The 'hard-working' guy earned billions thanks to snake and fish

Starting a business from 200 snake breeds

Mr. Cuong said that in the past, his family's financial situation was difficult, and if he pursued a career that required a large investment, it would be a big obstacle for him. Many local young people were in a similar situation, so they went to work far away in big cities. Mr. Cuong chose to stay in his hometown, cherishing the idea of ​​starting a business by raising snakehead fish, so as not to spend money on food sources; because since he was a child, he had a "talent" for hunting fish and catching snails in the fields.

Mr. Cuong has built 30 cement tanks and 15 net cages under the pond to raise snakehead fish. PHOTO: THANH DUY

After graduating from high school, Cuong dropped out of school and applied to work as a militia in the commune. At the same time, he started a business raising snakes at home. "I decided to raise this snake because I saw a lot of potential. One of the reasons is that the price of snakes is always high. Especially now it is not easy to catch this animal in the natural environment, so the market is always in demand, there is no fear of output problems," Cuong shared.

Because he did not have many conditions, Mr. Cuong was determined to start a business with the spirit of saving little by little to make a big difference. Initially, he only bought about 200 snake breeds. With the thought of "hard work to make up for the investment capital", he went every day to set up roofs and baits to have a source of food for the snakes. At the beginning, raising snake breeds was a new economic model in the locality, so Mr. Cuong managed all the stages in the breeding process himself. With no experience, more than 200 snake breeds were lost by half, but for Cuong, that was already a success.

With 100 surviving snakes, after 18 months of raising, Mr. Cuong was able to raise the first brood of fish snakes, then raise them to reproduce to multiply the herd. Mr. Cuong said: "Around May - June, when it rains, fish snakes will start to reproduce. They will reproduce once a year, but the productivity is quite high. On average, the first time a female snake reproduces, she will give birth to about 12 babies, the second year will give birth to 25 - 30 babies, the third year can be even higher. If properly cared for, the lifespan of a mother snake is more than 10 years".

The snake and fish farming model brings Mr. Cuong an income of more than 1 billion VND per year. PHOTO: THANH DUY

20-day-old snake. PHOTO: THANH DUY

Income billions per year

After 2 years of breeding, the source of parent snakes was relatively sufficient, Mr. Cuong started selling baby snakes to have funds to expand the scale of breeding. Up to now, he has built 30 cement tanks (6 m2), 15 net cages (4 m2) under the pond to raise snakes. With that area, he left about 1,000 parent snakes to maintain the number of the herd, the rest is sold.

Each time the snakes reproduce, Mr. Cuong will have different breeding techniques to sell baby snakes, meat snakes and parent snakes. Baby snakes raised for 1 month will be sold for 40,000 VND/snake, 2 months old snakes will be sold for 60,000 VND/snake. Meanwhile, meat snakes and parent snakes are sold for 400,000 - 500,000 VND/kg.

According to Mr. Cuong, the fish snake has high resistance and rarely gets sick; it mainly gets lung disease when the environment is cold, so in the months before Tet, you must pay special attention to changing the water. A tank with sunlight will be more effective. The fish snake's favorite food is fish with scales, such as tilapia, goby, snakehead fish, perch, etc.

In addition to raising snakes at home, Mr. Cuong also provides snakehead fish breeds, combining breeding with many farmers and young people in and outside the locality. For those in need, based on his experience, Mr. Cuong will support with techniques, choose breeds, advise on care methods, improve ponds, medicine, disease prevention and treatment methods... Those who do not have the conditions to start a business like him before, he will advance breeds, guarantee output so that they can confidently implement the model.

Notably, during the startup process, Mr. Cuong built a YouTube channel to share knowledge about raising snakehead fish. To date, his YouTube channel has 822,000 subscribers, posting more than 1,000 videos.

Currently, every day, Mr. Cuong sells about 50 kg of adult snakehead fish, 200 - 300 snakehead fish, through many methods such as e-commerce platforms, social networks, and direct sales. After deducting all expenses, he pockets about 1.5 billion VND per year on average. From nothing, after more than 10 years of persistently pursuing his passion, his story of getting rich from the snakehead fish model has motivated many people. Recently, Mr. Cuong won first prize in the 2025 Hau Giang Province Youth Startup Competition.

Mr. Luong Hoang Phuc, Deputy Secretary of Tan Phuoc Hung Commune Youth Union, Phung Hiep District (Hau Giang), said that the youth start-up movement in the locality is currently flourishing, with many models such as raising eels, frogs, fish, etc. However, Mr. Cuong's snakehead fish farming model is the brightest spot in terms of income and spread. With its efficiency and stability, many young people inside and outside the commune have come to visit, learn, and replicate the model. Mr. Cuong's start-up story is very inspiring, because he was the first person to initiate the snakehead fish farming model in the locality, succeeding from a low starting point, especially by his own efforts.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/chang-trai-can-cu-bu-von-kiem-tien-ti-nho-ran-ri-ca-185250329181312775.htm