MUDFISH BREEDING GUIDE

A mudfish (Channa striata) can be found in swamps, mangrove, rivers, rice fields and lakes. It
spawns throughout the year growing from 10 to 37 cm in length. The fish matures sexually when
it reaches 24 centimeters. It is a native fish used for food. It has a supra-pharyngeal organs
capable for air-breathing.
It can be breed locally. A concrete tank with the measurement of 4x2x2 meters is the ideal size of
the tank. The breeding fish should at least 30 centimeters weighing 400 grams or greater (both
male and female). A female has a wide girth. Prior to spawning, feed it with small fish or
earthworms for the period of 2 weeks before spawning period at the water depth of .03 meters.
During spawning it should be increase into .06 meters.
Most often the fish spawn in the early morning. She will spawn at the side or near the surface of
the tank. The male and female fish will slowly swim around its other where the male coils
around the female for the release of eggs which are to be fertilized. A male breeder can release
more or less 5,500 eggs immediately. If the male breeder is large enough then he can make more
at one single release of eggs.
The eggs has oil globules in order to float the eggs to the surface of the water. Hatching be done
within 3 days. The fry can swim within 5 days. The fry can be feed on zooplankton, rotifiers and
copepods, earthworms, maggots or other live feeds. the recommended market size of fingerlings
is up to 250 grams. Continues feeding be done by using fine rice bran and ground trash.
Mudfish should be given enough feeds daily to avoid become a predator by feeding on its own
kind. To avoid cannibalistic attitude, sorting should be done by sizes regularly. Those with
smaller size, should be segregated and put in a separate tank. Same sizes should be grown
together.
The disease of mudfish is caused by fungal infection. It can be controlled by maintaining good
water quality in the tank. Any diseased fingerlings should be taken out from them.
After reaching the recommended market size,it will be sold live to wet market. Mudfish can
survive without water for the maximum of one day. It only need their body to keep moist. Others
put the fish in an aquarium big enough to accommodate them to keep them fresh and alive for
buyers.
This fish can be cook, roasted, dried and salted. It is a delicacy if cooked with coconut.

People of todays generation focus more on modern technology that lead to job loss because of
the existence of machines. Instead of hiring employees, companies are now operating machines
in production.
Trough the emergence of modern technology farming was neglected because we were so focus to
technology and for its growth but for the awareness of others farming and agriculture is essential
to the success of society as a whole.
Agriculture and farming was really bound to business and gaining profit. Business is an
organization involved in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Agriculture was
classified as a business that produces raw materials such as plants. Business isnt just about the
ideas; it is about making ideas happen. The importance of this study is the advantage of
amalgamation of both agriculture and business. The purpose of this study is to gain profit, to
increase employment and to broaden the agriculture in particular place.
The propose study of Agricultural Business of Cultivating and Breeding Mudfish came from
traditional fish farming of breeding tilapia which is commonly known in the Philippines.
Breeding Mudfish is one of the thousand ways to earn profit. And it is the best way to expand the
agriculture and business in the country and improve Calauans Aquaculture Industry.
Fishes were aquatic animal; Fish is a limbless cold-blooded vertebrate animal with gills and fins
and living wholly in water. Fish are an important resource for humans worldwide, especially as
food. Commercial and subsistence fishers hunt fish in wild fisheries or farm them in ponds or in
cages in the ocean. They are also caught by recreational fishers, kept as pets, raised by fish
keepers, and exhibited in public aquaria.
Mud fish is a common freshwater fish in the Philippines you can find it everywhere in creeks,
rivers, lagoons, lakes or in small and big irrigation canals and in the muddy fields and ponds.
And it has quite a share of names, aside from the generic dalag, in Cagayan it's generally called
attasi. While in some places, it has a name according to its size or growth. It's called burikaw
when it's quite that big, and buntiek when it's small.
People have tried and study aquaculture also known as aquafarming, are a process of farming
aquatic organisms such as fish. Aquaculture involves cultivating freshwater and saltwater
populations under controlled condition. Calauan Laguna was known for its product such as
pineapple and rice because it is a good location for farming, but for the awareness of others,
Calauan was also a good location for aquaculture. Calauan has good water sources and it is also a
non-flood prone area.
Breeding is the activity of keeping and caring for animals or plants in order to produce more
animals or plants of a particular kind.
The Mudfish is characterized by a long rounded-off body that is green to brown or darker along
the top side fading into a lighter coloration along its underside.
There are different species of mudfish not only in the Philippines but also in other countries.
According to Leanne K. OBrien and Nicholas R. Dunn, Neochanna (commonly called mudfish)
are small, cryptic fish of the Galaxiidae family that exhibit extraordinary survival ability and
amphibious behaviour. Of the six species of Neochanna, five are endemic to New Zealand.
Neochanna species show a continuum of morphological transformation from Galaxias-like
characteristics towards an anguilliform, or eel-like body plan.
Mudfish belongs to the class of Osteichthyes also known as bony fishes. The bony fishes, the
largest and most diverse taxon of all vertebrates originated in the late Silurian.

