Equipment for breeding crayfish at home

Growing crayfish in natural reservoirs can hardly be called a profitable business. Finding a suitable pond, cleaning it of debris, bottom silt, predatory inhabitants and protecting it, is accompanied by costs commensurate with the cost of building a farm, and low survival rate, insufficient stocking density and lack of control over the aquatic environment lead to process inefficiency.

To get rid of these shortcomings in artificial conditions allows special equipment for breeding crayfish. Depending on the expected scale of production, it is possible to select kits that are suitable in terms of characteristics, allowing you to create almost ideal growing conditions in which crustaceans multiply and grow at maximum intensity.

artificial ponds

Growing crayfish in conditions close to natural involves the construction of one or more open ponds on your own land. In accordance with the method of water renewal, pools can be divided into isolated and flowing:

• In isolated ponds, water exchange occurs forcibly, by replacing a quarter of the total volume of water in the basin every 10–14 days;
• Flowing ponds are built in the form of a cascade of interconnected pools - water in small volumes is continuously supplied to the upper reservoir and flows by gravity into the lower one.

You can choose one of these options after studying the landscape of the site: in the absence of a natural slope, the process of building flowing ponds is somewhat more complicated. In any case, you will have to buy additional equipment for growing crayfish - regardless of the method of renewal, the water in the ponds needs to be cleaned and saturated with oxygen.

Pond device

A site for equipping a crayfish farm should be chosen in the immediate vicinity of a water source - a natural object in the form of a river or lake. In the absence of such, you will have to think about arranging a well with a pump: hundreds of cubic meters of water are needed to fill the pond.

The reservoir itself is a bowl with steep banks and a gradual increase in depth from the level of 0.4–0.5 meters in shallow water to 2–2.5 meters at the drain point. The drain system is a cement or plastic pipe protected by a fine mesh and closed with a shutter. Metal elements are not recommended, because crayfish do not tolerate traces of iron in water.

You can dig a pond yourself or with the involvement of third-party performers. The average cost of the services of companies providing an excavator and a truck for the removal of soil is 350-400 rubles per cubic meter. At this stage, each artificial reservoir will require expenses of 35-40 thousand rubles.

The bottom is leveled with a layer of clay. Then waterproofing is laid on top in the form of a special polyethylene film or polypropylene sheets welded together. A square meter of film for pools with a thickness of 0.6-1 mm will cost 240-300 rubles, and polypropylene 3 mm thick - 400-450 rubles. Upon completion of waterproofing work, the bottom surface is evenly covered with large stones or broken bricks, after which it is covered with coarse sand.

Several more ponds for growing crayfish are being built in a similar way: the equipment of each will cost another 60-80 thousand rubles. Incubators and nurseries for young animals look a little different - most often these are pools 5–6 meters long, 2–2.5 meters wide and up to 0.5 meters deep, the walls and bottom of which are cemented. As an alternative, you can consider buying special plastic trays measuring 2x0.6x0.3 m, each of which costs about 5.5-6 thousand rubles. Aeration, purification and periodic renewal of water are also necessary here.

Warming

In a cold or temperate climate, a decrease in the duration of hibernation of crayfish or its complete elimination is achieved by warming one or more ponds, where crayfish can be bred in winter. For this purpose, a thermos greenhouse made of polycarbonate is being erected over the reservoir: in the cold season, the air temperature here will be 3–12 ° C. Preventing the water from freezing will help the crayfish continue to feed and grow, allowing adults to reach marketable size much faster.

The cost of such equipment for growing crayfish at home depends on the size of the greenhouse: a greenhouse measuring 7.5x14 meters can be purchased for 165-175 thousand rubles, and each additional section 2 meters long will cost another 10 thousand rubles. Note that the possibility of insulating part of the ponds must be taken into account at the design stage: standard models of industrial greenhouses impose some restrictions on the size of reservoirs.

Necessary equipment

To create comfortable conditions, the water in the pools needs to be saturated with oxygen and constantly cleaned from the waste products of crayfish: in the summer, various filters and aerators are used for these purposes.

You can determine exactly how much it costs to breed crayfish based on the required capacity and volume of the pond after studying the offers of suppliers. In general, for a reservoir of 100–150 m², you need to purchase:

• Aerator. Designed to saturate water with oxygen from the air in order to prevent its stagnation and flowering. Without an aerator, gas exchange through the surface of an artificial reservoir will affect only the upper layers, which will lead to the formation of "dead zones" at great depths, where crayfish love to live. The average cost of the device is 5500–6000 rubles;
• Oxidator. If the herd hibernates in open pools, which are covered with ice in winter, the problem of oxygen starvation arises. Only an oxidizer can save the population from death, located at the deepest point of the reservoir and releasing oxygen into the water by decomposing hydrogen peroxide. Cost - 12500–15000 rubles;
• Flow filter. It serves to purify water from food residues, debris, pathogenic organisms and microalgae, as well as waste products of crayfish, the decomposition of which leads to saturation of the reservoir with toxic substances. The cost of the filter is 26500-28000 rubles;
• Recirculation pump. It is used to renew the water in the pond, to pump it through a filter or to drain the pond. The cost of the device is 5300–8000 rubles.

Set of measuring equipment

• Oximeter (to measure the oxygen content in water);
• Salt meter (to determine the hardness of water);
• Conductometer (to determine the level of pollution);
• Thermometer.

The average price of equipment for breeding crayfish, including a set of measuring instruments, is 20 thousand rubles.

It is advisable to purchase aerators, pumps and filters for each pool separately and provide for their continuous operation: the total power of such equipment does not exceed 200-250 watts. Oxidators are needed only in winter in an amount equal to the number of pools for the wintering of the herd.

