What Do Crabs Eat? A Detailed Guide to Farming Methods

Crabs are hailed as the “king of a hundred freshness”, rich in nutritional value, and their market price is relatively stable. So, when farming crabs, what do crabs eat? How are crabs raised? Let's take a look together!

1. What do crabs eat?

Crabs are omnivorous animals, and the bait they can eat is very abundant. Crab food can be roughly divided into three major categories: natural bait, artificial animal bait, and artificial plant bait. Natural bait includes diatoms, golden algae, dinoflagellates, euglenoids, green algae, rotifers, tape grass, hydrilla, Potamogeton crispus, Potamogeton malaianus, duckweed (Wolffia), duckweed (Lemna), water lettuce, alligator weed, golden hair grass, snails, clams, river mussels, aquatic earthworms, yellow mealworms, earthworms, and ryegrass, napier grass, etc. Artificial animal bait mainly includes river snails, clams, river mussels, silkworm pupae, yellow mealworms, earthworms, small trash fish, fly maggots, livestock and poultry viscera, etc. Artificial plant bait mainly includes soybeans, soybean cake, rapeseed cake, cottonseed cake, wheat, rice bran, soybean residue, distillers grains, sauce residue, peanut cake, etc. During the farming process, one should not feed only a single type of bait, but should feed comprehensively according to actual conditions. Only in this way can the farming efficiency of crabs be improved efficiently.

2. How are crabs raised?

1. Preparation for crab farming

The most important thing in rice-field crab farming is escape prevention measures. As crabs grow, their requirements for living space become greater and greater. In addition, because they are farmed in rice fields, the terrain is open, the environment is not enclosed, and they cannot be watched at all times, so large numbers of crabs will escape, causing huge losses. Therefore, the rice field must be enclosed, with asbestos tiles or plastic mesh sheets set up around the rice field, and a circular ditch dug on the field ridge. When they are crab seedlings, a ditch width and depth of 1 m is sufficient, but as the crab seedlings grow, the ditch should be widened to about 3 m.

2. Releasing crab seedlings

The standard for releasing crab seedlings is 1 jin of crab seedlings per mu of rice field, roughly 1500-2000 adult crabs. If you want to shorten the farming cycle, you can first choose to cultivate the crab seedlings in a greenhouse environment, and release them after the rice has grown to a certain height.

3. Bait feeding

In small-scale crab farming in rice fields, an ecological cycle can be formed with the rice field. Crabs feed on weeds in the rice field, green azolla, and insects that harm rice growth, and their excrement can also serve as fertilizer for rice growth. However, once the farming quantity increases, the food source is not enough, and they may even gnaw on rice stems, so bait needs to be fed. In the early stage, feed high-quality feed; in the middle stage, mainly green feed, paired with small fish and shrimp; in the later stage, feed high-protein concentrated feed to let them grow quickly.

4. Rice field management

In addition to daily feeding, the rice field environment must also be checked. As is well known, crabs like to dig holes, so frequent checks should be made, and any holes found should be blocked in time. Especially during the heavy rain season, attention should be paid to flood prevention and crab escape; during the dry season, attention should be paid to irrigation, but not too much. The water depth should not be suitable for rice growth. The optimal water depth should be kept at 6-10 cm. The water quality should also be kept clear. If the water quality is too muddy, crabs are prone to disease, so the water should be changed regularly.

The above is what crabs eat and how crabs are raised, compiled for you by the Tuliu.com editor. We hope it can help all farmers!