Bowfins (Amia calva) are basal bony fishes related to gars in the infraclass Holostei. Common
names include mudfish, mud pike, dogfish, griddle, grinnel, cypress trout and choupique. They
are regarded as taxonomic relicts, being the sole surviving species of the order Amiiformes
which dates from the Jurassic to the Eocene, persisting to the present. Although bowfins are
highly evolved, they are often referred to as "primitive fishes" because they have retained some
morphological characteristics of their early ancestors.
Natural habitats are mainly spring fed streams flowing through wetland areas, with watersourced either from hill seepage, or ground water. But they can be found in a wide variety of
habitats, including dams, farm ponds, soakage pits, scour holes, under road culverts, and stock
water races. Mudfish do not need extensive or natural habitats to survive, populations can persist
in small artificial ponds and water races. Canterbury mudfish are considered a clean water
species doing best in habitat with generally high water quality, especially during spring.
The mudfish is a native fresh water fish that is highly-valued as a food fish in many regions of
the country. It is capable of air-breathing through its supra-pharyngeal organs. It matures in about
six months and can grow to a size of 36.5 cm.
The mudfish (channa striata) is an indigenous fish found in lakes, rivers, swamps, mangroves,
and rice paddies. Also called snakehead murrel and locally known as dalag, the fish is sexually
mature at a total length of 22 centimeters (cm) and spawns throughout the year.
Aquaculture for the production of ornamental fish may not be limited by cost factors because the
special challenge of many of the tiny colorful species is to raise them in captivity. Their value is
determined in part by their scarcity and the difficulty of raising them.
Theory of Fishing . Four primary factors determined the size of any exploited marine population.
They are: recruitment of new individuals, growth, deaths due to natural causes, and deaths due to
fishing. By harvesting the resources man directly determines the last factor. His actions also may
indirectly affect the others since they are often interdependent.
After the fishery has operated for some time, lowered natural mortality accelerated growth and
increased recruitment will bring the population into a new state of equilibrium. Increased growth
rates result from the fewer remaining fish having more food available per individual. Reduction
in crowding of the population also may lower disease and parasite infestations and ths provide a
higher survival rate for the remaining individuals.
Cultivation is the management and care of farm animals by humans for profit, in which genetic
qualities and behaviour, considered to be advantageous to humans, are further developed.
Breeding is the reproduction that is, producing of offspring, usually animals or plants which
cooperate over time to produce offspring with some form of a bond between the individuals.
Breeding is a game mechanic that allows animals of the same species to breed with each other to
make new animals. Each type of "domestic" animal has a food item used to lead and breed it.
Input
Land
Human
Physical Labor
Capital
Raw Materials
Mudfish Breeder
Water
Earthworms, maggots, rice bran (as feeds)

Equipments
Shovel
Bamboo Post
Fish nets
Tanks or Drums
Process
Digging
Cultivating
Spawning
Separating
Monitoring
Output
Mudfish

Modes of Distribution of the Mudfish in the Philippines

P. B. SIVICKIS
Top of page
Abstract
ON Luzon, the main island of the Philippine archipelago, there are only two real seasonal
variations, known as the dry and the wet or rainy seasons. During the dry season, October to
May, there is practically no rain. At this time the smaller bodies of water dry out, and lower
fields are covered with cracks, crevices and clods running in all directions. Water remains then
only in isolated deeper ditches, swamps, and larger rivers. During the rainy season, June to
September, everything is flooded. Not only the swamps and ditches, but even the rice fields are
full of water. This is especially true in the eastern part of the island. At this time thousands of
small fish appear in the rice paddies. They are the young of the fish Ophiocephalus striatus
Bloch, which is known in English as mudfish and in Tagalog as dalag. The young fry is known to
Tagalogs either as bulig or as anak nang dalag, that is, the children of dalag.

Cage Designs and Culture Practices

3.2.1 Cage designs
The design of a fishcage for use in an area depends to a large extent upon the depth of water in
the body of water. Generally, floating cage and fixed cage (touching the bottom) designs are used
in deep and shallow lakes and reservoirs, respectively. A cage may have a separate rigid frame
with the netting materials sewn or attached to the skeletal frame.
3.2.1.1 Size of cages.
A fishcage varies in size and the number deployed depends on the production goal and the
available capital. The following data provide an understanding of the prevailing size of fishcage
used in the country:
Cage size
1.
2.
3.

Small/experimental

Width

Length

Depth

(m)

(m)

(m)

a)

11.5

b)

23

1.52

Medium/semi-

a)

34

23

commercial

b)

510

23

Large/commercial

a)

25

50

b)

10

30

3.2.1.2 Materials of construction.

Materials for the construction of fishcages are essentially the same used for fishpen. Bamboo, oil
drums, and styrofoams are commonly used as floats.