Read this article on fish farming and these fish can under prime conditions grow fasted than salmon or sea bass.
A Prehistoric White Fish Called Paiche is Still Raised in Peru | World | TIME.com
Local governments see fish farming using paiche as a potential boom industry. The regional government in Ucayali, in the eastern Amazon, is stocking lakes with paiche and encouraging its use in fish farming as an alternative to coca, from which cocaine is made. Regional President Jorge Velasquez says paiche could become a huge income-earner for coca farmers switching to licit activities. “We are telling the coca farmers that we can help them install fish-farming ponds. One hectare (2.5 acres) of pasture for cattle produces 400 pounds of meat, but this same hectare can produce 20,000 pounds of fish in fish-farming ponds,” he said.
If cultivated under optimal conditions, paiches can reach up to 20 pounds in less than a year, said Velasquez. Paiche is much easier to raise and grows much faster than better known fish-farmed species, such as salmon or sea bass.
The idea of paiche farming is starting to catch on in a big way. Fish farming produced 465 tons of paiche in 2011, up from 52 tons the previous year and only 3.3 tons in 2009. It is now fourth in terms of farmed fish in Peru, after trout, tilapia and gamitana, sometimes known as tambaqui in English, another jungle fish, according to the Production Ministry.
A Prehistoric White Fish Called Paiche is Still Raised in Peru | World | TIME.com
Local governments see fish farming using paiche as a potential boom industry. The regional government in Ucayali, in the eastern Amazon, is stocking lakes with paiche and encouraging its use in fish farming as an alternative to coca, from which cocaine is made. Regional President Jorge Velasquez says paiche could become a huge income-earner for coca farmers switching to licit activities. “We are telling the coca farmers that we can help them install fish-farming ponds. One hectare (2.5 acres) of pasture for cattle produces 400 pounds of meat, but this same hectare can produce 20,000 pounds of fish in fish-farming ponds,” he said.
If cultivated under optimal conditions, paiches can reach up to 20 pounds in less than a year, said Velasquez. Paiche is much easier to raise and grows much faster than better known fish-farmed species, such as salmon or sea bass.
The idea of paiche farming is starting to catch on in a big way. Fish farming produced 465 tons of paiche in 2011, up from 52 tons the previous year and only 3.3 tons in 2009. It is now fourth in terms of farmed fish in Peru, after trout, tilapia and gamitana, sometimes known as tambaqui in English, another jungle fish, according to the Production Ministry.
