry to fingerling size normally achieves 70 percent survival.

Ongrowing techniques
Milkfish may be ongrown in ponds, pens or cages.

Pond culture

Culture of milkfish in ponds may be in shallow or deep water systems.

 Shallow water culture is practiced mainly in Indonesia and the Philippines. Milkfish are traditionally cultured in
shallow Brackish water ponds in which the growth of benthic algae is encouraged through inorganic or organic
fertilization. Milkfish will survive on benthic algae alone only if the productivity of the algae exceeds the
grazing rate of the fish; otherwise, supplemental commercial feeds are applied. The 'lab-lab' culture system in
the Philippines is equivalent to shallow water culture in Taiwan Province of China. 'Lab-lab' is the term used in
this country for the algal mat (and all micro-organisms associated with it) in the ongrowing ponds.

Brackish water ponds in the Philippines were mostly excavated from 'nipa' and mangrove areas. Shallow water
pond design generally consists of several nursery and production ponds with a typical area of 2 000 m² for
nursery ponds and 4 ha for production (ongrowing) ponds. Typically, ponds have a depth of 30-40 cm and are
provided with independent water supplies.

The average yield of a typical integrated nursery, transition and shallow grow-out system that produces 3
crops a year is 800 kg/ha. Modified modular pond designs consisting of a series of grow-out compartments
with a maximum of eight crops a year have been shown to increase yield to a high as 2 000 kg/ha.

 Deep water culture was developed in the mid 1970s in response to the decline of profitability of shallow water
culture, and the limited and increasing value of land and manpower resources. Deep-water ponds provide a
more stable environment and extend the grow-out period into the winter season. Most deep-water milkfish
ponds have been created by converting either shallow water ponds or freshwater ponds, with a depth of 2-3
m. Production from these systems has sharply increased in Taiwan Province of China, having expanded from
23 percent of the total production in 1981 to 75 percent in 1990.

Most milkfish ponds in the Philippines and Indonesia are of the extensive and semi-intensive type, with large
shallow pond units, tidal water exchange, natural food, minimal use of fertilizer alternating with commercial
feeds and other inputs, and low to medium stocking rates (50 000-100 000/ha). The Taiwanese method of
production, on the other hand, employs intensive stocking densities (150 000-200 000/ha). Few diseases or
infestations have been recorded so far in milkfish grow-out farming in these Asian countries.

Pen culture

This system was introduced in the Philippines in 1979 in the Laguna Lake. At that time, the lake had a very high
primary productivity, which met the nutritional needs of milkfish. Because of the low rate of input and the high rate of
return, the pen culture area increased sharply from 1973 to 1983, and exceeded more than 50 percent of the total
lake surface, which is 90 000 ha. As the primary production of the lake could not meet this sudden expansion of
aquaculture, and feeding became necessary to meet the nutritional requirements of the cultured fish, the pen culture
practices developed in lakes were later introduced into inter-tidal areas in the Philippines along coves and river
estuaries as well. Pen operators stock fingerlings at 30 000-35 000/ha and provide supplemental commercial diets.
However, disease spreads among culture pens and causes mass mortality. Government regulations are now being
considered to maintain sustainable yields from this type of farming.

Cage culture

Fish cages are smaller and more restricted enclosures that can be staked in shallow waters or set-up in deep water
with appropriate floats and anchors. Cage farming of milkfish is commonly carried out in marine waters along coastal
bays. Stocking rates (in the Philippines) are quite high, from 5 up to 30/m³.

Feed supply
In the past, traditional feeding practices for milkfish grow-out production have consisted of natural food ('lab-lab') or a
combination of phytoplankton and macroalgae (Enteromorpha intestinales, Cladophora spp. or Chaetomorpha linnum)
encouraged by fertilization. In the 1980s however, special commercial feeds for milkfish were developed and became
almost exclusively used. As cage and pen culture technology proliferated in the 1990s, both in marine and inland
waters, extruded milkfish feeds were further developed into floating and semi-floating forms, while sinking forms were
used for pond and tank-based grow-out. Feed supplies are now manufactured commercially in the form of starters,
growers and finishers, which are administered according to the production stage of the milkfish.

