Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Red Swamp Craws

I found a seafood market today that has live un purged crawfish at $5 lb. I was going to pick some up but I am not sure of the number?

Right now the pond has 1500 BG/RES largest 4in. There are no LMB yet with a dozen 8 inch cc. The pond has rip rap in one corner, some logs/stumps and hardly any vegetation.

I will add LMB next month, I want to get them established but not knock out the 4 patches of Indianhead Pickerelweed I planted last winter.

I did the same. I bought a 15 lb sack from my local grocery store about a month before I stocked my fish. I didn't see any of them until last night. There were several bedded down in balls of algae eating away like it was a salad bar. I was happy. I thought they all died. Out of a 15# sack I found maybe 5 or so dead.

Have been thinking about the same thing. Did you pour them into the water or right next to the shore? Is there any acclimation that you do for them?

You had good luck getting them from the grocery store? I'd love to get them started in my pond.

Thanks

This can work. If you have fish in the pond put the craws into thick cover (limestone piles are good so are thick weeds). Spread them out as they can be aggressive toward their own - territorial. They love soft fish food as well so if you feed , soften up a few pellets and put them in the craw stocking area. Report you results.

Do most grocers have them like that?? Or is it better to get them from another source? I know you have to cook them live so if a place has them they should be ok?? Or is there something to look for?

peachgrower, we got right at 100 pounds this spring from a local seafood restaurant. The owner makes a weekly run to Louisiana on Weds, and we picked them up Thursday morning. IIRC, they were $2.40 to $2.50 a pound.

We put them in 3 different places. 2/3rds in weedy slews, and 1/3 around a small island we have in the upper end of the pond.

Should they survive long enough to breed or will lmb just use them for snacks? The only crawfish I have seen in my pond are huge but mostly I find their shells on the bank where I think the raccoons get them. How many would you stock for a 2 acre pond. I have 60 Florida lmb in there about 3/4 - 1 pound each.

In the spring of 2015 I added around 1200+ small red swamp craws to the pond and some of them grew to be in the 5 to 6" range, I would see one walking the pond bottom and also saw some crawfish holes around the ponds edge. Spring 2015 I added two large bags or around 75lbs of large mature red swamps to the pond and just yesterday I saw a few crawfish holes at the ponds edge. So some have survived but not many. I plan to add some more mature ones this fall.

Flame the crawfish shells, are the crawfish molting and leaving the shell or does it look like a coon caught it and ate it?

Tracy, I suppose it actually looks like they molted because most all the shell is there but...the "head" shell would be there too. I did not realize they molt.I have seen the large holes on the edge of the pond though.

Flame, we need to thank esshup for the knowledge about them molting. He taught me that in a similar thread a couple years ago when I saw the shells along the shore line.

My brother lives in San Antonio and he gets live crawfish from the HEB

DJ do they live from being refrigerated? I have heard most don't survive.... wondering if they make it or not

I've put about 5 pounds of previously refrigerated crawfish in my pond and they lived... at least long enough to provide food. I don't see any but I do have about a dozen crawfish holes a year pop up along the ponds edge. I think they'd do fine as long as they were refrigerated fresh