Keeping / Breeding Yabbies

[DAGGA]

Ahh sorry guys i kinda posted without thinking, sorry to dig up a old thread!

[Loopy]

yabbies are easy to keep, as a kid i had dug myself a small pond (1m x 2m x 0.6m and lined it with black plastic and threw in half a dozen. reguarly fed them initially but then forgot about them for around 12 months. then dad wanted me to fill it in. Didn't think they would still be there but low and behold there they were, 5 of them anyway. the pond had a couple of mallee trees above which dropped alot of leaves and i had a couple of large bricks in the bottom but certainly never changed the water or had an areator.
other people in the area have large concrete squatters tanks which hold approx 7000- 10000 gal and the yabbies and shrimps are in the hundreds, the only drama being shags coming and pinching them, feeding themselves stupid and drowning in the tanks because they are water logged and can't get enough run up to get out.
i think in the back yard of a town house an old bath tub would be just fine with a bit of mesh over the top for protection.

[rossco]

i keep yabbies for bait in an old tractor tyre.lay tyre on shadecloth,fill up to rim with soil,gravel or rock.fill inside tyre with water. i have kept yabbies this way for over a year.feed them on carrot. rossco

[Davo]

There is a big gap between keeping and breeding yabbies (Cherax Destructor). As you can see they are easy to keep for long periods. They are tolerant of a wide range dissoloved oxygen levels, salinity levels and water temperatures.
Breeding is a different matter. If they dont have enough room they will quite happily eat each other and thier own young. They also breed according to water temp and the length of days, so if you had an indoor tank setup you would have to simulate this.
Most commercial farms are large scale and use a number of ponds on a growth and harvest cycle, allowing the breeding to occur naturally.

Cheers
Dave

[Goodoo Dreaming]

Bait fishing Marc!

What next?

Seriously, build a nice pond in your front or back yard and put'em in there. I did this a couple of year ago and now I'm getting a litle scared to feed the fish as they are enormous now.

[emu]

A mate of mine has his in a old bath tub about a third full of water with a couple of rocks and tins in it feeds them with fresh lucerne and changes the water every 7 to 10 days covered with a bit of heavy duty shade cloth to help keep frosts at bay they seem to being doing very well.
Cheers Emu

[Timber_Lake_Mike]

Hey guys, this might be of interest:

http://www.fisheries.nsw.gov.au/aquacultur...reshwater_yabby

[TheBream]

ahh what the hell i will reply too

yabbies are the easyest things to keep and breed
i have some in two two foot tanks
one is the breeding tank for mrs and mr yabbie and the other is for the babys to grow up in
biggest thing to remeber is they will kill each other and you will only end up with a fraction of what is breed

you can breed them year round by keeping the water at a constion temp via a water heater
while i have two tanks a third would be even better as to keep mum and dad away from each other when she is berried up or after they have hatched MY mr killed the little lady just a few mounth ago so i need to find a new woman for him or he will pinch me

i feed miny normal yabbie food from a pet store with once a week mix of lettice and carrot
as for water qulity well clean water with under gravle filltration works fine ohh and as for a treat for your breeders throw in a goldfish for them to play with they love nothing better than freash fish LOL
feel free to mesanger me with any other questions about them as they are really easy to keep and breed hell we didn't even try and ours did three times last year

[Sparkesy2]

OH NO! .... not a goldfish :(

By the way The Bream ... where have you been? Haven't seen you around here for some time but glad you made it back because we are due for another "Tackleboxer of the Month" :)

[TheBream]

yeh been pretty busy at either work or fishing and if not doing that then trying to score the browine points by doing the family thing so after i take care of all that i just haven't been getting the relax time i desrve LOL