Large-scale sandfish production from pond culture in Vietnam

In recent years the farming of sandfish (Holothuria scabra) has been adopted by a number of farmers in south-central Vietnam. Hundreds of thousands of hatchery-produced juvenile sandfish have been stocked into ponds in the region. Broodstock were collected from the wild in Khanh Hoa province and from commercial culture ponds at 40–500 g weight. The broodstock were stored in a holding pond at a low density without adding feed. Animals of average weight (~350 g) were then transferred to conditioning tanks about 1 month prior to spawning. Indoor conditioning tanks were prepared with a sandy substrate and sand-filtered water supply. The animals were fed with fine shrimp feed. Simplified hatchery methods using cheap and basic equipment have been refined over the past decade, and consistent batches of juveniles can now be produced at will, with around 50,000 competent juveniles produced from batches of 2 million eggs.

Sandfish were cultivated in ponds with muddy-sand or coral-sand substrates using simplified techniques and locally developed management methods. The results of model sandfish culture ponds in three provinces proved that these methods can be profitable for farmers in these coastal areas. The constraints to commercial sandfish pond culture in Vietnam are no longer pond management or the price paid by the dealers, but density limits and culture duration.