Crayfish breeding at home - important things to know for beginners

Crayfish breeding at home has long ceased to be just a hobby: today it is a profitable business that does not require serious investments and is suitable for implementation, both in large and modest amounts. This animal does not need expensive feed and buying a lot of accessories for keeping.

How to contain cancer at home?

The main aspect, which will have to be determined in advance - is the scale of the production of the popular delicacy. Since it is possible to breed cancers at home in artificial and flowing reservoirs, everything depends entirely on desire and financial possibilities:

  1. If the family plans to provide meat exclusively for their own needs, then there will be enough and several aquariums - they can be installed in the basement or utility room.
  2. For small businesses, crayfish breeding at home can be done in a pool equipped in a backyard or suburban area.
  3. Impressive profits will be provided by an artificial pond, and if there are two of them, then cancers can be grown for sale year-round.

Crayfish at home in aquariums

It is forbidden even to attempt to breed these animals in the same tank together with fish or squid. Cancers can behave like cannibals, destroying neighbors on an aquarium. The main rule is to keep the water clean, because the young ones die as soon as it turns green and harmful microorganisms appear in it. Among the main recommendations that facilitate the breeding of crayfish at home for beginners, also include:

  1. The minimum size of a suitable aquarium is 250 liters: only 7-8 large animals can live in a smaller volume at a time.
  2. At the bottom should be laid large soil and pebbles, decorative driftwood and ceramic pipes - crayfish more comfortable to live when there are shelters nearby.
  3. In the cold season, pets need a heater - special preference is given to filters with a built-in thermostat or heating bottom mats.

Breeding crayfish in the pool at home

The capacity for breeding can be dug by yourself and paved its bottom with a large rubble mixed with clay. Growing crayfish at home in the pool has one significant plus - it can be sheltered in the winter, which will increase the productivity by at least twice, as the crayfish will not hibernate during the cold. Animals constantly eat and grow, which will give a noticeable increase in the weight and size of each individual. Simultaneously with them it is possible to grow some species of benthic mollusks - a perlite or scallop.

Cancer - home care

For breeding, it is recommended that the Far Eastern and European species of the animal, because they are undemanding to the conditions of detention and inexpensive. They are divided into lake and river crayfish, but the second can not be planted in tanks with standing water - they are suitable only artificial lakes. In the rest, care consists of observing the following rules:

  1. Purification of the reservoir not only before the launch, but also on the continuation of the entire life cycle of mollusks. The key equipment for breeding crayfish at home is a professional cleaner equipped with a descent and feed system.
  2. Compliance with oxygen balance.
  3. Choice of quality food for cancers.
  4. Creation of conditions for reproduction of males and females.

How to feed river cancer at home?

To feed the young the same products are used as for adults. You can make their own diet by learning that they eat crayfish at home, or buy ready-made food. In the healthy diet, which these animals need, must necessarily include fats, vegetables with a high level of fiber, protein and mineral supplements with calcium. The daily norm of food per cancer should be 4-5% of its weight. It may include:

Reproduction of crayfish at home

To breed was profitable, it is important to consider the real litter that shellfish can give. The average female produces up to 200 crustaceans a year, but remains alive and grow to the right size only 20%. Significantly increase this figure can be, observing the norm of feed - then older relatives will not eat young. There are other rules that promote reproduction during the cultivation of crayfish at home:

  1. Mating in adults occurs in the early autumn. The number is important to try to regulate in such a way that the adult male would have two females - he will not be able to fertilize more. Specialists who have extensive experience in how to properly breed crayfish in the home are assured that if the male sees a third female, it will eat it.
  2. After mating, all females are placed in separate tanks: by the end of spring, the eggs will move under the tail and it can be seen with the naked eye.
  3. After the crayfish hatch, the female is removed - this will give the fetus the opportunity to grow.