Breeding Crayfish

[D4MI4N]

Thinking about breeding crayfish to feed a bowfin. Looking into it a bit, it seems they vary quite a bit between species.

Looking for a species that breeds often, requires minimal (or at least manageable) care, and that bowfin find tasty.

Suggestions?

[guppy]

Try Louisiana reds, the ones they raise as food. My reasons are the grow quick, breed prolificly, are easily found online, and are cheap. They are cannibals so you will need to give ythem room and lots of hidey holes. I'm thinking a lined 8'x12'x1' hole in the ground with a pond pump and a couple of 5g bucket filters would let you grow plenty. just cover the bottom with 4" long pieces of 1 1/2" pvc pipe and the top with bird netting. They will eat dry cat/dog food, fish pellets, table scraps, etc and regular addition of a little iodine would apparently help. while you are at it you could throw in a few dozen cheap guppies or platys. These will also help control the mosquito larvae.

[D4MI4N]

I was actually thinking even smaller scale than that, like in a 30 gallon (long: 36") aquarium. It's only to supplement the diet of one bowfin, so one or two prolific pairs should do nicely.

[D4MI4N]

If you could think of a species that would breed in a 10 gallon, that would be even better.

[guppy]

I don't know of any off hand, they are very cannabalistic, Can you catch them locally? If you can trap a couple of egg carrying females and keep them in your unheated tank with lots of hiding spots. pvc pipes again. Might work. If nothing else it would be fun to try and if it fails you have at least a couple of feeders.

[ahmiao]

try lowing the temp. it works well!

[unknownuza13]

Do the egg carrying females by chance carry the eggs on her body? At the fish store a few of the crayfish had egg like well eggs on their body. I did not buy them to feed to the puffer because I thought they were something bad..

[rayman45]

under there tail they hold eggs

[FUB]

1. Tank should be 2 ft and above.
2. Put in 3 male 3 female of size 9-10 cm and let them pair by itself.
3. Use PVC, ceramic / flower pot, stone structures.
4. Temp 26 -32 'C lower the better.
5. Change 50% in a month and wash filter every week.
6. Feed carrot & high calcium food about 1-2 time/week.

When pairing, the male & female tummy will stick together. The male will sperm on the female's 4th-5th pair of legs as sperm bag. 2 days later, the female will lay eggs. The sperm bag will break & stick on the eggs. During the hatching the eggs will change colour so need not worry about it. 5-7 weeks later, u'll c 7-8mm babys swimming independenly.

The live span should be about 1 year and up to abt 1 ft in size.

[guppy]

They carry brownish green eggs under their tails. Check out FUB's posting. I haven't tried that but it all looks good. I wonder if they need iodine supplements.

[The TRUST]

I think breeding crayfish for food for fish is a great waste of time. They take way too long to grow to a decent size to even put a dent in your fish' belly. It's easier to just go to your LFS and look for the small crayfish that get mixed in with the feeders

[CentralMayhem]

go to your locAL BAIT AND TACKLE FISHING STORES ones around me in so cal have crayfish for cheap. they sell them as bait for bass and cats. cheap enough to buy 6 to 12 at a time and use them as feeders as needed. i agree with trust. takes way too long to breed them and get them to an edible size.

[guppy]

Can they sell live bait in Ma.? I know in Wa. and Or. they can't except worms,etc, or smelt for sw. The wusses.

[D4MI4N]

The bait stores in the Boston area all seem to be strictly worms, I don't know if it's legal or what. If any fellow M*******s know of a baitshop that does, let me know.

The LFS crayfish are pretty pricey ($5.99ea): they're priced as pets not food.

I definitely hear the logic of the argument that breeding feeders is inefficient. When it comes livebearers, I agree. But some crayfish species have ~300 young at a go. I have time. They are low maintenace (to keep, again I know very little about breeding). Weighed against $5.99ea, I feel it's an option worth looking into.

[guppy]

IdiOT just put this site in aother thread for the blue spotted sunfish but I noticed these guys also carry small crayfish at $19.95 for 20. The site is www.aquaculturestore.com