Something Important About Crayfish

Yesterday I wrote about my fishing trip and the new crayfish living in my tank. Well that was nice, but I forgot to mention an important fact about this guys and I also forgot to put my “countermeasures” in place last night. Well, I was a little tired… I hate getting old… Anyway, one of the crayfish “had a good one”.

One thing about crayfish is that they are very resourceful creatures that can escape from a lot tight places. If you add the ability to survive for short periods of time out of the water, then you have a little Houdini in your tank.

After the crayfish’s demise, I put in place a piece of wood to stop them from climbing. Well, not much for opportunity, but we humans tend to be like this. Anyway, if you have crayfish, they can climb your air hose and the cable for the pump. In a regular tank, you can just place a cover and that will be it, but here you need to have an entrance for the clean water that comes from the hydroponic part of your aquaponic system, so you will need a “do it yourself” solution, like making an additional hole to your tank’s cover.

This will depend a lot on your aquaponic system and it’s layout, but it shouldn’t be a problem. If you plan to have crayfish, you should be careful about this. By the way, the one I have is a Procambarus Clarikii, a nice little pest that has invaded almost everyplace where humans (again us…) has taken them.

Although is not exactly a problem in Florida, Illinois and Ohio, it has colonized a lot of territory in Europe, Africa and Asia, at the expense of indigenous crayfish. Not a pretty sight, but getting back to the ones you can rear, this “pesty” capability of the crayfish can be used to your advantage.

They grow and breed quickly, so you can have enough of them in a few months. In Louisiana, there is a millionaire industry with this crayfish, so you can take a part of it too. They are really delicious and you should not miss the chance to taste your own.

After all, if you feed them right and take the proper care, you can have your own source of a delicacy that can be quite expensive in a good restaurant.

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