Crawfish

[Dakhar]

Folks, about 1.5 years a go, I started breeding Red Claw crawfish. It has been fun and all, but now I have reach the point where I either invest heavily, or eat them all.

Basically, I have run out of room, we have land but the ponds would have to be dug/prepared etc. I really do not want to invest the money to do that.

So if any of you hobby farmers want something new and different to raise.... PM me.

[Dakhar]

Sorry folks, that is Red Claw crawfish, not Red Clay... my bad..

[Gary A]

Perhaps you could give some idea of what is required as far as a pond, what they eat, etc. When I was just a kid we used to catch them for fish bait. A net behind them and a teasing stick in front. They would scoot backwards right into the net. I mention that because if they would be in an unguarded open area, they would be stolen for sure.

[slapout]

The crawfish of south La. are raised in ponds next to rice paddy in some cases, others contain them in ponds and feed scraps from supermarkets, resturants, etc. They (crawfish) will move at certain times of the year if not contained. They are profilic little suckers and the ponds were seined once a year, about Feb. or Mar. and proceeds sold. Breeders were retained for following year. Boiled crawfish is one of my favorite meals, messy but with boiled potatoe and cold slaw, hard to beat. Fish love to eat them so hard to have both in same pond, I would think.

[ozzydom]

The crawfish of south La. are raised in ponds next to rice paddy in some cases, others contain them in ponds and feed scraps from supermarkets, resturants, etc. They (crawfish) will move at certain times of the year if not contained. They are profilic little suckers and the ponds were seined once a year, about Feb. or Mar. and proceeds sold. Breeders were retained for following year. Boiled crawfish is one of my favorite meals, messy but with boiled potatoe and cold slaw, hard to beat. Fish love to eat them so hard to have both in same pond, I would think.

I was under the impression that red claws are a native of Northern Australia,also called Giant freshwater crayfish.

Not to be confused with the giant freshwater lobster of Tasmania which is the largest freshwater crustacean in the world.

[slapout]

I think your correct ozzy. I am interested in throwing some crawfish (common) into a pond just to have something other than fish to catch and eat. What Dakhar has may be a little more than I am wanting. He sent me a pm and mentioned a Kings project near CM that may have some of the Red claw. Do you or anyone know where it may be located just so I can go see what they have.

[Gary A]

I think your correct ozzy. I am interested in throwing some crawfish (common) into a pond just to have something other than fish to catch and eat. What Dakhar has may be a little more than I am wanting. He sent me a pm and mentioned a Kings project near CM that may have some of the Red claw. Do you or anyone know where it may be located just so I can go see what they have.

Have you ever eaten at Bourbon Street in Washington Square, Bangkok? I think the owner, Doug raises crawdads here in Thailand and may be a good source of information for anyone interested in the business.

[ozzydom]

I think your correct ozzy. I am interested in throwing some crawfish (common) into a pond just to have something other than fish to catch and eat. What Dakhar has may be a little more than I am wanting. He sent me a pm and mentioned a Kings project near CM that may have some of the Red claw. Do you or anyone know where it may be located just so I can go see what they have.

If I had a suitable pond I would be interested myself,many fond memories of sitting down to a bucket of fresh caught and boiled yabbies.

You really need a permanent waterhole (we pump out every year or so) ,They tender to go wandering in the wet season and they burrow like rabbits .

[Dakhar]

I think your correct ozzy. I am interested in throwing some crawfish (common) into a pond just to have something other than fish to catch and eat. What Dakhar has may be a little more than I am wanting. He sent me a pm and mentioned a Kings project near CM that may have some of the Red claw. Do you or anyone know where it may be located just so I can go see what they have.

If I had a suitable pond I would be interested myself,many fond memories of sitting down to a bucket of fresh caught and boiled yabbies.

You really need a permanent waterhole (we pump out every year or so) ,They tender to go wandering in the wet season and they burrow like rabbits .

