The site

Geographical location

Betta Lover farm is situated in Bukit Payong (5.2238° N, 103.1075° E), a village area in Terengganu state that is approximately 450 km from Malaysia capital city, Kuala Lumpur. It can be easily accessed by land. The owner lives on site and the part time workers come from neighbouring area as well. The closest town, Kuala Terengganu, is only few kilometres away and the farm can get easy access to basic supplies and equipment, when needed.

Demography of Bukit Payong

Bukit Payong (est. pop. 2010 census: 26790) is a town in the Marang district of Terengganu, on the east coast of peninsular Malaysia. The population comprises 95.85% Malays, 4% Chinese and 0.15% of other races. The town borders with the district of Kuala Terengganu. It houses several government departments such as Jabatan Pertanian, Jabatan Haiwan, Peladang, and Pejabat Pos. There are two shopping centres; Pasaraya Seri Intan and Kedai Wahab. There are also a lot of bundle shops in the town as well as facilities such as banks, a futsal hall, police station, civic hall, clinics, health centres and schools. The East Coast Expressway interchange also exits here. It is also the seat of the state constituency of the same name. Source: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org

Water source and quality

The facility draws bore water by installing a deep pipe underground at the location site. As many other places in East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia, a well is dug at about 30-45 feet deep and pump is put in. The water will then be pumped for usage. Quality of water will be varied according to places, however as the water in the ground goes through natural filtration system through the rocks, clay and sand, the water that comes out will be clear with slightly higher mineral content. (picture pending)

Weather and climate

Similar to other state in Peninsular Malaysia, Terengganu is fairly hot and humid all year around with the exception of monsoon later of the year.  Terengganu receives heavy rainfall, with some part facing risks of flooding when the north-east monsoon blows between November and January. During the monsoon season, the temperature is slightly lower between 24°C to 28°C, however during other months, the days are usually bright and sunny and temperature ranging from 27°C to 34°C. 

The graphs above depicts the average minimum and maximum temperature, the average water temperature and the average monthly precipitation over the year (rainfall) in Kuala Terengganu (Terengganu), Malaysia.  Source: https://weather-and-climate.com.

Infrastructure

The farm has access to good water supply from government water company and electrical power from Kuala Terengganu grid. The farm can also be accessed by land transportation however, the local airport is about 25km away and does not provide any facility for quarantine or holding unit for live animal export. The main building that is used to culture the fish has been self-built by the owner himself and contain three main part mainly the exhibition or broodstock holding unit, hatchery for Betta production and nursing area. The owner himself lives on site and can be available all around the clock to maintain the fish.