Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

cant comment on the species you have access to but the yabbies, marron etc work well at eating left over food.
Re: hoarding - you shouldn't have that much food left over. Yabbies are technically aggressive and will lift and wave their their claws but reality is that when they have lots of hides (PVC etc) they don't really worry about the fish too much.

most crayfish generally don't catch and eat live fish (they are more predated by fish) - they tend to feed on rotting material, veg and dead things and each others babies. But if the opportunity arises and they can hold on - then maybe....

In an 1000L IBC with many species you would be lucky to have more than 2 dominant ones survive unless you have a lot of landscaping.

I guess catfish or plecos/suckerfish are the other option for cleaning up bottom food.

@GoldyGlocks - I suspect it is more about floor area than total water volume. Total water volume would only apply if the crayfish occupied the full vertical profile. An IBC has quite a small base for example compared to a 1000L circular aquaculture tank. Many tubs like the rubbermaid ones tend to have small bases.

@Darren-Yes, I'm aware of that, which is why I made the comment "Obviously that's gallon wise but they prefer the bottom and won't be swimming all that much so you'd probably be even lower than that and only be able to raise around 10-20 if you're lucky." Sorry for the confusion. With hides I'd say you could get away with a few crayfish. Not sure how effective they are at cleaning the tanks so I'd agree with catfish as another option. Don't know much about raising anything to clean the tank though.

Hi, I've been thinking g about doing an aquaponics system for a few months now and I want to use crawfish in it. I'm located in Kentucky and was going to put it in my garage. I was wondering what I should do in the winter about keeping them alive? I want to start out small and cheap, but still raise more than a few so what size tank do I need? Any tips?

I have been experimenting about 5 years with Red Claws and beside trying all kind of tanks and suitable housings I developed a systems that I could grow them into grow beds.

I was first scared they will chew my salads and herb themselves up with Basil leaves but as expected they are going for the dead parts of the roots and all what falls off and starts decaying.
The growth of raft plants increased.
Great workers who pay you later for working. The development for my Backyard farm to teach my Thai wife to turn from a rice farmer into a modern farmer was money (15000 EUR estimated) money well spent.

Some rules have to be followed:
- They need to be fed well otherwise they change their mind and WILL go for life plants.
- They grow only in a marketable size of 120-150 grams if they have space, so for the backyard its hard to see
more than a few that get you the desired meaty size.
- my development has cost a bit but I am willing to share some experiences and values.
- A grow bed at least 7.5m
wide and 50 m long is a guarantee for biggies. 1 out of 100 all others were 60 - 100 grs.
- the market price is around 500 baht = 12.5 Eur/Kg for big ones and the smaller will sell easy for 350 baht=
8.75 EUR/Kg here in Thailand but we see a development in direction posh food hence the price is increasing.
- the grow bed especially the housings have to be designed that the water flow lines the solids up for easy
cleaning to avoid root rot.
- Beside they are way more dirty than tilapia the CrabCrap is worth a buck. We tried it in our Garden and
created a Jungle.. I would say for commercial Aquaponic growers its a side income if you bag it for small
Gardens and Hotel ornamental garden and Miniature Parks. Or you use it yourself on your orchards.

a few photos as we made the 4th redesign and upgrade. Pipes, ebb flood and dutch buckets with one pump and backup system incl generator. One by one more came to it like aquariums for fry, baby station and grow tanks. Beside we were digging ponds on our land simulated as grow beds to find out required sizes.
Under a sharp eye of my retired Dutch Aunt who was her life long hydroponics farmer we went the way and getting ready for begin 2020 building a 10000 sqm Aquaponics farm in Thailand.
Lucky I have a lot of Family behind me and its time after more than 30 years offshore to stay at home in Thailand.