The university at lafayette experience: crawfish production in small ponds

摘要

Two species of crawfish are raised in Louisiana including the red swamp crawfish, Procambarus clarkii, and the white river crawfish, Procambarus zonangulus. The two species are found in swamps, marshes, sloughs, and drainage ditches throughout the state. As a result, both species appear spontaneously in most crawfish ponds even though the red swamp crawfish is usually the only species stocked. Crawfish ponds are managed by establishing self-perpetuating populations of crawfish so that once ponds are stocked, they rarely have to be restocked. New ponds are stocked in the spring with 25-50 pounds of adult crawfish per acre. After several weeks, the ponds are drained. Crawfish begin to burrow around the edges of ponds as soon as they are stocked andcontinue to do so until the ponds are drained. Long years of observation show that few crawfish are successful in burrowing after pond draining begins no matter how fast or slow the ponds are drained. The burrowed crawfish lay and incubate eggs in the burrows. Ponds are reflooded in the fall and females emerge with their young. Vegetation including intentionally planted rice grows in the pond bottoms during the summer and provides the base of the food web for the young crawfish. The most important crawfish foods in ponds are insects, small crustaceans, worms, snails and plant seeds including rice grains.