Koi fish, noble fish, Japanese national fish, are raised densely in a commune of Nam Dinh, people's lives change, families become rich.

Tan Khanh Production and Trading Cooperative in Phong Coc village, Minh Tan commune (Vu Ban district, Nam Dinh province) was established in 2021 with 16 members specializing in the production and trading of Koi fish, a species of fish considered the 'national fish of Japan'.

With a farming scale of more than 30 hectares, each year the cooperative supplies the market with over 100 tons of Koi fish. Recently, Tan Khanh Production and Trade Cooperative is one of 63 cooperatives recognized by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union as a typical cooperative commune nationwide in 2024.

When it comes to Tan Khanh, when mentioning the "Koi Fish King", no local person does not know Mr. Pham Duc Thuan, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director of Tan Khanh Production and Trading Cooperative.

This aquatic species introduced as a "noble" pet is an ornamental fish originating from Japan, currently sought after in the market.

Not only is he one of the pioneers in bringing Koi fish back to add to the list of valuable aquatic animals, Mr. Thuan is also the "locomotive" that has helped the local Koi fish farming industry develop steadily, bringing great economic benefits to farmers.

The cooperative not only produces commercial fish but also successfully raises fish fry to supply the market; links with more than 100 agents specializing in buying and selling ornamental fish across the country to consume products for members.

He currently owns a 7.2-hectare Koi fish farm that is scientifically planned with a system of closely linked ponds, a system of nurseries, and a complete oxygen-aerator system, with a roof to protect from the sun and rain...

To have a stable farm like today, Mr. Thuan had to go through many failures, difficulties and hardships.

In the early 2000s, Mr. Thuan was still working as an underground construction worker for Hoa Binh Electricity Corporation with a salary of 12 million VND/month. However, he always had a dream of "getting rich in his homeland", so he gave up his job with a salary that many people dreamed of at that time to return to his hometown to start a business.

Realizing his "reckless" dream starting from zero, Mr. Thuan began digging ponds and raising traditional fish such as black carp, grass carp, common carp, bighead carp, etc. However, the reality was not as simple as he thought, raising traditional fish was increasingly facing fierce competition, fish prices were getting cheaper, and diseases were causing production costs to increase.

All the capital and effort he had invested in the fish pond did not yield much profit, so he decided to switch to a new species. Through TV and the internet, he noticed that Koi carp - a type of ornamental fish known as the "national fish" of Japan - was "hot", so he focused on researching it.

Every year, Tan Khanh Production and Trading Cooperative, Minh Tan Commune, Vu Ban District (Nam Dinh Province) sells to the market over 100 tons of Koi fish, a "noble" fish species considered the "national fish of Japan".

After reading all the information related to this fish species, he realized that the locality had a lot of potential to develop this species, so he decided to try raising Koi fish.

Mr. Thuan shared: “Realizing that Koi carp is an easy-to-raise species with high economic value, in 2010, I boldly invested more than 100 million VND to buy 10 pairs of purebred parent Koi carp, bringing them home to raise, learn from experience, and research and consult on how to breed and crossbreed Koi carp.

However, at this time, the provincial market did not "favor" Koi carp, I brought them to sell, people just looked at them but no one bought them. For more than 2 years, I managed to find the market by myself by creating a website, advertising on Facebook and "traveling" to all the provinces to offer products to agents.

Up to now, Mr. Thuan has had a wide network of Koi fish consumption markets throughout the country. In particular, after many years of working and researching, drawing on techniques, he has understood the habits and successfully domesticated parent pairs of Koi carp; grasped the breeding and crossbreeding process to build and develop many high-quality Koi carp lines, which are well received by the market.

The Koi fish farming area was gradually expanded to 7.2 hectares; divided into many ponds with different sizes such as: fish with length from 20-50cm, from 50-80cm... On average, each year his family supplies the market with over 30 tons of Koi carp.

Witnessing Mr. Thuan's success, some households in the area also invested in the Koi fish farming model and Mr. Thuan did not hesitate to support and share Koi fish farming techniques and experience.

In 2021, Mr. Thuan campaigned to establish Tan Khanh Production and Trade Cooperative with 16 members, building a closed value chain from production, supplying breeds to consuming Koi carp products.

In this chain, Mr. Thuan directly produces and supplies fish to members of the cooperative. With many years of experience in raising Koi carp, Mr. Thuan has bred and purebred dozens of high-quality Koi carp lines with brilliant colors such as white, red, yellow, white-red-black, white-yellow-red, black-yellow, etc.

Cooperative members share experiences in caring for and instructing on techniques to prevent and control diseases in fish. Not only supporting, sharing techniques, experiences and sources of breeds, Mr. Thuan also organizes cooperation with agents to consume products in strong markets such as Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hanoi... to ensure stable output for members' products.

To ensure disease safety for Koi fish, members of Tan Khanh Production and Trading Cooperative pay special attention to water quality; disease prevention for fish according to season, weather and diet.

Each year, Koi fish can be raised 2 batches/crops, each batch is raised for 4-5 months until the fish reach a weight of about 400g, at which point they can be sold. The longer the Koi carp is raised and the larger the individual weight, the higher the economic value. A beautiful Koi fish must ensure many criteria from shape, head, fins, scales, tail, origin...

The lowest type costs 150-200 thousand VND/kg, while purebred Koi fish with eye-catching, unique and strange colors, nearly 1 meter long, weighing tens of kilograms can be valued by fish connoisseurs at up to tens of millions of VND per fish.

Currently, the market demand for Koi carp is growing, while in the province there are very few addresses providing this fish breed, so the consumption of Koi carp of the Cooperative is very favorable, as soon as the fish are harvested, they are purchased by customers inside and outside the province. Each year, the Cooperative supplies the market with over 100 tons of Koi fish. Many members of the Cooperative have changed their lives thanks to the high income from raising Koi carp.

Last September, Tan Khanh Production and Trade Cooperative, Minh Tan Commune (Vu Ban District, Nam Dinh Province) was honored to be one of 63 typical cooperatives nationwide in 2024, established by the Vietnam Farmers' Union, promoted, mobilized, and supported by the Central Union.

The ceremony to honor 63 outstanding cooperatives took place on the evening of October 14, 2024 on the occasion of the 94th Anniversary of the Vietnam Farmers' Union. This is the motivation for Tan Khanh Production and Trade Cooperative to continue to invest in expansion and sustainable production development.

Source: https://danviet.vn/ca-koi-ca-quy-toc-quoc-ngu-nhat-ban-nuoi-day-dac-o-mot-xa-cua-nam-dinh-dan-doi-doi-nha-giau-len-20241115124329417.htm