Folks, sorry, I have not been whatching this thread. I just figured folks would PM me, but I am still around and kicking.

The Red Claw, is the Yabbie & it is native to Australia. They do not burrow, they have no interest in it. As far as crawfish go, they are one of the biggest, and surprisingly least agressive of the species. They are called many different things in Thailand: Blue Lobster, Rainbow Lobster, Fresh Water Lobsters etc.

To the best of my knowledge, the owner of Burbon street does not have his own ponds, but he buys them out of a farm in Katchnaburi (sp). Years a go I tried to purchase them live from Burbon Street & the owner refused to allow me to. I believe Burbon street uses red-claw and I guess this because I have been there and they have red claw crawfish on display in their aquariums. For those that grew up in Cajun country, we eat Red Swamp, and a White Crawfish. The white is native and more prolific than the red swamp. Red swamp and red claw can not be raised together, they have disease issues when done so.

After that... well the rebel in me woke up, I really do not cotton to closed market too well. So I decided right then and there I would raise up crawfish in Thailand, and I investigated what is available. I found that the Red Claw can be raised legally in Thailand for farming. So they were a natural choice. If one is patient, there are other varieties available at pet stores, and you would have to get a male and female and start from that point. Which is basically what I did... no secret really.

It just takes a lot of time getting them going. I have done so, and if anyone wants to take them off my hands.... well like I said PM me.

Regarding what do they eat.... they eat anything, plant to meet, they do not care and they are not picky. I mainly feed them grass, hay and dry rabbit food. On rare occassions I may throw some left over pork ribs for them to chew on.

Funny little critters they are.

Edited April 13, 2008 by Dakhar

[Crushdepth]

The Red Claw, is the Yabbie & it is native to Australia. They do not burrow, they have no interest in it. As far as crawfish go, they are one of the biggest, and surprisingly least agressive of the species. They are called many different things in Thailand: Blue Lobster, Rainbow Lobster, Fresh Water Lobsters etc.

To the best of my knowledge, the owner of Burbon street does not have his own ponds, but he buys them out of a farm in Katchnaburi (sp). Years a go I tried to purchase them live from Burbon Street & the owner refused to allow me to. I believe Burbon street uses red-claw and I guess this because I have been there and they have red claw crawfish on display in their aquariums.

I ordered crawfish at the Burbon a couple of years ago and they served me redclaw instead so you are right.

Anyway, if you want to get some they are very common for sale in the aquarium section of Jatujak market, though not a large size but they grow pretty fast. Redclaw is a tropical species native to northern Australia, its a different species from the yabbie which is a temperate/coldwater species.

[jaideeguy]

Anyone know if they could be raised in cement tanks, the round kind or built hollow block type??

I would love to try raising some for home consumption but have limited space for Ponds.

Where in LOS are you dakhar??

[george]

Crawfish! Do they look something like this?

[Dakhar]

George,

After being boiled, yes they do look like the photo.

[Dakhar]

I thought I would add this, because I keep getting asked this via PM's

Price List

300 Baht each Female of breed able size

400 Baht Each Large Female

250 Baht each Male Breed able size

350 Baht each Large Male

I am located in the Rangsit area. The bread again is, Red Claw & I incourage folks to google the breed for more in depth information. But in brief, this variety gets pretty large. They are native to Australia, and do not burrow. In genearal they are not considered aggressive, and tolerate dense populations. They love to climb and go on "walk abouts" and when they do so, they will probably never come back. They are in search of other water grounds to populate, and it seems like the males like to travel more than the females. The can tolerate a fairly large range of PH.

The females can produce anywhere from 100 - 1000 eggs per pregnancy. The climate of Thailand is conducive to the Red Claw without any intervention etc. For me, I do use heaters in order to make them hatch out faster. It takes anywhere from 1 month to 3 months for them to hatch out....

