Crayfish breeding in an aquarium as a business

18.09.2021

Farms for breeding crayfish in our time no longer surprise anyone. They successfully work and develop on the territory of the country and bring considerable income to their owners.

Choice of growing method

The amount of profit depends on which method of breeding crayfish is used at the enterprise: in an aquarium, in a home pond or

In aquarium

Today, crayfish can be grown for sale not only in rural areas, but also in the city. Now the city dwellers will smile with a smirk and go to evaluate the size of their bath. Only here they breed crayfish not in the bathroom, but in special large aquariums.

To begin with, it is better to rent a business premises and buy it out over time. Only after you have settled all the points with the lease, you can start buying aquariums. It is better to start with 10-15 pieces and if everything works out, then in a few months buy more.

Pros of breeding crayfish in aquariums:

Easier to control the condition of pets.
Less feed consumption.
Water temperature control, which contributes to the accelerated development of young offspring.
There is no long period of cold wintering, which allows the young to grow more efficiently, and the entrepreneur to get the first income faster by 3-4 months;
You can populate crayfish larvae in aquariums and save on buying young animals or adults.

The process of growing crayfish is quite capacious and it is possible to make a profit only a year after starting the business.

Features of choosing an aquarium for crayfish:

The volume of the aquarium should be chosen from 250l.
The walls of the container must be made of strong plastic, or attached to the pool so that the metal does not come into contact with water.
It is better to choose products with low (up to 1m) walls and a wide bottom. This makes it easier to care for crayfish and keep the bottom of the aquarium clean.

At the current stage, the cultivation of crayfish in the pool as a business has proven itself well in urban and rural areas, where there are problems with water supply.

At home (artificial reservoir)

Growing crayfish in an artificial pond is considered by many to be the easiest and most inexpensive option for starting commercial crayfish farming. This option does not require a large investment. Provided that you have your own land: a summer cottage or a house in a suburban or rural area.

In order for the business to work, you must:

Build a reservoir (optimal depth 1-3 m) and lay out the bottom with large stones and create conditions for crayfish to dig holes freely. Recommended pond area 30-60 sq.m.
Make several concrete pools for overexposure and fattening of young livestock.
Launch breeding stock or larvae.
Stock up on the necessary feed.
Provide the household with an additional source of water and a reliable stack so that water can be freely drained if necessary.

Growing crayfish at home has its own characteristics. In an artificial reservoir, it is necessary to change the water every 2-3 weeks. For the winter, it is better to completely catch all the livestock so that the crayfish do not suffocate under the ice, or to build a reservoir, which immediately increases costs. If the crayfish successfully overwinter, then the additional costs for insulation can be compensated for by the breeding stock, but you can take risks only if the depth of the reservoir is more than 2.5 meters.

A reservoir cannot be built in a sunny place!

In a natural reservoir

The easiest and most affordable way to breed crayfish in the household is to launch a queen tribe or larvae into an ordinary natural pond. First you need to find a reservoir that meets the necessary requirements:

the presence of a rocky bottom and sandy shores;
suitable bottom for the construction of holes;
the reservoir should be environmentally friendly and have shaded shores. It is good if weeping willows grow on the banks of the reservoir, which create shade and coolness.

When growing crayfish in artificial and natural reservoirs, the main problem for farmers is poachers, who not only spoil and steal livestock with the help of crayfish, but also greatly reduce product prices. The way to deal with them is quite simple:

On your own and artificial ponds, you can stretch the net to the surface, install streamers with bells and hire watchmen.
You can create a group of farmers that will control the markets of the region and block the access of poachers to the wholesale buyer.
Guaranteed product quality and regular delivery is what all customers value and what poachers cannot guarantee.

To grow crayfish in a natural pond, it is necessary to allocate money for the purchase of livestock and feed. With this method of growing, feed costs are significantly reduced, but there is no way to control the temperature of the water, as a result of which crayfish will be 30% inferior in weight to their relatives who grew in a home pond or aquarium.

Preparatory work

Before investing a considerable amount in a business, you need to familiarize yourself with the cultivation of crayfish and the conditions for their maintenance in practice. In order to better understand and see everything, you can invite yourself to visit a similar farm and ask the owners as much as possible about the life and habits of their pets.

