What do crayfish eat, and is crayfish farming profitable?

Crayfish, also known as the red swamp crayfish or red claw crayfish, is a freshwater economic shrimp species with very strong adaptability. So, what do crayfish eat? Is crayfish farming profitable? Let's find out together!

1. What do crayfish eat?

Crayfish are omnivorous animals. Under natural conditions, they mainly feed on organic debris, attached algae, filamentous algae, and the roots, leaves and fragments of aquatic plants. They are especially fond of succulent, tender green plants such as water lettuce, water hyacinth, Malay pondweed, green azolla and tape grass. Animal-based foods include aquatic earthworms, earthworms, the eggs and pupae of aquatic insects, snails, mussels and fish meat. Under artificial farming conditions, they can be fed compound feed, by-products of agricultural product processing (oilseed cakes and meals, rice bran, wheat bran, etc.), slaughterhouse trimmings, and various tender terrestrial grasses, melons, fruits, and vegetable leaves.

2. Feed feeding for crayfish

Crayfish mainly feed at night, so the amount of feed given in the evening accounts for 70-80% of the whole day's bait. The bait should be placed in the shallow water at the edge of the pond, and feeding should be done at fixed times, fixed locations, fixed amounts and fixed quality. Each pond can have 2-4 bait observation platforms, and every morning you can observe whether the bait has been eaten to decide the amount of bait for the day. Too little bait will inhibit the growth of crayfish or cause them to kill each other due to hunger, while too much will both increase costs and cause deterioration of the pond environment, which is unfavorable to the growth and molting of crayfish. The bait can be ordinary prawn feed or special crayfish feed. The whole day's feeding amount should be controlled so that the crayfish eat their fill, finish the food, and leave no residual bait. Generally, small shrimp are fed at 20-25% of body weight, medium shrimp at 15-20% of body weight, and large shrimp at 10-15% of body weight. Feed twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening.

3. Is crayfish farming profitable?

Judging from the market patterns of previous years, the price of crayfish is relatively high when they first come on the market, then declines relatively when they are concentrated on the market in May and June, and after August and September, when the amount taken from the ponds is small, the price rises again. With changes in people's eating habits, crayfish have been sought after by many young people. In recent years, domestic demand for crayfish has been very strong. In many large and medium-sized cities, the annual consumption of crayfish is more than 10,000 tons. Strong consumer demand has provided broad space and potential for the development of the crayfish farming industry, so the prospects for crayfish farming are broad. Based on the market conditions of the past two years, farming crayfish is profitable. The editor made a rough estimate: based on the current price of shrimp fry and various cost prices, raising crayfish on ten mu can earn about 180,000 yuan.

The above is the editor's compilation of small knowledge points on crayfish farming. Crayfish farming still requires a lot of understanding, and I hope it can help you!