Tan Jiuhe is observing the condition of fish fry. [Photo by Wen Bo]

After years of development, Sanjiao Town, Zhongshan City has been leading the country in fingerling rearing and breeding technologies of snakehead fish and become a main production base of fish fry in China.

The breeding and sales peak of snakehead fish fry falls on the April-to-August period every year. Fish farmers from across the country usually flock to the hatching base in Sanjiao Town to select fry and place orders. 

At 5 am, in the Xinghe Hatching Base, workers were already in position and filling oxygen to the plastic bags containing snakehead fish fry. 

"These bags of more than 1 million fish fry today will be flown to Wujiaqu, a place situated at the foot of northern Mount Tianshan in Xinjiang, where they will be bred indoors and sold directly in the local markets," said Tan Jiuhe, the young owner of the hatching base.

Wujiaqu is located at the foot of northern Mount Bogda of the Tianshan Mountains and in the southern Junggar Basin. It is warm locally from May to October every year, which is suitable for the growth of snakehead fish.

According to Tan, snakehead fish live in tropical zones, so there is certain difficulty on breeding snakehead fish in Northwest China. "We must not miss the breeding season. In addition, we should resort to modern technologies in order to bring snakehead fish to local people's dining-tables and make profits."

Together with his five young partners, Tan has transformed the base into a modern enterprise by renovating the breeding technologies and setting up workshops for spawning, hatching and emerging of fish fry.

Xinghe Hatching Base is just a representative of dozens of fry farms in Sanjiao Town. Their advancement boost the development of the snakehead fish industry and drive rural revitalization.