Baby Fish

Behind the moringa trees in the garden is the
new "fish-house" with small tanks.

We have cute baby fish!  (Hopefully you can see the tiny fish in a the video at the end of this post)  A big initiative for us from the beginning of the year was to start breeding fish so we could reduce costs of raising fish.  Before, we had been buying fingerlings that we then raised into big fish to sell.  My young co-worker at the national office, where we’re raising the fish, is now in charge of learning all the details about how to inject the mother fish so they give birth at the right time when they’re isolated.  We’ve been learning a lot but also had many delays in the last 6 months because of a border closure to the south where we get supplies and the COVID-19 restrictions.  We also have a teacher/mentor who has been going back and forth across the southern border for contacts and further training himself, as he manages a large farm at the edge of the city for a rich businessman.  

A mother fish giving birth to lots of tiny fish.

I’m very proud of my young co-worker and all the initiative he’s been taking to learn and get the environment just right for the fish. The other big part of this project developing has been building up more infrastructure.  The baby fish need small pools, which are basically small water storage tanks that are cut in half.  Then there’s a rough water circulation system that they need to stay alive in their early stages. This is housed under a half-walled structure, which also provides for enough air circulation.  All of this is a lot more complicated than the basic outdoor basins in which we keep the big fish, but it should save a quarter of the cost of raising the fish!  

We also did lose some garden space with the fish-house being built, but we’re hoping to add more territory around the outside of the current space and include fruit trees.  Next, we’re planning to learn how to make home-made fish-food, to at least supplement the specially formulated commercial food we buy. Hopefully this will help us expand upward and outward!

This video shows some of the tiny fish in the small tanks and a view of the mother fish.

-- El Padre