[Dakhar]

The Red Claw, is the Yabbie & it is native to Australia. They do not burrow, they have no interest in it. As far as crawfish go, they are one of the biggest, and surprisingly least agressive of the species. They are called many different things in Thailand: Blue Lobster, Rainbow Lobster, Fresh Water Lobsters etc.

To the best of my knowledge, the owner of Burbon street does not have his own ponds, but he buys them out of a farm in Katchnaburi (sp). Years a go I tried to purchase them live from Burbon Street & the owner refused to allow me to. I believe Burbon street uses red-claw and I guess this because I have been there and they have red claw crawfish on display in their aquariums.

I ordered crawfish at the Burbon a couple of years ago and they served me redclaw instead so you are right.

Anyway, if you want to get some they are very common for sale in the aquarium section of Jatujak market, though not a large size but they grow pretty fast. Redclaw is a tropical species native to northern Australia, its a different species from the yabbie which is a temperate/coldwater species.

Folks he is right the Red Claw and the Yabbie are actually two distinct breeds, but folks from Australia sometimes use the term "Yabbie" as a blanket term for any crawfish. My bad if I steered anyone in the wrong direction. Yes you can find them at JJ market. But they usually do not sell them at a breedable age, and often times they sell only males or only females etc. They do this in order to try to maintain market control. Also, if they sell them at an imature sexuall state, you will have to know how to determine the sex's in juvenile crawfish. Do some google work and you will find some good images on that.

Basically I offer you what JJ does, but more in quantitiy, and older in age. Not to mention I can coach you some on how to get them going. I do this at essentially the same price that JJ sells their juveniles for.

[Somtham]

I thought I would add this, because I keep getting asked this via PM's

Price List

300 Baht each Female of breed able size

400 Baht Each Large Female

250 Baht each Male Breed able size

350 Baht each Large Male

The females can produce anywhere from 100 - 1000 eggs per pregnancy. The climate of Thailand is conducive to the Red Claw without any intervention etc. For me, I do use heaters in order to make them hatch out faster. It takes anywhere from 1 month to 3 months for them to hatch out....

My first thought was "dam_n these things are expensive". That was also my second and third thought. Anyway, how many male(?) females(?) do you thing are required to populate a 400 sq meter pond? How do you package them for transport for a 5 hour drive? If you're using heaters what type of pond do you have them in now?

thanks

[ozzydom]

I thought I would add this, because I keep getting asked this via PM's

Price List

300 Baht each Female of breed able size

400 Baht Each Large Female

250 Baht each Male Breed able size

350 Baht each Large Male

The females can produce anywhere from 100 - 1000 eggs per pregnancy. The climate of Thailand is conducive to the Red Claw without any intervention etc. For me, I do use heaters in order to make them hatch out faster. It takes anywhere from 1 month to 3 months for them to hatch out....

My first thought was "dam_n these things are expensive". That was also my second and third thought. Anyway, how many male(?) females(?) do you thing are required to populate a 400 sq meter pond? How do you package them for transport for a 5 hour drive? If you're using heaters what type of pond do you have them in now?

thanks

Initially ,I thought that I would like to put some in but on reflection ,who could afford to eat them,? I couldnt. The price per Kg is on a par with Tasmanian Rock Lobster.

[Somtham]

Initially ,I thought that I would like to put some in but on reflection ,who could afford to eat them,? I couldnt. The price per Kg is on a par with Tasmanian Rock Lobster.

Not sure how big "Large" is but at 10/kg the females would be B4,000/kg. Wonder how much it would cost to have some Maine lobsters flown in?

rgds

[slapout]

Showing my age again, but in south La. crawfish in height of season would drop to about 10 cents a pound, early on they would go 15 to 20 cents a pound. It took about 7 or 8 pound/person unless they were real hungry, throw in boiled potatoes, cold beer and that was the meal. I could not afford to eat at 4000 bt/kilo, so its back to drawing board and internet to check live freight from La.

