4 - Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture

Nat~onal Workshop-cum-Training on Blolnformatics and Information M8napOmOnt in Aquaculture
TECHNOLOGICAL INFORMATION ON ORNAMENTAL
FISHES- A RESOURCE FOR ENTREPRENEURS
S. K. swain' and N.K. Barik
Abstract
Information is the resources as the entrepreneurs with right technological
information can earn more by setting ornamental fish unit in the rural as well as
urban centers. Fish keeping today is the world's most popular hobby after
photography and ornamental fish are the most popular pets in the world.
Keeping ornamental fish and its propagation provides not only aesthetic pleasure
but also an excellent employment opportunity to many especially for unemployed
youth, women and others through construction of small-backyard units. it has
got a tremendous export potential for earning foreign exchange for the country.
In this article attempt has been made to discuss about various aspects culture
and some model economics of breeding and culture of ornamental fishes. The
status of ornamental fish breeding and culture in the country is reviewed.
1. Introduction
Ornamental fish farming is a promising sector within 'aquaculture which creates
ample opportunities in terms of the growth, generating income and employment
to the large number of the unemployed youth in the country side. At present only
a fraction of the domestic and international potential is harnessed. But, in recent
times, the sector has shown faster growth due to concentrated efforts of the
farmers and entrepreneurs to take up the ornamental fish farming as mean of
their business and livelihood. A large number of the stakeholders' i.e. fishers,
farmers, breeders, traders, vendors, transporters and exporters are involved in
the sector. The whole business of the ornamental fish trade is based on the
supply of the fishes from two primary sources i.e. wild collection and captive
breeding. There is a wide apprehension on the environmental impact of the wild
collection and it has a damaging effect on the threatened fish biodiversity in the
country. Therefore, captive breeding is the primary approach for the sustainable
development of the enterprises. The breeding not only reduce the pressure from
the nature to a considerable degree, but provides in-vivo means of germplasm
conservation through culture. Therefore, development of the breeding technology
is indentified as the critical and priority for sustainable development of the
sector. The paper reviews the development of the breeding technology of the
ornamental fishes in India with some salient,aspects of the technology.
ORNAMENTAL FISH SPECIES FOR COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION
Important groups of egg-layers are barbs, rasboras, goldfish, tetras, danios,
bettas and gouramis and the major livebearers are guppies, platies, mollies and
swordtails. Barbs are the most important group and most species of the group
are known to have originated from India, viz., rosy barb (Puntius conchonius),
' Correspondence: Saroj Kumar Swain, Principal Scientist, CIFA, Bhubaneswar-751002,
Email: sarojswain2008@gmail.corn or swain~saroj2002@rediffmail.com
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