Growing and Fattening Mud Crab Farming Method

You might want to know more about mud crab farming which is a popular shellfish that often sold in various seafood restaurants especially in Asia and Africa. Furthermore, they also have quite large demand in the international market with great price. This is why a lot of farmers love to farm this shellfish as there are various countries that willing to import this food fish annually. Thus farming the mud crab will give huge earning in foreign currencies which will surely have high value.

Learn More about Mud Crab Farming

Furthermore the farming itself only need low labor cost and the production cost is fairly low. And with the mud crab growing very fast, this means the farmer will be able to earn back their money faster. That is why commercial mud crab farming has become a growing business especially in the coastal area. In fact, if the management is done properly, this farming might even have higher earnings compared to shrimp farming. This type of farming can also be done in small scale, which makes it easier for those who does not have huge budget to still able to do this farming method. Now let us learn further on the farming method that is done to this mud crab.

Before we learn about the farming method, the first thing that you need to learn is the type of mud crab that you can farm. The mud crab itself is stored in the Scylla genus, and there are two species inside this genus which you can farm for business which are the green crab and the red claw. The green crab has larger size which can grow up to 22 cm for the carapace width and their weight can go up to 2 kilos. Meanwhile the red claw has smaller size which can grow up to 12.7 cm for the carapace width and their weight can go up to 1.2 kilos.

Both of those species are very suitable for the crab farming business. They have great value and the demand for those mud crabs is also very high. Actually there are two types of mud crab farming methods that can be use to farm those crabs. First is the growing out method and the second one is the fattening method. Let us see each of those methods with more detailed explanations below.

For the growing out method, the farming will be done using young crab which will then raised so it will grow bigger for some period of time. It usually takes around 5 months to 6 months time for the crab to reach the weight and size which appropriate for commercial usage. The farming itself will be done using pond, with different size according to production type that is used by the farmer.  However, the general size is usually 0.5 ha to 2 ha with the right bunds as well as water exchange. Smaller size pond is good for mud crab farming because it can easily be maintained. For the small size pond, you can use fence for the boundaries. For larger size pond which using natural boundaries, sometimes you might need to strengthen the boundaries when they start to deteriorate.

For the stock, it is usually using juvenile crab with 10 grams to 100 grams in weight. The duration of the farming will highly depends on the size of the juvenile stocked into the pond with some facilities become the factor to determine it. But it usually takes around 3 months to 6 months duration. For the commercial farming method, which using supplementary feeds, then the stock can be measured up to 3 crabs for every square meter. The feeds given are shrimp, smaller size crab, cheap fish, and many other meats. The feeds that needed to be provided are weighted around 5 percent of the mud crab weight. On the pond mud crab farming method, you need to put several pipes inside which can be used by the crab for their shelter. This is important to reduce them to attack each other and to prevent cannibalism.

For the fattening method, the farming will be done using mud crab with soft shell which will then fatten so the shell will be harder for some period of time. The mud crab which has hard shell will have higher value which sometimes reaches 4 to 5 times more than the mud crab which has soft shell. This farming method can be done faster while the process itself will also give a lot of profit.

Actually even in the fattening mud crab farming, you will still use pond with size around 0.25 ha to 0.2 ha with great tidal wave and 1 m to 1.5 m deep. You need to prepare the pond by draining the water so there is good quality lime as the foundation of the pond. Then add some fence for the boundaries and bamboo mat on the bottom to prevent the mud crab from escaping. The stock can be use with one to two crabs for each square meter. You might need to divide the crabs into some compartment according to the size to reduce them to attack each other and to prevent cannibalism. Usually you can do around 8 cycles to 12 cycles of farming within a year. The crabs that has weight around 300 grams until 500 grams can be sold commercially. You can sell the crab which has reach that ideal weight. But make sure that they have hard shell to ensure their value would be high.

As you can see; the farming for mud crab is actually quite easy as it can be done using small scale. Thus the budget needed to do the farming itself can be minimized. But even with, that small budget, you will be able to earn huge earning as the value of this mud crab is also quite high. That is why a lot of people want to try and do the mud crab farming since the earning possibility is also quite high, thus it is a good business that you can start in small scale.