Fish farmer creates hybrid tilapia

ON a hot hazy morning, at a fish farm in Seniawan near here, Alex Thian picked up a bucket of brown pellets and slung them into a big earth pond.

Fat, newly-produced red hybrid tilapia, the size of a palm, boiled to the surface.

Thian, a co-proprietor of Borneo Eco Fish, smiled at the feeding frenzy in that one single pond. Then, he called a worker to fetch three out of the 20,000 three-month-old fully grown fish for weighing. He took one from the bucket and put it on a scale. It was 320gm.

His newly-created hybrid he names Borneo Eco Hybrid Tilapia is shorter, wider but has thicker flesh. Moreover, it grows faster than the specimens he produced before.

Reports by several international tilapia experts suggest other breeds usually weigh from 400 to 500gms each in five to eight months.

When it comes to rearing fish, Thian is an expert. His love of fish was kindled when he was still very young, and, today he knows almost all types of commonly reared fresh water fish, including catfish, sultan, patin and lampan jawa.

As a boy, Thian loved rearing fish — feeding and harvesting them.

“My late father was a farmer, planting vegetables and rearing fish in earth ponds. We had such a pond near our house, and as a boy, I used to help my father feed and catch the fish,” he recalled.

His passion for rearing fish has grown into the business. And today, he operates a hatchery and red tilapia farm.

His present company is not only producing but also commercialising the Borneo Eco Hybrid Tilapia.

Three different species

The broodstocks were three different species, recommended by a professor from Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (Unisza) in Gong Badak, Terengganu.

Now Thian has over 2,000 broodstocks in three separate ponds and he sells the fry to people who rear them into adult fish for the market.

He delved into the aquaculture industry because he wanted to do something more profitable than vegetable farming.

His father had a small vegetable farm which was not making money. So after completing Form Five, Thian decided to use the pond near his house to start a fishery business.

“Of course, I had gone through hard times but I never gave up because of my deep passion for rearing fish,” he said.

He had also gone into rearing catfish before but due to lack of interest among fish farmers and a ‘dying’ appetite for catfish among consumers today, he had downsized the venture.

“I used to buy live catfish from farms, process and market them. I even invested in a cold room. But because catfish production was getting less and less, I had to close my cold room and revert to rearing tilapia,” he shared.

Thian said his last joint venture in tilapia rearing with a local company operating in Batang Ai was not making profit.

“Personally, I made no profit from the joint venture but did  gain in terms of experience.”

Trial and error

In fact, Thian has spent more than 20 years in the business of fish-rearing and production, especially of catfish and tilapia.Throughout his involvement in aquaculture, he had been creating bigger and better breeds of both catfish and red tilapia by trial and error.

His experience in hatching, rearing, producing, packaging and marketing of these two breeds has caught the attention of Unisza’s Faculty of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Food Sains, which has appointed him an appraisal member of its Bachelor Science Programme in 2013.

His help was also sought by Unisza to enable one of its aquaculture experts to do research on producing hybrid fingerlings. Thian provided the raw materials while Unisza supplied the lab facilities.

The collection of samples of the various tilapia species is done at his farm in Kuching.

“I have been sending fins of the various species to Professor Dr Ha Hou Chew for analysis. Since my appointment as an appraisal member of their Bachelor of Science Programme, I have been going to Unisza almost every month with samples.”

He added that Dr Ha would determine and evaluate the genetics of the samples to assess the potential of producing bigger and better breeds.

“In March last year, Dr Ha, based on his research, recommended that I matched three different species he had identified in a single pond as broodstocks to produce fingerlings, and so far, the first batch had proven very convincing.”

Commercially sound

Thian said the first batch of Borneo Eco Hybrid fingerlings were released in the pond on June 8.

He added that based on his regular monitoring and observation, the hybrids produced were not only wider and had thick flesh but also grew faster.

“Weighing 320gm in three months is something of an achievement and it is evident this breed is very good for commercial purposes.”

Thian said his present broodstocks had been producing better and bigger breeds for about two years, adding that they could produce about 150,000 fry a month.

The present generation, he noted, would still remain productive after two years but the breeds may no longer grow faster and bigger.

To continue producing better and bigger fish, Thian said new samples would have to be collected and tested.

He pointed out that with Unisza’s consent for Dr Ha to be advisor to his company in the aspects of broodstocks selection and hybrid production, tilapia commercial breeders in Sarawak could be assured of continued supply of hybrid tilapia from his farm.

Borneo Eco Fish is not only doing hatchery but also rearing, producing and supplying fresh hybrids fresh and quarantined tilapia in Sarawak.

However, Thian lamented that technical problems in maintaining pure genetic strains of broodstock and producing commercial numbers of bigger and fast growing tilapia hybrids had limited production in Sarawak.

He stressed having a continued genetic improvement programme was important because that would mean a more profitable industry.

“I hope through my collaboration with Unisza, our company can continue to produce hybrid tilapia fingerlings for farmers to rear. With the right species or hybrids, freshwater tilapia farming can be a profitable business in the near future.”

Round canvas technology

Thian said he had also introduced ‘round canvas’ technology to produce quality and odorless fresh tilapia.

“Through this technology, there will be many opportunities in the tilapia business if farmers learn how to do it and do it right.”

With the availability of hybrid Borneo Eco Tilapia fingerlings, Thian believes quick returns ccould be made, saying through the canvas technology and availability of hybrid fry, breeders could expect not only quick harvest but also clean and odorless fish.

Thian recommended that the Borneo Eco Tilapia breed be either reared in canvas or earth pond.

Canvases as small as 12 feet and as big as 20 feet in diametre are available at Borneo Eco Fish.

“The canvas can be used as a backyard pond for part-time farmers or a quarantine pond for full-time breeders,” he said.

For Borneo Eco Hybrid, harvesting can be done after 120 days or four months where each tail can weigh more than 400gm, according to Thian.

The current farm price of tilapia is RM7 per kg.

Borneo Eco Fish, which can be reach at 019 8885950 for consultation and advice, not only sells fingerlings but also rears and buys harvested tilapia.

The company also assures its tilapia will not reach consumers before the ‘odor removing processes’.

At its farm, there are two canvases put up to quarantine fish harvested from the ponds. The water in the canvases runs from a carbon filter, connected to the tap, to remove chlorine.

This filtered water will help clean up the fish skin and remove the odor from the flesh.

Thian said the fish were normally quarantined in canvases without food for three to four days before being processed and kept in the cold room.

“It’s important to get rid of the odor to meet the demand of consumers nowadays. To make sure the fish leaves no bad odor, we normally try frying or cooking one from the canvas.

“Processing of our fish for the market will only proceed once the bad odor is no longer present.”

Thian said those who bought the fingerlings from him need not worry about marketing as his company is ready to buy their harvest from either earth pond or canvas.