Is it Possible to Do Mud Crab Farming in Freshwater?

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You might be considering to do mud crab farming in freshwater but is that even possible as the mud crab is actually living in brackish water. Actually the mud crab can live in mangrove habitat where there are both freshwater and also salt water which will be combined into brackish water. Thus actually they do not really live in the freshwater area. And even if they do, then they will only able to survive for very little time inside the freshwater environment. This makes it impossible to farm the mud crab using freshwater. Thus the only thing that you can use to farm the mud crab is the brackish water.

The Truth about Mud Crab Farming In Freshwater

Then if the mud crab farming in freshwater is impossible what you can do to farm this shellfish? Actually the mud crab is very sensitive with the salinity level of the environment that they living it. Thus the only thing that you can do is to farm it using brackish water as the environment. In fact a lot of people already farm the mud crab especially those who are living in the coastal area where there are natural brackish water area. They will make use of that area to create ponds to farm the mud crabs.

The best thing about this farming is that you do not need to have huge budget to start the farm. In fact this farm can be done with small scale thus everyone can start to make one if they want. Furthermore the labor cost is actually pretty low which make it ideal for those who only want to start their first business. But even with that low cost and budget, that does not mean that their income will also be low. On the contrarily, farming the mud crab is able to give them huge income as the price of this shellfish itself is very high. Thus you would most like gain a lot of profit as long as you do not do mud crab farming in freshwater.

Usually there are two kinds of mud crab that is being farm by people for commercial usage. Those two mud crabs are actually still under the same Scylla genus and they are the green crab as well as the red claw. There are several differences that both of those mud crabs have, which you need to learn if you want to decide which one to use inside your farm. For the green crab it will have larger size, their carapace can grow until 22 cm width and their weight can reach until 2 kilos. Meanwhile for the red crab it will have smaller size, their carapace can grow until 12.7 cm width and their weight can reach until 1.2 kilos.

Now, once you have decide which one to use in your farm and make sure you do not do the mud crab farming in freshwater, then you can start to do the farming process. To start the farming process, first you need to choose which process that you want to use. As there are two kinds of process that you can actually use which is the growing out process and the fattening process. Both are actually used by various farmers since there are some differences that the processes have. Now let us learn more about the differences here.

On the growing process, the one that is being raised inside the farm is the young crab. Through this process the crab will be grow so it will then be bigger after some times. It usually takes around five until six months time until the crab is big enough as it already each the commercial size and weight that the market want. The growing process itself will be done inside a pond which the size is varied according to the farmer budget. The usual size is around half hectare until two hectare. As this process is not mud crab farming in freshwater, then it is good to do the farming inside small size pond so the maintenance can be done easier. Furthermore you can use fence as boundaries for the smaller pond. But if you use natural boundaries, then you might need to strengthen them after some times when it begins to deteriorate.

Meanwhile for the fattening process, the one that is being raised inside the farm is the crab with soft shell. Through this process the crab will be raised so the shell will then be harder after some times. Mud crab which has hard shell will have higher value compared to those with soft shell which may even reach around four until five times higher. Furthermore the farming process on this is actually faster thus you will surely gain a lot of profit as long as you do not do mud crab farming in freshwater.

The growing process itself will be done inside a pond and the usual size is around 0.25 hectare to 0.2 hectare. Before using the pond, the tidal pond need to be drained so there will be more lime in higher quality as the foundation of the pond. Next use bamboo mat for the flooring as well as fence to strengthen the boundaries. This will then prevent the mud crab from escaping the pond area. Usually in one year you will be able to do around eight until twelve cycle of farming as long as it is not mud crab farming in freshwater.

Once you have learn those farming processes that you can use to farm the mud crab, then you can decide which one that you want to use. There are a lot of people that trying to do this business since the farming process can be done in very short period with low budget. They would also able to earn huge profit from the harvest since the mud crab itself holds high economical value. Just make sure that you do not do mud crab farming in freshwater since the mud crab cannot survive in freshwater environment for a long time and will most likely die if you insist.