Keeping / Breeding Yabbies

[Marc]

Anyone know anything about keeping and breeding yabbies?

What size tanks, how much filtering (and type) etc....

Looking to keep some yabbies alive and possibly breed them for future fishing outings...

Just an idea at this stage and thought I would throw the feelers out there in case someone has been down this path before.

BTW - I could google... but trying to keep discussion going here

[Sparkesy2]

Don't know but they do live in muddy dams. I have often thought of breeding shrimps.
Any suggestions guys?

Natalie

[Marc]

I'll keep looking into it. Ideally I want small freshwater yabbies.

Found this link:
http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/2002/arch...ests/fish/yabby

[tex]

Hi Marc,
My brother used to keep a few. He just had a large filtered fish tank, with heaps of cans and junk on the bottom for them to hide(nest) in. Used to feed them carrots.

Oh..I forgot, he was breeding them for bait too, but had a few moral issues with using his pets for bait

[ozdevil]

just got to remember that yabbies are actually vegetarians so feeding them meat is not such a good diet for them... and as Tex said just a filtered tank will do and shrimp is done thesame way basically but not sure wether they are vegetarian

cheers
ozdevil

[awhite_au]

I've had yabbies before, meat does work well for growth and general quality of the yabbies. Yet, having yabbies as 'pets' I don't suggest feeding them meat as yabbies are scavengers and will bury any excess food they don't wish to eat. This will cause the water to become extremely dirty and smell of rotting flesh. Carrot does work well, but you will notice with smaller yabbies that they will actually start to turn a shade of orange (similar as with salmon breeders feeding them carrot to colour their flesh orange).

Also, depending on how many yabbies you wish to breed, make sure there is plenty of area per yabby as they WILL kill each other if left in confined spaces in the presence of females.

Breeding wise, you'd be better off to do it on a larger scale with a pond of some sort, create the environment for them to breed naturally, and just net from that what you need on each fishing trip and take care of the yabbies that are not used, and put them back. If it's size you're looking for, for eating and the like, you really do need to make sure they have somewhere to bury themselves and hybernate over winter. Also, if you are going to do it on a smaller scale, the less water volume the more the temp of the water will fluctuate and will affect the health of the yabbies, so make sure the tank is in a place which is unaffected from full sunlight etc.

Seems like a bit of effort, but if you're one to use yabbies as bait often it'd pay off in the long run.

[Marc]

Thanks Andrew, great information there. Might hold off and do it properly I am thinking.

[cvbass]

we used to keep some in an old bath tub with lots of bricks and eucy branchs for them to hime around, they eat carrot, and most other vegtables. you also have to change th water regularly or have an aerator set up as the water loses all its oxygen and goes bad after a while
good luck
P.S dont keep them in Polystyrene eskys, my old man found out the hard way that they just eat straight through them - we had yabbys walkin round the backyard

[DAGGA]

Hahahaha cvbass you just reminded me!
Make sure you got a good lid on wherever your keeping them and make sure you dont have bits coming out for them to climb, i worked this one out when one climbed up my filter hose and found him in the computer room. You could imagine my suprise looking at this dark silioute in a dark gap between computer desk and wall. I got in got a closer look and seen the claws and thought OMG I HAVE A GIANT SCORPIAN IN MY HOUSE!

[Timber_Lake_Mike]

Heaps of them down at the lake. I have dropped some biscuit in the water near where I park the boats and watched at least three of them come out from various holes, pick up some biscuit and scurry back in again. One even had a go at a mosquito fish on the way through.

I have also found them in the bilge of the larger boat - not sure how they get in there, but they difinitely can climb (I assume up the anchor rope in this case). BTW, this one had obviously grown inside the bilge and couldn't get out through the small hole again - he/she could only get it's claws through

Also as the scientific name suggests (Cherax Destructor), they will destory the banks of ponds and dams unless they are supported by some rock (that they can't destroy). The dam wall at the lake is a prime example of this, however you can find yabbie holes all round the lake.

Does anyone know what is the best time of year to catch them and do they have a dormant stage?

Regards