RAS systems

Industrial cultivation of crayfish in the RAS system is an example of the transition from extensive to intensive technology: in indoor pools, the stocking density of individuals is dozens of times higher than natural indicators, and the conditions for their maintenance are adapted to maximize reproduction and growth.

Scheme of RAS operation

Advantages of RAS

In comparison with open or even covered ponds with polycarbonate greenhouses, indoor RAS devices for growing crayfish have undoubted advantages:

1. Installations after the initial filling with water practically do not require connection to water pipes;
2. The system allows you to fully control the parameters of the environment - temperature, oxygen saturation level, degree of filtration;
3. Due to the multi-tiered design and high planting density, 40–50 adults can be grown per square meter;
4. The isolation of the system from the environment makes it possible to breed crayfish in any climatic conditions.

RAS placement

Before buying equipment for breeding crayfish, you should choose a suitable heated room in which the air temperature does not fall below 18–20 ° C. Compliance with this condition allows you to save on water heating and use it only in incubation pools.

Rows of plastic or fiberglass tanks are installed in the indicated room, connected to the main RAS unit with the help of sanitary fittings. In this way, a continuous closed circulation is created - food residues and waste products of crayfish are washed out of the pools and filtered, after which the purified water is saturated with oxygen and returned back.

The production of RAS for growing crayfish is carried out by specialized design organizations. Here you can purchase a serial model or order an individual development of a modular system of a given volume.

Functional composition of the system

The system of closed water supply is designed in accordance with the conditions of keeping specific types of crustaceans. For broad-toed and narrow-toed crayfish, room water temperature is comfortable, while breeding Australian crayfish is impossible without installing additional heating. In this case, the scheme of RAS equipment for growing crayfish should include two independent modules, each of which consists of several tanks:

1. RAS for separate maintenance of the main and broodstock;
2. RAS for incubation of eggs and separate cultivation of larvae to the size of "yearlings".

The price of equipment for growing crayfish in RAS is directly related to the configuration of the installation. In the basic version, this is:

• Water treatment system;
• Drum microfilter;
• Biological filter;
• Circulation pump;
• UV treatment plant.

Available options for such modular RAS with a volume of up to 15 cubic meters can be purchased for 490-550 thousand rubles. However, mini-installations with a volume of 1.6-2 cubic meters are also on sale, the cost of which is 75-90 thousand rubles. Such models are ideal as additional ones for use as incubators.

At the request of the customer, RAS can be equipped with a water quality monitoring system that continuously measures the level of oxygen, pH, alkalinity, hardness and temperature. Thanks to this, you can refuse to purchase additional measuring instruments - a conductometer, a salt meter and an oximeter. The aeration system and oxygen generator are also supplied separately.

Features of the crayfish growing system

When building a modular RAS system for growing crayfish with your own hands, not standard bowls up to 1.5 m³ are used as pools, but shallow round or rectangular trays. Rectangular allows you to save space, and round is better cleaned with running water.

Trays are placed in two or three tiers on welded racks - this design allows you to grow up to 50 adults per square meter. To combat cannibalism, cuts of plastic pipes of a suitable diameter are placed in the pools or vertical cellular structures are created from the grid in increments of 20–25 cm, in which each individual is in a separate cell. Of course, this somewhat complicates the process of feeding a large herd, but it can significantly reduce losses from eating crayfish of their molting or weaker relatives.

The cost of a rectangular fiberglass tray measuring 3x1.5x0.6 is 33-36 thousand rubles. Round pools with a diameter of 1.45 m and a height of 0.75 m can be purchased for 24 thousand rubles, and larger ones with a diameter of 2.45 m - for 42 thousand rubles.

Aquariums

You can also do it in your own aquarium. The main disadvantage of this method is the limited area, however, here it is advisable to organize an incubator and grow larvae before being placed in an open reservoir or in a RAS unit. In addition, decorative and rare thermophilic species of crayfish are successfully bred in aquariums.

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Aquarium device

One or more aquariums, equipped with the necessary equipment for growing crayfish at home, can be placed in several tiers in your own basement or other utility room. Wide large-capacity models (250-450 liters) with low walls are preferred: the cost of a suitable 320-liter glass frameless aquarium is 28-30 thousand rubles.

The aquarium should be covered with a net to prevent the most active individuals from escaping. Sand, stones, snags or pieces of plastic pipes are placed at the bottom, which will serve as a shelter for fry and molting individuals. Two weeks before placing the crayfish, the aquarium is filled with water, and plants are planted if desired.

It is advisable to study additional materials on how to breed crayfish at home: violation of the regime of keeping, feeding, or improper breeding methods in such small containers as aquariums are a greater danger compared to large-scale pond farming.

Optional equipment

The standard list of equipment for breeding crayfish at home includes a set of measuring instruments (salt meter, conductometer and oximeter), as well as devices for controlling the parameters of the aquatic environment:

• Immersion or flow heater (from 2400 rubles);
• Compressor for aeration (from 2000 rubles);
• External water filter (from 3400 rubles);
• Ultraviolet sterilizer (optional, from 4000 rubles).

As for the lamps, their power does not have to be high, since crayfish love twilight. The simplest LED model can be purchased for 1800 rubles.

Conclusion

After considering the proposals of equipment manufacturers, we can conclude that there is a shortage of ready-made solutions on the domestic market. It is almost impossible to find and buy a turnkey plant in Russia - regardless of the method of growing crayfish, the launch of a farm must be preceded by a stage of careful design and selection of equipment that is suitable for the parameters. However, despite the accompanying difficulties, the ever-increasing price of products turns this type of agricultural business into one of the most promising and profitable.
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