Bamboo frame cage - Fisheries Farming fish and aquaculture Small scale fish farming_KnO 100028

Small-scale fish farming

Practical Action

Bamboo frame cage

To make a 1m3 bamboo cage, twelve one metre long bamboo sticks (about 2cm in diameter) are

required and fixed into the holes of the angles, one angle for each corner, giving a box shape.

Advantages and disadvantages of fixed and floating cages

Fixed cages

Floating cages

Advantages

 Cost per unit is small

 Not damaged by storms

 Easy cage management

 Cage bags spread properly in the

water

 Easy to construct

 Water volume remains constant even

with a fluctuation in the water level

 Cage can be installed in deep water

 Floating cage with box type frame gives

adequate space inside

 In tidal water bodies the effective cage

depth is greater

Disadvantages

 Water depth inside cage varies with

the fluctuation of the water level

 Vulnerable to tidal surge and storm

 Cage cannot be installed in all types

of water bodies

 Prone to crab cutting

 Poorer fish growth and higher

mortality rate

 Cost per unit is higher than fixed cages

 Algae deposits on cage net affect the

water exchange

 Cage management i.e. cleaning,

moving and sampling are not easy

 Due to water flow sometimes the cage

bag does not spread properly

 Easy to steal fish by lifting the cage

 During flooding may wash away

Cage management

Care of cages – cleaning of aquatic weeds nearby, removal of water hyacinth, cleaning of waste

feeds from cages, cleaning of deposited silts from cage, removal of dead fishes, checking cage

frames, floats, ties, anchors, feeding trays etc., cage shifting, considering the water level,

checking water pollution and guarding.

Care of net – Algae attachment should be cleaned at regular basis to ensure water exchange, net

holes must be checked properly and need quick repairing when necessary.

Care of fish – profitability depends on proper attention to the fish growth, regular, adequate and

quality feeding is important. Fish health and disease should be monitored during feeding and

sampling. The fish must be fed daily using aquatic weed or a mixture of rice bran, oil cakes,

kitchen waste, chopped snails or cow dung.

Minimising risk of cage culture

 Appropriate cage design can help minimise failure.

 The use of more than one cage per household greatly reduces the risk of an individual

losing all fish.

 Placing many cages together in clusters also reduces the risk of poaching.

 Individual farmers can form groups that can guard the fish and therefore considerably

reduce potential poaching threats.