Hello THE WEEKEND LOVERS, greetings from umirais, this is my first time taking part in a challenge in THE WEEKEND community, I saw a challenge that really caught my attention, between yes and no to take this challenge, then I ventured to take part in this week's challenge (I hope you are still given the opportunity to take on challenges in this community next time), yes I really like challenges, because they make my adrenaline flow faster than my heart rate.
There are 3 choices that I can choose in this week's challenge, so I decided to choose option number 3, namely:
🔹Option three🔹
Have you, or anyone you know, ever turned a hobby into a business or opportunity to make a few dollars on the side.
woouw this challenge describes me 🥰🥰🥰
I really like fish since childhood, if you ask me why? I don't even know the exact answer why I like these fish so much. I keep several types of ornamental fish and fish consumption. The ornamental fish that I have kept are koi fish, arowana fish, louhan fish and moly fish. But it turns out that my love for these fish actually makes these fish die 😭😭😭 because I don't have enough time to love them. They are ornamental fish that are kept for decoration, so they need "more attention" to make these ornamental fish that are worthy of display and decoration.
This is the moly fish that I keep in the aquarium, the moly fish is a type of fish that has good adaptability, even though I didn't change the water for up to 2 months without the help of any tools, the moly fish were able to survive and reproduce.
After seeing my fish leave me one by one, I realized that my "lust" to keep these fish killed them, so I switched from keeping ornamental fish to raising consumption fish.
But what kind of fish consumption should I keep? Because there are many considerations that I have to think about before raising consumption fish. At first I wanted to keep goldfish, but because I don't have a drain for a pond and also don't have a continuous flow of water (such as irrigation) I don't keep goldfish (one of the most popular consumption fish in Indonesia).
I decided to keep catfish, catfish is one type of freshwater fish that is easy to maintain, this is because catfish can live and survive in muddy water with low oxygen levels
My children really like fried catfish that's why I decided to keep catfish. At first I just tried to make a small tub measuring 3 x 6 meters and filled it with 1000 catfish, because it's just a hobby I don't intend to sell it.
I did not expect that in just a short time of 75 days, this catfish grows very fast, some weighing up to 500 grams per head. After I keep it for up to 120 days, some of them weigh up to 1 kilogram per head, I'm so excited.
In Indonesia, there is a habit of sharing with neighbors and friends during the first harvest. So I distributed a few kilograms of ready to harvest catfish to my neighbors and friends. The friends I gave my pet catfish to were surprised, because usually after eating the catfish they bought at the market, they often experienced allergies and their skin became itchy. But why when eating the catfish that I raise, they are fine and not allergic?
it turns out that the type of feed we give affects the quality of the fish we keep. Since then, I have received orders non-stop from friends and even residents around where I live, because the catfish that I raise do not cause them allergies.
I feed pellets from the manufacturer for my catfish, besides that I provide additional feed in the form of chicken intestines which I get from chicken slaughterers around my house. I boil this chicken intestine before I give it to my catfish, that's why my catfish has a very fast growth, apart from pellets and intestines, I don't give any other feed.
Besides catfish, I also keep carp, here are my activities in the carp pond cleaning water hyacinth plants that overgrow in the pond, carp really like water hyacinth for food, but if it grows excessively it will reduce oxygen levels in the pond and consequently My carp doesn't get oxygen
Because of the many requests from residents around where I live, so I decided to make an additional pond with a capacity of 20.000 catfish that are ready to harvest every 90 days. I never thought that my simple hobby would become my source of income to make money.
I sell carp to consumers 15,000 rupiah per kilogram and for carp 35,000 rupiah per kilogram.
it turns out that sacrificing for our hobbies by spending extra money doesn't always bear bad results, the most important thing is how we love our hobbies, so as to make us feel comfortable and calm after being tired from the daily routine. Isn't that the main purpose of a "hobby" to create calm and divert a little time from the world that goes on.
I hope to be able to develop my hobby by making a few more ponds and being able to provide jobs for people in need around me, please pray for and support me, friends.
All photos I take using the Iphone 7 plus camera.