They will not reveal all the secrets to future competitors, but they will already have an idea of \u200b\u200bwork and how the farm should look like.

Today on the Internet there is a lot of literature and practical advice that will help you cope with problems in the course of work, but the advice of professionals is always very valuable.

Residence preparation

Crayfish live in burrows. This is their natural habitat, and before buying breeding stock, it is necessary to create comfortable conditions for crayfish and bring them as close as possible to natural ones.

The rocky bottom, a lot of sand, pebbles and algae - this is what will allow the crayfish to feel at home in a new place.

If it is planned to grow crayfish in aquariums, then the day before the settlement of living creatures, it is necessary to start the entire system (if planting algae is planned, then a week before, simultaneously with planting greenery).

Adult female crayfish can eat their larvae and young. To avoid this, it is recommended to separate the adult stock from the young. This will require additional containers (aquariums or pools).

Proper preparation of a place for keeping and growing crayfish will greatly facilitate the process of settling and make the adaptation of the mother liquor painless and comfortable.

Acquisition of cancer families

Do not immediately buy a large number of breeding stock. If the farm is small, then you can start with 100 females and 20 males. They can be bought at a farm that is engaged in a similar type of business or caught in a river. It is better to buy crayfish from specialists who can advise a species resistant to diseases and stress and tell you how to properly care for it in the first months.

Among the industrial types of crayfish, there are:

Australian crayfish (the most fleshy species, requires special care, suitable for growing in aquariums, uses small fish, compound feed, greens as food).
Blue Kuban crayfish (fast-growing species of medium size, does not tolerate temperatures above 26 degrees, loves stony, sandy soils with a lot of snags and burrows, omnivorous).
Marble crayfish (demanding to water temperature and prefers large aquariums, pools or artificial ponds). 20 adults will require neither less nor more - 100 cubic meters of water for their full growth and reproduction. The peculiarity of this species is that it reproduces by parthenogenesis (to itself and a female and a male). It is necessary to separate adults from young animals.

Enterprise start

In order for a business to work and bear fruit, it is necessary to take into account several important factors that are the key to success.

When to start breeding?

Starting a farm is very important in this type of business, as it is seasonal and most types of cancer do not tolerate wintering.

The best time to lay a farm is the beginning of April, with the arrival of the first warm weather.

By the beginning of summer, each female will have eggs under the tail, which will detach after 10 days, and the process of laying eggs will begin in the female in a new circle. The offspring from these larvae will be ready for sale in a year. It is because of such a long period of growth that experts recommend starting a farm with young crayfish, which can be grown and sold this year, leaving a few individuals for reproduction.

Business registration

Every self-respecting entrepreneur and manufacturer registers his company before starting work. What does it give? Buyers have the confidence that they are clients of a reputable company, and the entrepreneur himself has the opportunity to calmly sell his products on the market and cooperate with shops and wholesalers.

This type of business is registered under the OKVED code 01.21, which indicates that the company is engaged in breeding pets.

For the right to retail, code 52.23 must be added, which indicates the right to retail fish and shellfish.

Purchase of feed

Crayfish are happy to eat feed, larvae, earthworms, greens, small bottom fish. It will not be difficult to buy compound feed - it is always available at the economic market or feed mills, which are full in every city. It is not difficult to stock up on greens on your own, but you will have to look for suppliers of mosquito larvae and earthworms.

The earthworm is often found in greenhouses, and mosquito larvae are grown by companies that are associated with the fishing business. Ask the sellers of fishing rods and tackle who delivers bloodworms to them, and arrange regular delivery with this supplier.

Summing up

We have this type of business relatively young, as it is mistakenly believed that the development of a crayfish farm requires huge investments. The fact that it takes about a year to wait for the first sale of goods is not inspiring either. But fears go away and everything falls into place, if you understand the features of this business and calculate all the costs and approximate income.

How long does it take from inception to the finished product?

Raising crayfish is a business for people who work for results and know how to wait.

And you need to wait about a year from the first laying of the mother liquor to the sale of finished products, if livestock is grown in a pond.

With the aquarium breeding method or in indoor pools, where it is possible to control the water temperature, the sale of finished products is possible 3 months faster. This is due to the winter period, when crayfish are in a state of dormancy and eat very little. In a closed room, this process can be regulated.

