Breeding in Indonesia

If you ask Rajanta S. Rahardja, founder of the Bellenz Fish Farm in Indone­sia, about his company’s philosophy, he gives a simple answer: “Our aim is to nurture and breed rare and exotic fish naturally.” Above all, this means getting to know the fish in detail before collecting them for breeding at the fish farm. “We always want to know how the fish live in nature. We do not have to go to nature ourselves, but we can study them in the literature from books and the web. We strongly believe that when we give them the best living conditions, they will thrive and breed well naturally.” This theory seems to have been proven, because since it was established in 1999, Bellenz Farm can look back on an entirely positive history. “We started the farm with an aquarium holding capacity of 54 000 l and 63 000 l of holding capacity in cement tanks. Since then our capacity has increased significantly. Today our holding capacity is around 830 000 l for the aquariums and 570 000 l for the cement tanks,” says Rajanta S. Rahardja. The company, which now occupies premises covering 8 000 m² on a 24 000 m² site, employs 19 staff. After 10 years of expansion, the fish farm presented itself to an international audience at Aqua-rama in Singapore in 2009. Further trade show appearances followed at Aquarama 2011 and the Interzoo fair in Nuremberg in 2010 and 2012. Selling fish to suppliers and major exporters In Indonesia, breeders mostly sell their products to fish raisers, suppliers to major exporters or directly to exporters. In the past history of the Bellenz Fish Farm, the Rahardjas have sold their fish only to suppliers. Now, however, besides selling their fish to the suppliers, they are also selling fish directly to major exporters or sending the fish directly to international importers via the export division, which was created in 2007. “Almost all of our fish are sold to the international market and are shipped to Europe (Germany, France, Russia and Belgium) and Asia (Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Hong Kong and the Philippines).” In supplying these markets, the company wants to show the customers there that there are alternative means of having beautiful healthy fish that are bred and raised in tanks instead of buying fish caught in the wild. “For that reason we would like to produce the fish in good numbers so that everyone, every­where can enjoy the beauty of our fish,” emphasises Rajanta Rahardja. Producing fish for everyone means, according to the Bellenz founder…