Harvesting techniques
Milkfish are normally harvested at sizes of 20-40 cm (about 250-500 g). There are three known methods used for
harvesting milkfish:

 Partial harvest. Selective harvest of uniformly grown milkfish from grow-out facilities (i.e. cages, pens, ponds,
tanks) using seine or gillnets, retaining the undersize fish and harvesting only the commercial sized stocks,
with an average body weight of 250 g or larger.
 Total harvest. Complete harvest in one crop period from grow-out facilities (i.e. total draining of ponds by
gravity or pump, hauling of the entire net cage structure, seining or the use of gillnets in pens). The harvest
size at this stage may vary from 250-500 g.
 Forced harvest. Emergency harvesting, regardless of fish size or grow-out stage, which is carried out during
'fish kills' due to oxygen depletions that are attributed to algal blooms, red tide occurrence, pollution or other
environmental causes.

Handling and processing

200-400 g milkfish are harvested and marketed mostly fresh or chilled, whole or deboned, frozen, or processed (e.g.
fresh frozen deboned, fresh frozen deboned descaled, and smoked fish deboned). In general, all marketed milkfish are
produced in farms, only a few being caught from natural waters. In some countries (e.g. the Philippines) fishing for
adult milkfish is officially banned in order to protect the natural broodstocks.

There are two known post-harvest processing techniques for milkfish, which are the traditional (i.e. drying,
fermentation and smoking) or non-traditional methods (i.e. bottling, canning and freezing) and value-added products
such as 'surimi' and deboned products as practiced in Taiwan Province of China and in the Philippines.

Regulations and standard protocols for manufacturing milkfish products exist for both domestic consumption and
export, as follows:

 Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs). Plant construction.

 Personnel hygiene and sanitation.
 Standard Sanitary Operating Procedures (SSOPs).
 HACCP compliance.

Production costs
Milkfish farming is a centuries-old industry in Indonesia, Taiwan Province of China and the Philippines. It has been
slow to modernize and now faces challenges from competing aquaculture species and current economic realities. The
domestic market is large and the export market has globally expanded. Milkfish price and personal income affect the
amount of milkfish consumed in the countries of origin. Studies conducted in Taiwan Province of China and the
Philippines concluded that price and income had a negative and positive elasticity coefficient, respectively.

The following are the major determining factors affecting the cost of production in milkfish:

 Type of culture system: costs are lowest in systems dependent only on natural food; costs increase as
artificial feed is introduced; costs are highest in systems dependent totally on commercial feeds.
 Increasing production: with milkfish production steadily increasing and culture practices becoming more
intense, a big surplus of this commodity is foreseen in the near future.
 Cost of feed: feeds account for 60 to 80 percent of the total production cost.
 Low farm-gate prices: on average, the farm-gate price for milkfish is only about USD 2.00/kg in the
Philippines. As the supply of milkfish is expected to increase way above demand, fish farmers cannot demand
a higher farm-gate price even though they may be spending heavily to cover production costs.
 Lack of post-harvest facilities for value-adding and processing.
 Diseases and control measures
The major disease problems affecting milkfish are included in the table below.

In some cases antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals have been used in treatment but their inclusion in
this table does not imply an FAO recommendation.