Estimated costs

You need a lot of start-up capital to run a large farm with modern equipment, but you can start small and divide the development of your business into several stages. To get started, you need to draw up a business plan for breeding crayfish and focus on several important factors in the calculations:

The value of the breeding stock, which fluctuates from 200 to 1000 rubles per 1 kg. depending on the type of crayfish and the season of purchase.
Way of breeding crayfish: indoors in aquariums, in an artificial reservoir or in a natural aquatic environment.
Purpose of goods: sale for breeding stock, sale of live products on the market, processing.

For the construction of one pond with an area of 60 sq.m. necessary 80-150 rubles(depending on depth). The main part of the costs goes to drainage pipes, waterproofing materials, and the construction of a drain. For a year in this reservoir, if you run about 500 females (80 kg of breeding stock), can be grown up to 13 000(about 3.5 tons) of young animals, the market value of which ranges from 200-250 rubles per 1kg.

The minimum annual income from growing crayfish in a pond is 300-450 thousand rubles and fully covers the expenses for the construction of the pond, pools, the purchase of feed and mother liquor.

In order to run this type of business indoors, you must:

Large high (up to 4 m high) room (the price varies depending on the location);
Aquariums for keeping crayfish (the optimal size is 2m wide, 3-4m long), sand and algae for filling the aquarium + compressors, pumps and thermometers for heating water. The cost of one aquarium equipped with everything you need fluctuates around 50 000 rubles.
we must not forget about the food for crayfish. Bloodworms or earthworms are best. They can be bought from wholesalers who work for fish and fishing shops. On average, it takes about 20 thousand rubles.
And, of course, the crabs themselves. One pool is designed for an average of 50 individuals (1 male for 4-5 females).

If it is not possible to invest a lot of money, then you can try the old-fashioned, long-proven method and grow a population of crayfish in a small natural pond. In this case, you will have to spend money only on breeding stock and additional feed. But to control the reproduction and migration of their pets in this case, alas, will not work.

Profit calculation

Growing crayfish on a home farm is a rather long and laborious process, but the farmer receives a hundredfold for his work. Even with the most costly method of growing crayfish - aquarium - all the costs of purchasing equipment and breeding stock pay off after the first year of cultivation.

If the river way of growing crayfish is less expensive, then when comparing “costs - profit”, preference, nevertheless, should be given to growing crayfish in a home pond.

With the right approach, despite the considerable costs, the profit is about 300 000 rubles from a 60 sq. m. and several small pools or small ponds. With the aquarium breeding method, it is very difficult to achieve such a profit in one season, even though the products are ready for sale several months faster.

Pitfalls of the crayfish business

Each business has its own secrets and pitfalls that must be taken into account in the work and included in the calculations of the business plan.

The following factors have a great influence on business development:

Crayfish go for wintering under water, but do not hibernate. This means that severe freezing of water should not be allowed.
Not all types of crayfish tolerate cold water and are designed to be grown in an unheated pond.
We must not forget about infectious diseases. It is necessary to carry out preventive work in a timely manner and stock up on medicines.
Water for a pond or aquarium should be soft and not contain salt.
Females with eggs should be immediately transplanted into a separate container and ensured that they do not eat them after they lay their eggs in the sand or mule.

If there is no experience in breeding crayfish, then it is better to start working with river breeding stock.

There are not so many pitfalls and you can recognize them only when you work independently or if there is an experienced adviser nearby.

Where do crayfish hibernate?

In the natural environment, crayfish hibernate in their burrow. They do not fall asleep, like frogs, and even crawl out to hunt. But they are very slow and consume a minimum amount of energy, do not gain weight.

If a crayfish finds a place for wintering in a natural reservoir, then when constructing a piece pond, you need to take care of this and throw a lot of snags and large stones on the bottom, make mounds of sand and clay.

The crayfish breeding business in our country is still quite young, and the demand for domestic products is growing every year. If you choose the right way of growing and competently approach the organization of the work process, then in a year you can already get the first result, and in a few years you can become the owner of a crayfish farm that will supply quality products and breeding stock not only to your region, but also to neighboring areas .

Every business is a cost, risk and excitement that is rewarded with profit and the fulfillment of a dream. In order for the dream to come true, it is necessary to calculate all possible threats and only then get to work.