An easier, more efficient way to raise fish in ponds

MANILA, Philippines - The culture of prawns, crabs and milkfish or tilapia in fishponds entails so much capital, serious planning, focus, diligence and a lot of hard work.

Danilo Cumdangan, a Baptist pastor based in Malolos, Bulacan — who raises shrimps, crabs and bangus on behalf of his ministry in an 8,000-square meter rented fishpond in Barangay Matimbok — found an easier way of doing things.  

By using Exquisite Super Bio for Aqua — a 32-year old product made in California, USA and distributed here by Chong Ken Foo, patent holder for the brand Exquisite — Cumdangan discovered he did not have to do a number of labor-intensive activities like changing the pond water, drying it under the sun and digging up the soil to let toxic gases escape.

Lacking capital, Cumdangan took as his partner Antonio Vitan, an engineer who is based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The first step was to clean and prepare the pond. Having done so, Cumdangan “treated” the water with a drum-full of aerated Exquisite (organicl) solution and threw in 40,000 of small shrimps, 7,500 pieces of crabs and 1,000 pieces of bangus fingerlings.

Actually, it was his partner, Vitan who read about Exquisite from the Internet and gave Cumdangan the address of Exquisite. Cumdangan called Chong for an appointment and he was given a thorough briefing on the benefits and proce-dures of applying the solution. Chong even personally visited and supervised Cumdangan’s applica-tion of the product on the pond.

His initial finding with the initial application of a 200-gram pack of dissolved Exquisite Super Bio was that water was clearer and you could see the bottom of the pond (which is not the case without Exquisite).

Fifteen days after application, beneficial algae grew at the bottom and sides of the pond which the crabs and prawns eat and he boosted this with some pieces of tilapia to make the crab gain weight.  After another 15 days, he put in a half pack of dissolved Exquisite Super Bio.

At the end of the growing per-iod, the prawns grew to four inches, the crabs seven inches and the ba-ngus to the size of four pieces to a kilo.

By June, he harvested some of the crabs which measured three inches in diameter or two pieces per kilo; the bangus three pieces to a kilo and the sugpo around 10 to 12 pieces to a kilo. He sold sugpo at P20,000 per cooler (of 30 kilos); the bangus at P80 per kilo (of three pieces) and the crabs at P380 to P400 per kilo

Then a storm came and it caused massive flooding in the province. His pond was flooded with soil containing chemical fertilizers and other chemicals which were toxic to crabs and other aquatic life.

When the floodwaters subsided, he again treated the pond with Exquisite Super Bio – and again the algae developed very fast. He stocked his pond with 30,000 pieces of plapla and 2,000 pieces of ba-ngus. After one month, he noticed several good developments. This crop will be harvested by Novem-ber but he said there is a possibility that harvest will come earlier – either in September or October.

He said that for best results, Exquisite Super Bio must be applied weekly at 100 grams on the pond (although the first application is a whole packet of 200 grams dissolved into one drum of water).

What Cumdangan finds most important in using the solution is that it allows you to save so much time and effort. It also allows you to save on chemical feeds, which the fish absorb at a low rate of 30 percent, with the rest settling down to the bottom of the pond and forming part of the soil. This, according to Cumdangan, is what gives the product an obnoxious “burak” or muddy flavor.

Come November, he will transplant 10,000 pieces of sugpo; 4,000 pieces of crabs and 3,000 pieces of bangus into the pond. Plus, he will rent another fishpond— two hectares in Hagonoy — where he will also use Exquisite Super Bio.  

He said the reason for getting into the fishpond business for the ministry is that even the Bible talks about teaching man how to fish and not to give him fish to eat.