Method of Ompok (pabda) and Gulsha Fish Culture

Pabda and gulsha fishes are available in beel, haor, river, pond and lake. These fishes are very tasty. That�s why; demand and market price of the fishes are comparatively high. Pabda fish is 15-30 cm long, flattened body and back side gradually thinner than front side. Mouth is very wide and curved. Lower jaw is wider than upper jaw and two pair long barbs are present in the front side of mouth. Dorsal fin is small, anal fin is very long and tail is divided into two parts. Color of upper level (dorsal) is grayish silver whereas belly side (ventral) is white. Black spots are found in the back of the operculum nearer to the neck. A yellowish stripe may be found on the lining of backbone. Pabda fish breeds from May to August. Maximum breeding can be carried out at June-July.

Gulsha fish is 15-23 cm long and body flattened from side. Dorsal side is curved, mouth is small, upper jaw is slightly enlarged. 4 pair barbs are present in mouth. Dorsal and operculum fin are with long spine. Coat color is olive grey, lower part is slightly light. A bluish stripe is found on the lining of backbone. They lay once a year. Breeding season of gulsha fish is from June to September. Maximum breeding can be carried out at July-August.

Importance of Pabda and Gulsha Culture:

1. High demand in the market and price is comparatively higher than other fishes. So, it is possible to increase income of rural people by the culture of these fishes.
2. Much quantity of various protein and micronutrients are available in their body.
3. Very tasty to eat.
4. Method of culture is easy.
5. Fries can be produced by artificial breeding, so, they can be easily available.
6. They can be cultured not only in annual pond but also in seasonal pond as well as in shallow water body.
7. They grow rapidly and that�s why they can be marketed at 5-6 months.

Selection of Pond for Culture:

Generally, these two types fishes can be cultured in pond of 15-20 decimal area where water remains for 7-8 months. The depth of the pond should be 1-1.5 metre.

Pond Preparation

The bank of the pond should be repaired and the aquatic weeds should be cleaned out. No big trees should be available in the bank of pond. If remain, scrapping them so that no tree leaves and shady fall on to the pond. Predator and unnecessary fishes are removed out from the pond. After that, lime should be applied in the pond at the rate of 1 kg per decimal. After 5-7 days of applying lime in the pond, 6-8 kg cow dung, 100g urea and TSP 50g should be applied per decimal.

Fry Stocking

After 3-4 days of applying fertilizer, fries with 3-4g weight can be stocking at the rate of 250 fries per decimal. Fries should be released in the pond at morning or afternoon; or at cool weather of the day. Fries should not be released directly in the pond just after taking. Before releasing fries in the pond, water is to be purified by potash or salt and fries are to be adjusted with pond water.

Feed Ingredients	Mixing Rate (%)	Feed apply method
Fish meal	30	Feed should be supplied on the tray placing into the water at the rate of 5-6% of the body weight daily two times (morning and afternoon)
Meat and bone meal	10
Mustard oil cake	15
Soybean oil cake	20
Rice polish	20
Flour	4
Vitamin mineral premix	1

Feed Supply

Ingredients for preparing supplementary feed of pabda and tengra fish and their mixing rate.

Application of Fertilizer

For making natural feed along with supplementary feed, 4-5 kg decomposed cow dung per decimal can be supplied in liquid condition in a sunny day after every 7-15 days.

Management:

Care should be taken whether fish can take feed regularly or not. Before giving feed on tray, it should be checked whether fish took previous day�s feed completely or not. Amount of providing less feed should be the equal amount of leftover feed. Amount of feed should be fixed by evaluating body growth of fishes collected by netting twice a month. Horra can be pulled in the pond once a week. Water will be added from outside if the water level is less in the pond. If water transparency remains within 25 cm (secchi disk depth), application of fertilizer can be stopped.

Fish Collection

Gulsha fish becomes 40-45g weight at 6 months and pabda fish 30-35g weight at 7-8 months of age. This size of pabda fish can be collected by seine net and on the other hand, gulsha can be collected by drying the pond.