Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

1.) yes, they will survive. They breed easily requiring a temp change to trigger egg laying. I never did anything specific but the normal light/temp changes of the seasons were enough for them to breed naturally. (Mass. here)

2.) I had mine in cages with goldfish and the young did manage to survive, but they do make tasty snacks to fish that will eat such tings. I have no idea how carnivorous tilapia are. They will eat whatever fish they can catch.... and they do catch live fish. Seems sleeping fish are easy prey.

3.) Couldn't tell you. Word is they're good. They either committed suicide or I never really had enough to sacrifice one to taste. I did have one get to about 15 inches, so there's plenty of tail for sure.

Where would one go about buying some juveniles?

Liveaquaponics.com has several packages for sale. I haven't bought any yet but I am researching for the future. Happy Ponics-ing!

$24 for 1 redclaw!!!!!!! Holey molly Im in the wrong business!! Redclaw are everywhere in our area, in pest quantities.

I want some RedClaw So bad! Alas, the system needs to be stable!

So thefishsite.com seems to think these aren't viable for tank raising, but their information is from 2012. What I'm wondering is if anyone has raised these in numbers enough to feed the family and friends, and if it was too labor intensive or expensive to be worth the effort. I haven't built my system yet, but am planning on using a 600 gallon stock tank for the fish side.

Question about feeding redclaw crayfish:

Can I give them the leftover from fish cleaning as a good food? ( like fish head and skin )

I know they eat fish, but only saw crayfish eating small fish, not a big tilapia head. In a big AP system I will have loads of tilapia parts, and this among with lettuce leftovers could save a lot of money on feeding the redclaws.

I'm fairly certain that they would eat it. I know that the local crayfish in Wa. state will eat nearly anything. My main concern would be what throwing fish parts into your system would do to the water quality. I'm still new to aquaponics, and my only real experience is with 55 gallon and under aquariums, so maybe it isn't the same thing. I just know that failure to remove dead fish in my tank leads to more dead fish in my tank. Lol

If you have a lot of filtration capacity over and above what you need to handle the amount you're feeding your fish, and you don't go over what your bacteria can process, it should work. It is risky though! If you try it, I'd only put in an amount that you're fairly sure your crayfish will eat quickly, remove any leftovers a few hours later, and keep testing your water to make sure you're not overdoing it.

DomArnett, about raising larger numbers in tanks, a couple of people on the forum are doing pretty well but you need to give them plenty of hiding places so they don't eat each other. And by 'plenty' I mean 'lots more than you think are necessary - no, more than that'.

Does anyone have pictures of there set ups with successful raising of redclaws? I got them last year out in Massachusetts unfortunately even with a ton of PVC hiding spaces they where pretty much eating each other. I stood the pipes up in groups where one end was flat on the ground only allowing one way in or out. It actually stopped them from eating each other. The cat fish how ever did manage to scoop up the remainder. This year no catfish with my crays

Does anyone have pictures of there set ups with successful raising of redclaws? I got them last year out in Massachusetts unfortunately even with a ton of PVC hiding spaces they where pretty much eating each other. I stood the pipes up in groups where one end was flat on the ground only allowing one way in or out. It actually stopped them from eating each other. The cat fish how ever did manage to scoop up the remainder. This year no catfish with my crays

I got cheap feeder redclaw from the pet store they have grown so fast how big before they start to breed the other week i got some big jade perch and they gave me a big redclaw its so blue and purple is really nice

Are there any rules against me going to a dam and catching them and putting in my system

Just give them a salt bath before introduction to kill off any parasites and alike. I usually go for around 10-12ppt in a esky with lots of aeration for about 30 minutes.