# Does anyone have success in breeding crawfish?



## PiranhaStein (Feb 10, 2006)

I'm sorry to offend anyone in here with what is the purpose of these shelled creatures but they are the best nutrition for my red belly piranha's and I will enjoy raising them more then I would raise goldfish or some type of growth inhibited fish.

I ask the question of breeding crawfish as I am in a coin flip situation between a crawfish or singapore wood shrimp. I need something that is big enough to be a nutritional and substantial meal.

Right now I have 2 louisana mud bugs(plain crawfish) that have been in there for a while with some larger P's but I know when my schoal grows and they are bigger those guys will probably be toast. I have fed them many of ghost shrimp but they are expensive locally and nothing compared to the exotic shrimp on some the the websites posted here.

I also would have no problem with any crawfish/shrimp that would be able to put up some type of fight. I would like to see the piranha work for a meal.

Thanks for your insight,

Kam


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## PiranhaStein (Feb 10, 2006)

One other thing, from looking at how beautiful some of these shrimp and crawfish are I would not be happier if the Piranha's just left them alone. They would be a great addition to any tank. I keep them well fed and most everything else survives in my tank besides goldfish.


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## Tai95 (Feb 10, 2006)

I'm not sure about breeding them. If you only want to use them as a food source, you could check local bait shops or pond builder. I'm sure there are other places to find them. If you had the space you could even mail order them. most places sell them by the pound but have to buy like 10 pounds. If you can keep them alive 10 pounds would last a long time.
http://www.lacrawfish.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=LC


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## iris600 (Feb 12, 2004)

You can also by crawfish traps on ebay or in a baitshop... collect free crawdads if you have access to pond, lake, or stream.


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## PiranhaStein (Feb 10, 2006)

Thanks those are both good ideas, It looks like i'm going to breed wood shrimp as a source of food. And maybe set some traps I live in southern IL and there are tons of lakes and ponds.


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## ShortFin (Jan 13, 2006)

I would think that you have more success of breeding crawdads than wood shrimp. In the past, I have some outside in a 2.5 gallon bucket with some hyacinth and they just bred on their own.


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## jemarcus (Jan 17, 2006)

get a few yabbies, red clawed lobsters in a tank. preferably 2 males to 5 females, add in a heater to maintain water around 26-30 degrees. simulate a summer all the time condition and they will breed all year round. commercial farm or wild yabbies have seasons because they only breed in summer. in an aquarium, you can easily simulate the conditions.
just remember to remove the female frm the main tank when they're berried. 
next, remove the female from the breeding tank when all the hatchlings have detached from the mother's swimmerettes.
the young would take around 2 - 3 months to reach mid adult size, and is then suitable to put up a fight with a fish. smaller crays are also capable, if the fish is small.

monitor the growth, and see what is good size for your fish. do note, this method is slow due to the growing. u will have constant supply in the long run, not in the shortrun. but u also need to do alot of work like feeding your feeders. lol.

hope this helps.


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## PiranhaStein (Feb 10, 2006)

Thank you that's very good advice. From the sounding of it the wood shrimp might be a hard guy to get to breed. The crawfish setup sounds good but the time factor is a problem. I understand in the long term it would be a good setup.


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## jemarcus (Jan 17, 2006)

oh btw, u would most likely not succeed with singapore wood shrimps, as they have high bioload, and are sensitive to them. compared to crayfish, crayfishes have even higher bioload, but are tolerant to a decent high level of it.

in addition, wood shrimps' shrimplets start in the larva stage, and require brackish to full saltwater strength for them.

in nature, they usually release their eggs in freshwater, and those are driven down by a waterfall to the sea or brackish source of saltwater.

so IMO it is an extremely hard, but not impossible to do thing.


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