DISEASE AGENT TYPE SYNDROME MEASURES

Emaciated, although shows good appetite in early
stage, then weakens, becomes listless, loses
appetite & colour pattern darkens; fin & tail rot Administer trichlorfon (with
Nematode Parasitic and skin patches/sores; faeces white & caution for small fish);
Capillariasp.
infestation nematode stringy/slimy; scrapes belly against bottom or niclosamide, levamisole or
may start to tremble; larval stage of parasite mebendazole mixed in feed
located in muscle tissue & can be seen through
skin, appearing either coiled up or rod-like
Parasite visible on skin, head embedded deep in
the tissues of the host; haemorrhages and open
KMnO4 bath or 0.8-1.1%
wounds at site of infection; weight loss;
Anchor worm Lernaea Parasitic NaCl (KMnO4 may be lethal
respiratory difficulties; sluggishness; red areas;
disease cyprinacea copepod to small fish at dosages
ulcers; scale loss; fin damage; scraping and
required to kill Lernaea)
sometimes hanging vertically or belly up;
parasite length 5 to 22 mm
Protozoan Slime covers skin like fog, fins clamped and 250 ml/litre formalin bath
Trichodinosis Trichodinasp.
parasite denuded of tissue for 15 min
Scolex Scolex Helminth
Infestation occurs commonly in the intestine None stated
infestation pleuronectis parasite
Dark coloration; increased mucus build-up; Treat with formaldehyde
occasional appearance of skin lesions followed by (250 ml/litre) or 10mg/litre
Cryptobia Protozoan scale loss; difficult or rapid breathing; reduced malachite green; place
Cryptobiasp.
Infestation parasite appetite and weight loss; secondary bacterial infected fish in freshwater
infections in advanced stage leading to pale bath or treat with effective
and/or red skin patches and skin & fin rot antibacterial agents
Dip infected fish in
freshwater (makes
Caligus Caligus Parasitic Loss of appetite; lethargic swimming; excess
transparent parasite
infestation longipedis copepod mucus production; lumpy body surface
visible); bathe in 150 ppm
H2 02 for 30 minutes

Suppliers of pathology expertise

The following are examples of locations where expertise can be accessed:

 Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

 The Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center.

Statistics
Production statistics

Global annual aquaculture production of milkfish has increased every year since 1997; by 2005 it had risen to nearly
595 000 tonnes, with a value of almost USD 616 million. The most important producers at this time were the
Philippines (289 000 tonnes), Indonesia (254 000 tonnes) and Taiwan Province of China (50 000 tonnes).

Market and trade

Producers of milkfish do not usually sell fish directly to consumers, but supply them through cooperatives, brokers,
dealers, collectors or wholesalers, and retailers. In general, the majority of fish products are sold in auction markets
through dealers, brokers, wholesalers or cooperatives to smaller dealers, and then retailers.

Increasingly, more of the milkfish harvest is processed into value-added forms: smoked, dried, marinated (brined,
sweetened), fermented with rice, and canned or bottled in various styles (salmon style, sardine style, Spanish style,
smoked in oil, etc.). Some companies in the Philippines now produce frozen prime cuts of milkfish bellies and backs,
and even of heads and tails. Milkfish is exported in different product forms: quick-frozen, dried, canned, smoked or
marinated.

The Philippines recorded an export of over 17 040 kg of milkfish products to the EU in 2002, valued at USD 58 000.
While Taiwan Province of China concentrates on processed and value-added products for export to the USA, Indonesia
has strengthened its export of hatchery-reared seedstock to the rest of the Asia-Pacific region for tuna bait and for
grow-out.

Status and trends

Research and development

Successful induced spawning and larval rearing of milkfish were first accomplished at SEAFDEC/AQD in 1976-1978.
The first generation cycle of milkfish in captivity was completed at AQD when the offspring of a wild female induced to
spawn in 1978 in turn spawned in 1983. Since then, milkfish have matured and spawned in floating cages, ponds, and
concrete tanks in the Philippines, Taiwan Province of China, Hawaii, and Indonesia. Since the successful completion of
larval rearing technology in 1984, fry production has increased significantly, which has not only provided milkfish
farmers in Taiwan Province of China with ample supply but also opened an export market to neighbouring countries.

To date no substantial technical and scientific research has been documented from major milkfish producing countries
other than the policy and management related research being conducted by the WorldFish Center, the SEAFDEC
Aquaculture Department and the Bureau of Agricultural Research and BFAR of the Philippine Department of
Agriculture.