[ozzydom]

Showing my age again, but in south La. crawfish in height of season would drop to about 10 cents a pound, early on they would go 15 to 20 cents a pound. It took about 7 or 8 pound/person unless they were real hungry, throw in boiled potatoes, cold beer and that was the meal. I could not afford to eat at 4000 bt/kilo, so its back to drawing board and internet to check live freight from La.

Redclaw can grow to 800gram, I just found on Google that crawlfish from Lousianna are selling for $2-00 a pound delivered to your door in US.

[ozzydom]

Houston Crawfish Delivery Pricing

2008 SEASON IS Open

SOON Unlimited quantities

We Believe In a QUALITY Crawfish Not a Quantity Crayfish

* Live Crawfish Picked up here at our facility. 1.75lb

* Live crawfish delivered to your doorstep: 2.00lb

[Dakhar]

I thought I would add this, because I keep getting asked this via PM's

Price List

300 Baht each Female of breed able size

400 Baht Each Large Female

250 Baht each Male Breed able size

350 Baht each Large Male

The females can produce anywhere from 100 - 1000 eggs per pregnancy. The climate of Thailand is conducive to the Red Claw without any intervention etc. For me, I do use heaters in order to make them hatch out faster. It takes anywhere from 1 month to 3 months for them to hatch out....

My first thought was "dam_n these things are expensive". That was also my second and third thought. Anyway, how many male(?) females(?) do you thing are required to populate a 400 sq meter pond? How do you package them for transport for a 5 hour drive? If you're using heaters what type of pond do you have them in now?

thanks

Folks this is BROOD stock ready to go, they are not being sold as a "food item." I do not have enough to sell them in this manner, and frankly, there are not enough IN Thailand to be sold in this manner. If someone want to change that, be my guest, I have some brood stock ready.

If there was any real imidiate profit to be made it would be the sell of these things to aquarium shops. I have no idea about the whole sale price, but I know they go for about 40 baht each at 1/4 an inch. A large male at JJ (9inches) is being retailed at 3800 baht.

Any how, if there are no takers that is fine, I can boil up a bunch with a some potatoes and have a fine meal

[Dakhar]

Houston Crawfish Delivery Pricing

2008 SEASON IS Open

SOON Unlimited quantities

We Believe In a QUALITY Crawfish Not a Quantity Crayfish

* Live Crawfish Picked up here at our facility. 1.75lb

* Live crawfish delivered to your doorstep: 2.00lb

Yep, we would buy them in 30 lb sacks, and 1.75 is a fair price... I have been to restaraunts where they charged 70$ for a crawfish buffet down in SE Tx.

But honestly, a good home style crawfish boil provides better crawfish than restaraunts can provide.

[Somtham]

[quote name='Dakhar' post='1955775' date='2008-05-My first thought was "dam_n these things are expensive". That was also my second and third thought. Anyway, how many male(?) females(?) do you thing are required to populate a 400 sq meter pond? How do you package them for transport for a 5 hour drive? If you're using heaters what type of pond do you have them in now?

thanks

Folks this is BROOD stock ready to go, they are not being sold as a "food item." I do not have enough to sell them in this manner, and frankly, there are not enough IN Thailand to be sold in this manner. If someone want to change that, be my guest, I have some brood stock ready.

If there was any real imidiate profit to be made it would be the sell of these things to aquarium shops. I have no idea about the whole sale price, but I know they go for about 40 baht each at 1/4 an inch. A large male at JJ (9inches) is being retailed at 3800 baht.

Any how, if there are no takers that is fine, I can boil up a bunch with a some potatoes and have a fine meal

Dakhar - can you answer these few questions?

"Anyway, how many male(?) females(?) do you thing are required to populate a 400 sq meter pond? How do you package them for transport for a 5 hour drive? If you're using heaters what type of pond do you have them in now? How much do the breeders and large ones weigh?"

thanks

[Dakhar]

[quote name='Dakhar' post='1955775' date='2008-05-My first thought was "dam_n these things are expensive". That was also my second and third thought. Anyway, how many male(?) females(?) do you thing are required to populate a 400 sq meter pond? How do you package them for transport for a 5 hour drive? If you're using heaters what type of pond do you have them in now?

thanks

Folks this is BROOD stock ready to go, they are not being sold as a "food item." I do not have enough to sell them in this manner, and frankly, there are not enough IN Thailand to be sold in this manner. If someone want to change that, be my guest, I have some brood stock ready.

