peeler crab farming?y

[Toerag]

Saltwater aquariums- the basics!

You will have problems if the water gets too salty, or there is a buildup of nitrate/nitrite/ammonia, or if you have 'something else' in the water.

Saltiness - easy to fix, simply top up with fresh water, preferably RO (reverse osmosis) water which is completely pure.

Nitrate etc - occurs when the waste material from your inhabitants is not digested by bacteria/algae. Use a relatively large 'live bacteria' filter as recommend by Winter, or reduce stock levels.

'Something else' - could be evil pathogens, or chemicals which you can't test for. Not a lot you can do other than a major water change, but the problem will probably come back. Good news is that UK marine species are hardy, so will survive pretty much everything. 'Rock pool' species will stand up to 23 degrees of heat, as rockpools easily get this warm in summer, but hot water holds less oxygen so aeration needs to be better.

[Ian Burrett]

samuel-cox:

I know certan plants can be induced to bud by putting them on a 12 hour light, 12 hour dark plan, does anyone think it could work with crabs????

samuel-Cox

 

and very nice they are too

[Guest bennyTHEBASS]

HI sam, interesting subject. I keep live sandeels all year round with no probs at all. winter remarked about salt build up? just add fresh rain water simple as that. as for coolers n the like waste of money, just make sure tanks are on concrete floors n out of direct sunlite. block built tanks are perfect. ive kept poppers in a mesh pot but only for short times say 2days max. A freind of mine has been working on timed peeling for a couple of years now. He experements with tank temps to varing results. he said his biggest problem was keeping gin clear water.

[maximo]

the problem i have is my garage is very susceptible to temperature change as its cladding with asbestos roof,thats why i was thinking of trying the old chest freezer.but the more water in the tank the less drastic the change.but i do think you can faff about with bait too much and sometimes the less handling the better.

also i go through air pumps on piece even good ones any idea why, i thought maybe too hot or airstone problems.how often should i change the airstone,i have several and either change or rotate regular.

[Guest jay_con]

Toerag - The rockpools only reach that temp for at most 4 hours then they are recovered by the sea whoose temp is at most 17 degrees in the height of summer. Perhaps fluctuating temps may be a good idea? Someone also suggested that changing water depths may assist in peeling ie recreating high and low tide. He suggested crabs like very low water level when they are about to peel.

[Guest jay_con]

Benny please can you tell us more about your freinds peeling experiments? Can he get crabs to peel in winter?

 

Has your friend tried a uv steriliser for his water problems? When my water turns cloudy I turn it on and the water is gin clear again within 12 hours.

[Guest bennyTHEBASS]

winter, he never says exactly but its only a few degrees warmer than the norm he recons to start the peel. il see if i can get more info in exchange for the uv idea

[maximo]

i can see im a bit of an amateur in the crab farming stakes but ill be investigating further as i too get through a lot of crab per year.but i mainly use fridges to bring to required state and then work on them with airated water to fine tune them for freezing/matches.

i missed the cod question winter we usually get quite a few fish over here but we lack the quality fish.

if someone was able to get them to peel at will they would end up a very rich man and a lot of cleverer people than me have tried, but good luck to them someone will crack it one day.

[Guest jay_con]

Max. the keeping of peelers is a lot easier than ive made it sound. The filter is the best purchase I ever made and really simple to use. It has saved my hours and hours of work in getting and changing sea water.

 

If you store crabs in the fridge it will slow down the process. We often do this in oct and nov when we need fresh crab to fish with. We bring them to the point where there about to crack and then put them in the fridge. You can keep them like this for 2 - 3 weeks and they wont pop.

[maximo]

yes dont get me wrong winter im not a novice at bringing them on as i am quite good at getting them ready for a set date but as they say youre never too old to learn and you lot seem to be on a higher level to me.

and as you know a crab in perfect condition for bait or freezer is one thats just about to shed shell in water.you sometimes find them when peelering and if i could get my bait to that state thats what i would like.although they often go too far if left long.

keep the posts coming as its a very interesting thread(to me anyway)