Kelah at home
Ikan kelah (Tor sp.) is popular among anglers, fish-maniacs and fish eaters. This fish comes with several colours and therefore, there are green, red, blue or ordinary pale colour kelah.
The price for kelah is not all that can afford once cooked and place on your table.
Back in 2007, I began to notice some fingerlings were swimming in my home pond. From then there were more and more batches of kelah fingerlings in my pond. Early this year, I began to look closely about these few batches of fingerlings. Some have grown and some fresh frys of less than a year old. So, in the pond, there were those of less than 1cm total length and the largest were about 6″. In between, there were those of 3cm, 6cm and 10cm total length.
Steven, who heads the fisheries indigenous fish breeding program in Sarawak assured me that those fingerlings are kelah. Ng Chee Kiat was not too sure as there were also tengas, another variety of kelah also in my pond besides the red kelah. Not many known cases of kelah breeds in captivity.
So, did the red kelah bred in my home pond? Anyway, those fingerlings could just be tengas. Whatever they are, these river fishes spawned in my home pond. How natural.
Did fried a few adult kelah from my pond. During cleaning, I noticed the 2 rows of orange-yellow eggs in viceral cavity but best of all, was fulfilling my empty stomach. What a meal! That is what I meant ikan kelah, such a great fish. Never mind about the fingerlings in my pond.
Filed under: Pond Management
