Crawfish are the most widely raised fresh water crustacean in the United States.  Crawfish Molt every five to ten days.  These crustaceans can reach greater than six inches and the desired weight for them is .45kg.  The temperature that is best to raise these crawfish is 65 degrees to 85 degrees Fahrenheit.  But when the water gets lower then 45 degrees Fahrenheit the crawfish will go Dormant.  Crustaceans live in the ground in what we call a Burrow which is a tunnel system made in the earth that connects to the surface with a hole that ma be covered with a chimney. 
    Crawfish mate in the late spring early summer. During mating the male deposits sperm in a receptacle on the female.  The eggs are attached to the underside of the tail of the female crawfish until hatched.  The Red crawfish hatch their eggs between 14 to 21 days, the White crawfish hatch their eggs between 17 and 29 days, and both of these crawfish hatch from 400 to 700 eggs during this time. 
    The culture that these crawfish live in are at different areas such as permanent ponds which are special ponds for crawfish with a water level with a maximum of 24 in.  It would grow 1200 lbs of crawfish.  There is also rice ponds with the crawfish eat the rice and they fertilize the rice in the process.  Wooded ponds can produce 400 to 600 lbs of crawfish.  Marsh ponds can produce 300 to 500 lbs of crawfish in an acre.
    In feeding these crustaceans, they will eat a variety of animals and plants which means they are polytrophic.  They also eat things like Detritus .  Detritus is a small particle of decaying material. When harvesting crawfish the minimum size is 3 in. and there is no maximum size.  they are mostly harvested by traps.  The minimum marketing size is 1/2 oz a preferred size is 1 to 1/2 oz.  6 to 14 months is what is required for crawfish to reach that size.

Created by: John Schaub
1/9/01