how to Raise Crayfish for Profit - Crayfish Farming

A Crawfish is specie of fish that looks more like a Crab. Starting a Crawfish farm is very different from the normal fish pond you have for fishes because the cultivation process for a crawfish is very different. For people that already have an idea of what it takes to cultivate fish and are eager to try different specie of fish, you can start a crawfish farm.

A female crawfish hatches 400 to 900 new crawfish at a time, and they do hatch multiple times in a season. With this, you can get a massive returns from any more you invested to start the business in few months or years depending on your marketing skills. Also, the rice that is planted for the cultivation of crawfish farm is another separate source of income to a crawfish farmer.
 
Unlike other species of fish that require high maintenance activities like; changing of water in the ponds; purchasing bags of feeds for fish; the crawfish require very little or no maintenance after the initial set up. There are different stages you need to take when starting a crawfish farm, and most of the stages come with timing which must be adhered to for maximum output; the following are the steps you need to set up a crawfish farm.
Starting a Crawfish Farm – Sample Business Plan Template

1. Grow a Rice Field

If you haven’t seen or started a crawfish farm before, you may be wondering what a crawfish has to do with a rice farm. Well, truth is that the first step to starting a crawfish farm is to cultivate a commercial rice field. The planting period for rice starts from early March and continues until April.

2. Introduce the Crawfish Seed

Around the month of June, the rice plant should have sprouted off the ground. After the rice plants have grown into a thick canopy, that is when you introduce the crawfish seed or young ones. The question now is why do your source for the first set of crawfish that will serve as seed for your farm?

There are two ways to source for crawfish seed; the first source is in the wild. That is from their natural habitat which is gotten from a basin. A very poplar basin where you can source for crawfish is the Atchafalaya basin. The second method is to use artificial hatching method to get new set of crawfish.

3. Harvest the Rice

Harvest of rice begins around July, when the weather begins to get hot, and the water has drained out from the rice field. During the harvest period, the crawfish remain underground in their burrow. Rain is expected to start from the Month of September. The rain is very vital for the reproduction process of female crawfish. If there is a draught, it will surely affect the fish; though you can artificially flood the field.

Female Crawfish Begin to Hatch-: Let’s say that everything went as you planned, and there was enough rain in the month of September, then the females’ starts reproduction.Female crawfish hatch 400 to 900 new seeds; and they are expected to reproduce multiple times in a season

Maturity-: It takes 90 days for a craw fish to reach maturity after reproduction; meaning that harvest should begin sometime in November.

4. Harvest

The harvest period runs from November to February; though some people extend their harvest period beyond that. The harvest process of crawfish is also very different from that of other specie of fishes. You need a specialised type of boat known as the crawfish boat for the harvesting process. You also need a bait to harvest your crawfish; the bait contains tiny fish, meaning that your harvest is determined by our catch.

5. Sell Your Crawfish

The next question that comes to mind is ‘where will the crawfish be sold? There is high demand for crawfish and the following are the best places you can sell your crawfish. There are some restaurants that offer just crawfish cuisines; these restaurants will always have a high need for crawfish.

You can locate any of the crawfish restaurants around and offer to supplier them with crawfish at any quantity they want. Others include; online stores, hotels and Fast food restaurants, as well as food stores.

Finally, do bear in mind that this business is labour intensive, you may need to hire workers to help you with each of the steps and process especially for harvesting and will require you to apply for an Employee Identification Number (EIN) from the State.