If there was any real imidiate profit to be made it would be the sell of these things to aquarium shops. I have no idea about the whole sale price, but I know they go for about 40 baht each at 1/4 an inch. A large male at JJ (9inches) is being retailed at 3800 baht.

Any how, if there are no takers that is fine, I can boil up a bunch with a some potatoes and have a fine meal

Dakhar - can you answer these few questions?

"Anyway, how many male(?) females(?) do you thing are required to populate a 400 sq meter pond? How do you package them for transport for a 5 hour drive? If you're using heaters what type of pond do you have them in now? How much do the breeders and large ones weigh?"

thanks

I can not answer the first question... sorry. I have a small 40 page book regarding these crawfish, but you can find more info. via google. (that is what I did)

"They say" you can transport them in coolers with a minimal amount of water to no water in the container. For me, I would recommend moving them in some water...

The heaters being used are in 75 gallon fish aqurium type tanks. Technically you do not have to heat the water, it is just that the heated water makes the eggs hatch faster. If you don't mind the wait, you don't have to heat the water.

What I do at this point is.... I have three 75 gallon glass tanks dedicated to hatching, and 4 tanks dedicated to breeding. As they hatch and grow to about an 1 inch I transfer them to a large cement tank. There they keep growing, and yes they mate and carry on.

Every once in a while I net some females out of the cement that have eggs and I place them in an aquarium to hatch out....

pretty un-eventful

[Somtham]

[quote name=Dakhar' post='1963185' date='2008-05- How much do the breeders and large ones weigh?"

thanks

I can not answer the first question... sorry. I have a small 40 page book regarding these crawfish, but you can find more info. via google. (that is what I did)

"They say" you can transport them in coolers with a minimal amount of water to no water in the container. For me, I would recommend moving them in some water...

The heaters being used are in 75 gallon fish aqurium type tanks. Technically you do not have to heat the water, it is just that the heated water makes the eggs hatch faster. If you don't mind the wait, you don't have to heat the water.

What I do at this point is.... I have three 75 gallon glass tanks dedicated to hatching, and 4 tanks dedicated to breeding. As they hatch and grow to about an 1 inch I transfer them to a large cement tank. There they keep growing, and yes they mate and carry on.

Every once in a while I net some females out of the cement that have eggs and I place them in an aquarium to hatch out....

pretty un-eventful

Thanks for the info. SRAC has a good publication on red claws that can be found here http://aquanic.org/publicat/usda_rac/efs/srac/244fs.pdf

I may give this a go but would still like to know how much your breeders weigh? I would be interested in 9 females and 3 males.

rgds

[slapout]

Dakhar; I have no doubt that you are being stright forward with answers to our questions. You are trying to sell to a group of farmers who buy retail and sell wholesale on a regular basis. What I want, is to stock a pond with crawfish and 1 to 2 years later, sell or eat the critters, depending on price, transport, market potential, and how hungary I am at that time of makeing this decision. I will not be interested in selling to people who want a swimmer in a glass tank. You have had crawfish for 1.5 years, how many did you start with, and how many do you have to sell, breeders, pre-breeders etc? You are pricing the mature crawfish, what is avaliable in straight run, of the fry (or what ever you call them)? To answer one question, I have transported crawfish in wet burlap bags on a block of ice for 15 hours. They were alive and were boiled and eaten at the end of their ride to fame. We have heard that crawfish are served in Washington Square area, I do not see them serving crawfish which are compatable in price, with what you have and are offering for sale.

The questions I have put out and comments are due to my looking at another potential income maker for a small farming operation where I learn everyday another way to make or lose money.

