Live bearer ornamental fish culture

Live-bearer fishes directly give birth to young ones upon reaching adulthood, and the new born fries immediately start feeding like the adult forms. These fishes can be easily bred and can be cultivated in mass scale even in a limited space of 10 x10 m2. Popular ornamental species include Guppy, Molly, Platy, and Swordtail. There are more than a thousand varieties among this species and are widely cultured in India and other foreign countries for the aquarium hobby and for exhibiting in public aquarium, office place, school campus, hospitals etc. Each varieties cost as per the color and pattern of finnage, and the price starts from 5 to 1000 Rs/each. These fishes are very much hardy and can thrive even in 9 ppt salinity and in neutral or alkaline pH of 7.0 to 8.3. In Andaman Islands, tourism industry is booming and there is a heavy demand for ornamental fishes in hotel, resort and restaurant beautification projects. With a minimum investment of 1 Lakh INR, breeding of live bearers can be initiated with good turnover by just utilizing the front or backyard space at home. Adult live bearer fishes breeds rapidly (4–8times/year) and the young ones attain maturity in 6 months, and easily attain a marketable size in 2 months. Package of practices for faster growth, production of colorful strains, and better survivability is available with ICAR-CIARI and can be easily taken up by unemployed youths, women’s self-help groups and other interested stakeholders.

Benefit:Breeding of live bearer fishes can be achieved easily with minimum input and maximum profit. The use of old tubs, buckets can be employed for growing out the fries and rearing broodstocks. Feeds formulated at home can be fed, which are very much simpler to formulate using home equipment’s. The cultured fishes can be directly sold to the customers are to the retail aquarium shops at a good profit.

Source : Contact person with Name, Designation e-mail and phone no: J. Praveenraj, Scientist, Division of Fisheries Science Praveenraj.j@icar.gov.in; 9679505970