SHL Project: Aqua Jannah Part 1

In the past two years, I have learnt a lot from my aquaculture project of producing fresh water fish.  The main driving factor of this project was the good quality water supply and sufficient land space to create the fish ponds.  Recently, I decided to do a major harvest.  In order to performn the harvest, it was necessary to drain all the water out of the pond. 

During this process, I discovered that it was difficult to dry the ponds due to the fact that my ponds were deeper than the Sg. Lui water level.  On top of that, since the depth of the pond had touched the ground water level, this resulting in difficulty of drying the pond, almost an impossible mission.

The quantity of the fish was also low and it was discovered days later, that it is possibly due to two main factors: (1) a clan of otters and (2) a species of snake that consumes fish.

The quality of the fish harvested was very good, sweet tasting with no "muddy" flavour or strong smell.  This is attributed to the water quality and what the fishes eat.  As SHL is a no pesticide, no herbicide farm, this help to prevent water contamination.  Since the water is piped down from the source up in the hills where pollutants are minimal, this ensured good quality water with good oxygen content constantly entering the ponds.  The presence of small river shrimp as fish provided a good natural source of food for the fish, supplemented by tapioca and keladi leaves as well as good fish meal.  Chicken innards or animal carcasses is a bid no-no.  This contributed to the good flavor of the fish.

Based on my proof-of-concept fish ponds, I have concluded that SHL Aqua Jannah is a viable aquaculture project capable of producing good quality and tasty fish.  The species of fish that do well include tilapia, lampam, haruan, keli, jelawat, kelah, tengas and ketutu.

Moving forward, improvements are underway.  A third pond has been constructed and the existing ponds are being made bigger.  The depth of the first and second pond will be adjusted to enable ease of drainage with a catchment area at each pond to ensure that the fish is kept alive and prevented from injury during the harvesting process.  Each pond will be separated by a barrier to enable the types of fish in each pond to remain separate.

The water supply will also be increased with the upgrading of the supply pipes to support the additional pond as well as the increase in size of the existing ponds and also support of fountains for water aeration to ensure plenty of oxygen in the water - an important factor for fish growth - as well as providing aesthetic value.  Drainage pipes will be placed at the base of the ponds to facilitate draining of the ponds and enable selective drainage of ponds.  The pond banks will also be reinforced to prevent soil erosion.

In the next phase, with the improved ponds as well as the additional pond, the quatity of fish will also be increased.  By the grace of Allah s.w.t., we should be able to have a bigger harvest in about 6 months time.