Vietnams Ornamental Fish Swimming In Foreign-made Tanks

The Neon Tetra Paracheirodon innesi (Myers, 1936) is popular among tropical fish hobbyists. It looks colorful under special lights in an expensive aquarium. 

In order to have a high-quality aquarium, buyers have to spend at least VND10 million. The amount of money depends on the design of the aquarium and the number of fish. One Neon Tetra fish sells for VND10,000 in the market.

Thien Duc in Cu Chi district is one of the largest Neon Tetra farms in HCMC. Tens of workers there have to take care of the fish bred on a 5,000 square meter campus, divided in many blocks. 

The majority of the fish bred there will be exported to Europe, the US and several other countries. “Our farm focuses on Neon King. We now have 40,000 parents of Neon King breeding fish which can produce 300,000-400,000 fish a month. The fish brings  revenue of $500,000 a year,” said Le Huu Thien, general director of Thien Duc Company.

“After reaching agreements and signing contracts with partners, Thien Duc will ship fish by air after fulfilling legal procedures,” Thien said.

It takes Thien Duc five to seven days to prepare for every consignment of exports, including preparation in administrative procedures. The fish will be quarantined before they are packed and carried to the airport.

Farming ornamental fish for domestic consumption and export has become a movement in HCMC. 

The city’s Fisheries Sub-department reported that 16.25 million of ornamental fish were exported in the first 10 months of 2017, an increase of 14.5 percent compared with the same period last year, worth $17.58 million, an increase of 20.6 percent compared with the same period last year.

Ornamental fish produced in HCMC are exported to 52 markets, including the European market which consumes 60 percent. Fish are also exported to Asia, America and South Africa.

HCMC plans to export 20 million ornamental fish and earn $20-25 million in export turnover in 2017 before it gains turnover of $40-50 million by 2020.

However, it is not easy to reach that goal. There are about 300 fish production facilities in the city which breed 17 species of popular fish and can produce 135 million fish a year. 

Most of them have small scale and don’t have many products to sell. As they farm fish in accordance with traditional methods with modest investment, the production cost is high.

RELATED NEWS

HCM City to export 40m ornamental fish

HCM City casts a bigger net for ornamental fish market

Mai Chi