[Dakhar]

Dakhar; I have no doubt that you are being stright forward with answers to our questions. You are trying to sell to a group of farmers who buy retail and sell wholesale on a regular basis. What I want, is to stock a pond with crawfish and 1 to 2 years later, sell or eat the critters, depending on price, transport, market potential, and how hungary I am at that time of makeing this decision. I will not be interested in selling to people who want a swimmer in a glass tank. You have had crawfish for 1.5 years, how many did you start with, and how many do you have to sell, breeders, pre-breeders etc? You are pricing the mature crawfish, what is avaliable in straight run, of the fry (or what ever you call them)? To answer one question, I have transported crawfish in wet burlap bags on a block of ice for 15 hours. They were alive and were boiled and eaten at the end of their ride to fame. We have heard that crawfish are served in Washington Square area, I do not see them serving crawfish which are compatable in price, with what you have and are offering for sale.

The questions I have put out and comments are due to my looking at another potential income maker for a small farming operation where I learn everyday another way to make or lose money.

What you basically want is ROI values, on a non-exsisting market, so any figure I give you is frankly pure bull. I had the same issues/ideas.... introduce a new crop to Thailand, create another "pink gold rush" like Thailand had with the shrimp industry. BUT what crawfish can offer is they survive in fresh water, so you are not distroying land by pumping salt water into ponds etc. Secondly if one takes the time, you will find that impoted crawfish from China are taxed heavily, (to America) but that is from CHINA. So theoritically one could export crawfish from Thailand and not recieve such a large duty fee. Or at least until the US govt. blocks all imported crawfish.

Regarding how many did I start with.... I never went into this in a scientific manner, I never logged anything down. But I rekon I started with 7 females and a couple of males. Regarding what do I actually have at the moment... I really do not know. It is not like I log these things etc. It would be like trying to keep track of musquitos. I toss them into the bigger cement tank, and they have a real life cycle in there, they breed, hatch, & even die in that tank. I rarely even throw feed in the tank because they eat anything, even algae, wich grows in the tank very well.

If I had to guess, I have over 100 mature females, and maybe 30 mature males. I have maybe another 100 or more 3 month away from maturity.

If one had the means and wanted to get into this seriously.... once these guys start to breed your numbers will compound very fast... faster than mine, because I made a lot of mistakes, and I do not have the means to really do this right. But I do have the means to produce brood stock... and possibly feed my family etc.

Regarding the selling of frye, I would not recommend that due to the fact the frye are very fragile. But at one inch or so they seem to be plenty hardy by then.

Sorry to say, but if folks are interested maybe the best thing to do is:

A) Research the Net

Come by for a visit

and maybe purchase. In the scale of things... it is not a lot of money. Sure you could by "A" lobster dinner with the price of my brood stock... but that would be a single dinner, I am offering brood stock such that you can eat many many dinners.

Secondly, you can transport in sacks, but I do not think you will find that in Thailand. I tried that with Burbon Street and they refused to sell them to me in that manner. Also, I would not transfer them in burlap sacks because, the truth is, we do not have a lot of room for error here. In other words we do not have to allow for kill off's without any worries.

Good luck folks.... and by the way I am really not "trying to sell these" if folks want them, come on by and get some. This is by no means an "income" source for me. I don't have the time to turn it into such a venture.

[ozzydom]

Dakhar, what is the average weight of your brood males and females.?

[Crushdepth]

Anyway, how many male(?) females(?) do you thing are required to populate a 400 sq meter pond? How do you package them for transport for a 5 hour drive? If you're using heaters what type of pond do you have them in now?

Just put them in an esky or plastic bag. Temperature should not be a problem, just keep them wet and access to some air if its a long trip!

In terms of numbers, 'as many unrelated animals as you can' if you are planning on using them as broodstock. Its not good to just get one or two broodstock, or to use the descendants of a single pair as your broodstock, as you will get inbreeding depression very quickly.