# Fish-Rice Farming



## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

http://knowledge.allianz.com/health...iculture-biodiversity-rice-fish-farming-china

One of the reasons I got into planted tanks was because I loved the idea of a self-sustaining plant-animal ecosystem. Therefore, I find rice-fish farming to be an awesomely fascinating practice. Can there be a better expression of the power of natural synergy?

Ideally, ALL farming practices should be like this!


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## bigfishy (Jun 19, 2009)

Forest farming / Agroforestry is the other way


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## chinamon (Jun 16, 2012)

i wonder what would happen if i planted only rice in my shrimp tanks?


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## Scotmando (Jul 10, 2011)

chinamon said:


> i wonder what would happen if i planted only rice in my shrimp tanks?


*As Quoted in the article

"Don't the fish eat the rice?
To stop them nibbling on the young rice plants, farmers feed the fish with green grasses and other feeds. But there are plenty more sources of fish food in the paddies: ones that the farmers are glad to get rid of.

Fish eat pests such as stemborer and leaffolder and so they reduce the need for pesticides. They also eat weeds that choke rice paddies and bacteria such as sheath blight disease and disease-infected leaves, thus reducing herbicide use."*

Rice grows in water, but also high above it.

And rice being a grass, needs full sun exposure, outside.

You can start a rice paddy, with your shrimps, in your backyard!

Good article though.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Scotmando said:


> Rice grows in water, but also high above it.
> 
> And rice being a grass, needs full sun exposure, outside.
> 
> ...


Yes, I've actually had thoughts along those lines, but the biggest problem with emersed plants is their high light requirement.

If I lived in a tropical climate, I would definitely want to build an outdoors pond with CRS/CBS. I would add some zebra mussels to keep the water crystal clear.


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

This is why I buy organic rice.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

characinfan said:


> This is why I buy organic rice.


The problem with organic food is that it relies on the environmental and health consciousness of the consumer, who would have to be willing to pay extra for organic food.

The beauty of fish-rice farming is that it can produce just as much, if not more, rice as rice-only farming, and the farmer gets an extra harvest of fish to supplement both his diet and his income.

So instead of putting financial burdens on the consumer, fish-rice farming helps the environment by actually making farmers earn more income!


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

Fish-rice farming is a subtype of organic farming. If farmers use pesticides, it poisons fish, too. It would be great if more farmers stopped using pesticides and started raising fish.

If rice is certified organic, there may not be fish in the paddies. . . but there's no reason why there can't be.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

characinfan said:


> Fish-rice farming is a subtype of organic farming. If farmers use pesticides, it poisons fish, too. It would be great if more farmers stopped using pesticides and started raising fish.
> 
> If rice is certified organic, there may not be fish in the paddies. . . but there's no reason why there can't be.


Well there are certain technical hurdles that you have to overcome with fish-rice farming.

First, you need to dig trenches with serve as refuge for fishes in dry season and when draining the field. The trenches takes up space which could otherwise be used for more rice plants.

Second, if your neighbors are using chemicals, then it will kill your fishes.

Third, you need to know how to keep fishes. 

I know that the US is a major producer of rice, but it doesn't seem as if this practice of growing fishes in rice fields has much traction there.


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