"Mountain fish" on the top of Den Sang

After a long journey from Lao Cai ward, through winding roads, we arrived at Mr. Luu Van Quang's cold water fish farm in Ngai Cho village, Den Sang commune.

Here, Mr. Quang mainly raises sturgeon. It is the middle of a hot summer day but the weather here is as cool as early winter. The sound of water flowing from the taps into the tanks is loud all day and night.

Mr. Quang is a native of the lowlands who came to Bat Xat to start a business. One time when he set foot in Den Sang, he saw the cool climate, with four seasons in a day. Mr. Quang suddenly had the idea of exploiting this potential to raise cold-water fish. And then in 2011, from the land full of gravel and rocks, Mr. Quang leveled and built a cold-water fish farm with six experimental tanks.

Den Sang is a difficult highland area with inconvenient transportation. He determined that investing in cold water fish farming would require a large investment, but he still decided to do it. While farming, he gained experience and made a profit, so he continued to invest in building tanks and producing fish fry.

Up to now, Mr. Quang's farm has 40 tanks with 3,000m2 ^of water surface. Cold water fish farming requires a large investment but also has many risks. To be successful, one must be persistent. If one fish crop is successful, one can achieve a dream income.

Taking us around the tanks divided by age of coldwater fish, Mr. Quang proudly introduced the results. However, he could not hide his sadness due to the damage of several billion VND in the historic storm No. 3 in September 2024.

Stopping at the large fish tank right in front of the camp gate, Mr. Quang asked us: "Has anyone ever seen a sturgeon weighing more than 50kg?"

Thinking it was a humorous joke from the farm owner, Mr. Quang and the fish farm engineer put on boots, operated the system to lower the water level in the tank, then waded down to catch a fish weighing more than 50kg for us to see.

With great difficulty, Mr. Quang and the farm engineer caught the giant sturgeon. The two skillfully lifted the fish out of the water, one by the head and the other by the tail. The fish thrashed around, splashing water, causing Mr. Quang to fall over in the tank several times.

In the tank, there are 6 sturgeons like that, raised by Mr. Quang since 2011 as a "memento". The age of these fish is calculated to be 14 years old. Sturgeon care techniques only need to pay attention to disease prevention when under 1 year old, from 1 year old and up, the resistance is quite good, feeding with enough nutrition will help the fish grow in weight remarkably.

“These giant sturgeons, we call them “mountain fish” because they are raised in the mountains. They are like friends who started my cold-water fish farming business. I keep them in the tank, feed them every day, and watching them swim around in the water makes me feel happy and joyful,” Mr. Quang excitedly shared.

In addition to the 6 giant sturgeons, Mr. Quang’s farm also has 400 fish weighing from 10 to 20 kg each. Many people have asked to buy the giant “mountain fish” but he refuses to sell them, while fish weighing from 10 to 20 kg can be sold for a high price.

Not sharing much about the profits from cold water fish farming, when asked, Mr. Quang modestly said: "Just enough to eat" but anyone can estimate the current value of this farm at several tens of billions of dong. Each year, the farm exports 40 - 50 tons of fish to the market, with an average selling price of 150,000 VND/kg.

Not keeping his success to himself, Mr. Quang shared his experience in raising cold-water fish with some households in the village. Now, many households in the area have built fish tanks and have a stable source of income from raising cold-water fish. His fish farm alone also creates jobs for 10 local workers with an average income of 6-8 million VND/person/month.

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/son-ngu-tren-dinh-den-sang-post648169.html