By Savithri Rodrigo
(Commonwealth Union)_Two women saw a report on YouTube and decided to plunge into the deep waters of aquarium fishing. Rabeya Khatun and Ashfaqun Nahar, cousins who worked at Ad-din Women’s Medical College in Dhaka leapt head first into aquarium fishing with little experience, but lots of passion.
In 2018, they rented an office in Jhenaidah town, infused an investment of Tk3 lakhs and collected fish fry from hatcheries in Rangpur to take their first steps into fishing for a fortune.
The difference in the cousins’ entrepreneurial thinking is that they decided to look at the beautification aspects of having fish in a home rather than breed varieties of edible fish. “There are several fish farmers who earn good money from selling traditional edible varieties of fish, but knowing that fish have a way of beautifying surroundings and also being therapeutic, we decided to breed aquarium fish instead.”
The enterprising women installed the aquariums themselves adding decorative flowers, plants and coloured stones into the aquariums. The women grow their aquarium fish in ponds and then store them in the tanks in their office for customers to select their choice of fish, whether it’s zebra, angel, white parrot or numerous other species. They have expanded their product portfolio to selling aquariums, air pumps, filters and other germane elements required for domestic aquariums.
The cousins are now the most successful aquarium fish farmers in the region earning about Tk 70,000 per month, spurring the way several others in the town to venture into aquarium fish farming. Customers vary from the affluent to fish enthusiasts to students but the farmers appeal for more promotion and marketing, although appreciating the support given by the District Fisheries Office. Most of these entrepreneurs own their ponds and breeding farms.
Meanwhile the cousins have big plans. They intend purchasing a larger tract of land to expand aquaculture activities making the farm a catalyst for learning, urging those interested in aquaculture to visit the farm and add to their knowledge.