Taiwan Province of China, however, has recently developed an improved strain of milkfish through selective breeding
process resulting in a golden coloured F1 pioneered by a private farmer; this would accordingly command a better
price than the original silvery coloured strain, once introduced in the market.

Development perspectives

The development of more efficient culture systems has resulted in higher milkfish production, which continues to
increase.

Diversification of aquaculture in Taiwan Province of China, however, has paved the way for prioritizing other high
valued commercial marine species of fish, which has affected the growth of the milkfish industry.

Based on current trends, production in the Philippines (which has expanded its traditional land-based milkfish farming
from Brackish water fishponds to marine cages in coastal communities through the establishments of mariculture
parks) is expected to rise from 289 000 tonnes in 2005 to 369 000 tonnes in 2010. Assuming that the population of
the Philippines reached 84 million by the year 2005, at per capita milkfish consumption of 2.5 kg/yr the total milkfish
requirement would reach 210 000 tonnes. With the actual milkfish production recorded as of 289 000 tonnes in 2005,
there would have been an estimated supply surplus of 79 000 tonnes.In Indonesia backyard hatchery production of
milkfish seeds has become a rural industry at the village level. The majority of these hatcheries have further shifted to
fry production of high-value species of marine finfish.

Market perspectives

Marketing of milkfish products contribute a lot to the sustainability of the industry in the major milkfish producing
countries - Indonesia with its seed production exports, Taiwan Province of China with value-added milkfish products
and the Philippines with whole fresh and processed products both for domestic and export markets.

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade GATT/WTO impositions of trade restrictions and the EU/US bio-safety
and quality control standards are considerably affecting the producing countries and are foreseen to be an added
burden among production costs.

Although HACCP from farm to product processing are now strictly observed (for both domestic and export markets) in
the major producing countries, farmers and processors view this as another trade barrier that has been set by the
importing industrialized countries.

Recommendations
The following recommendations are suggested:

 Opening up markets, both locally and abroad, for value-added products including boneless milkfish would be
valuable. The Philippines is the only country in the world to produce boneless milkfish to date. Improving the
distribution flow for boneless fish for local markets would also be useful.
 Investment in feed formulation to cut down production costs. Rationing the exact daily feed biomass
requirements to reflect actual feed requirements is needed.
 Trimming down marketing layers. Through cooperatives, producers should be encouraged to market
production directly to retailers, thereby bypassing the traditional market layers.
 Making public investments for post-harvest facilities.

Main issues
The main issues in milkfish farming can be summarized as follows:

 Producers and consumers have benefited from new technology; however, broodstock technology is still
unreliable and fry supply is not fully controlled.
 Milkfish will remain a traditional foodfish in the Philippines, Indonesia and Taiwan Province of China; however,
the younger generation tends to avoid eating milkfish because of their bony flesh; thus new markets will be
difficult to create.
 High land values and the relatively low value of milkfish mean that farmers will have to introduce new
technology to increase unit productivity.
 Milkfish aquaculture will no longer rely only on natural productivity; the use of formulated feed will become
the norm.
 More hatcheries, especially in Indonesia and Taiwan Province of China, are expected to come on-stream. This,
and improved spawning technology, is expected to decrease fry costs.
 New product forms need to be developed, advertised and marketed.
 As mass production of milkfish fry in hatcheries expands, more fingerlings will become available for the
baitfish industry.
 Further research and development on the marketing and processing of milkfish is desirable.

Responsible aquaculture practices

Due to global market demand, major milkfish producing countries have recently been promoting management
practices that address food quality and safety issues. At the farm level for example, the Philippines complies with the
minimum aquaculture HACCP requirements, from hatchery production to harvest, before milkfish products are
processed for export. Taiwan Province of China has introduced product eco-labelling in order to export quality branded
processed milkfish products, while Indonesia ensures the quality of milkfish fry when exporting to neighbouring Asian
countries and accompanies them with health certificates. Traceability in the use of antibiotics and unregulated drugs is
already strictly imposed in these countries.