Pond Boss
Posted By: Julian Stocking pond with crawfish? - 02/18/19 06:43 PM
I'm interested in stocking crawfish in our pond, but am not sure where too get stocking crawfish. And would you say its a good thing for the fish population?
Posted By: anthropic Re: Stocking pond with crawfish? - 02/18/19 07:28 PM
Julian, in general the more forage types the better for fish. The only real negative I know about crawfish is that they eat pond vegetation, so if that is a concern you may need to think twice.
Posted By: Vortex 4 Re: Stocking pond with crawfish? - 02/18/19 07:34 PM
Assuming Red Swamp Crawfish are native, which they probably are in Florida, they are a great addition to the pond. A diverse ecosystem is usually more robust than one approaching a monoculture. Crawfish, frogs, ghost shrimp etc all diversify your ecosystem and food chain.

Crawfish are valuable forage, especially for LMB. A positive addition to your food chain.

They, like redear sunfish, eat snails. This reduces parasites in your fish.

They also eat crud and cleanup carion etc.

Here in Southeast Texas they are sold live in 35 lb bags in grocery stores. Crawfish season is coming up soon. Prices drop later in the season. There are also farms where they can be picked up directly.
Posted By: Vortex 4 Re: Stocking pond with crawfish? - 02/18/19 07:36 PM
Oh, if the pond is in your yard, you can expect crawfish holes and chimneys in your yard near the pond. This bugs some people.
Posted By: Julian Re: Stocking pond with crawfish? - 02/18/19 08:11 PM
How much per 35 pound bag?
Posted By: Julian Re: Stocking pond with crawfish? - 02/18/19 08:12 PM
Oh and could you order them online for a good price?
Posted By: Vortex 4 Re: Stocking pond with crawfish? - 02/18/19 08:26 PM
Grocery stores usually charge about $3/lb early in the season and they go on sale for about $1.50/lb. That is my recollection.

Ask the seafood person at your grocery store if they carry them in season, if not where you can get them.
Posted By: FireIsHot Re: Stocking pond with crawfish? - 02/18/19 09:23 PM
Julian, we order and pickup our crayfish from a seafood restaurant near us. Late April or early May is when we usually stock them. Here, the 35# bags are weighed when we pick them up, and the actual weight is usually between 30# and 35#, so the price varies from bag to bag. They're usually around $100 a bag.
Posted By: Pat Williamson Re: Stocking pond with crawfish? - 02/18/19 11:02 PM
Al when you buy them like that aren’t they refrigerated? Guess you could leave the bag open and place it near pond shore and let them warm up a bit and crawl in on their own
Posted By: TGW1 Re: Stocking pond with crawfish? - 02/19/19 11:58 AM
I have a crawfish farmer near me and he tells me to wait until Easter for the lowest pricing of the year. My last years purchase @ or around Ester were in the small Lobster sized crawfish. They were Hugh. In fact, I was concerned they might be too big to feed my 15" or under lmb.
He sell's White River and Red Swamp crawfish. And he packs them in so tightly into the mesh bags I don't think you could get another one in the bag.
Posted By: Pat Williamson Re: Stocking pond with crawfish? - 02/19/19 01:04 PM
Tracy have you purchased them and did any survive
Posted By: Vortex 4 Re: Stocking pond with crawfish? - 02/19/19 01:46 PM
In my case the Crawdads were stored in the grocery store seafood walk-in. Not all were alive but most were. I dumped them at the shore and tossed them in the pond. Some scooted out, many raised their claws and ran for dry land, ready to do battle. My dog engaged a few. After an hour or so they had disappeared. Vultures picked up the dead ones.

I stocked prior to the LMB. RSC are native here and will eventually populate the pond, I wanted to give them a head start to get established before LMB could devastate them. I have a clay bottom and lots of submerged trees plus piles of rocks for habitat.

I didn't see them after they were stocked until about a month ago. Holes and chimneys are common so they are successfully established and breeding. RSC have lots and lots of kids and lots and lots of predators.

I would NOT purchase them to feed your LMB directly. It is not cost effective. Like stocking FHM after LMB are established. Get a better ROI with a good fish food.
Posted By: TGW1 Re: Stocking pond with crawfish? - 02/19/19 03:26 PM
Pat, I believe all survived. These craws were caught the morning I picked them up. I ordered ahead of me picking them up. And yes I will be doing it again around Easter or maybe a little earlier.
Posted By: TGW1 Re: Stocking pond with crawfish? - 02/19/19 03:32 PM
Vortex, not all lmb eat fish food. Florida lmb are few and far between when it comes to being feed trained. If they can be trained at all. I understand they can not be feed trained. Crawfish are a good protein source for lmb. Not a great way for a one time feeding but they have established in my pond, so I just supplement my cray population and diversify my lmb forage. I do feed my cnbg so they will be healthy for breeding and hopefully produce more cnbg for forage.
Posted By: Vortex 4 Re: Stocking pond with crawfish? - 02/19/19 04:14 PM
True. Non feed trained LMB want to see their food moving.
Posted By: Quarter Acre Re: Stocking pond with crawfish? - 02/19/19 04:25 PM
My experience with the Northern Virile Crawdads…
My old ¼ acre pond, before renovation, was silted so that it was only 2 feet deep and 2 – 3” crawdads had taken over. There were no fish. The pond was completely void of plant life (no FA either) and continually muddy. I thought the pond might have been polluted, but it turns out that crawdads are great at eating plants and stirring the water up. For fun, I caught some “fish” out of the creek and put in the old pond. Turns out they were GSF and multiplied rapidly over the next two summers and started knocking the crawdad population down considerably, FA showed back up along with some emergent plants and the water cleared up quite a bit. Then I renovated the pond back to its original 10 foot depth and started over…

The first year with water I put in FHM and caught probably 100 crawdads from the creek. I call the first year “the year of the minnows” as the pond exploded with minnow production. The evidence of crawdads was minimal at best, so I installed another 200 crawdads the following summer along with the first stocking of 2 to 6” game fish. Then the crawdads exploded, hence “the year of the crawdads”. They managed to grow fast enough to stay ahead of the mouth gape of the HSB and I could catch 50 or so in a ½ hour with a 7’ diameter throw net. The “year of the crawdad” proved to be a murky water year, but I had also added aeration to the pond. Most say the water should settle out after the aeration system ahs been up and running, but not so far…could be the crawdads (time will tell). Th pond also started growing ample amounts of Arrow Head (AKA Duck Potato or Wapato) which flourished at the beginning of the year, but were cut back substantially towards the end of the year as the crawdads growth spurts accelerated and the plants matured.

Some of this seems concerning, but I suspect that the cycle will eventually level out as the HSB get big enough to pound on the largest of crawdads. This will lead to a reduction of crawdad populations, hence a reduction in plant devastation which will lead to better cover for the crawdads. The water should clear up some leading to more plant life hence more cover and food for the craws…hopefully yielding a sustainable population of crawdads. We will see!

Depending on your current pond condition (plant life, cover, fish size classes, etc) you could see some of the cycles that I have witnessed, and my story should give you a good idea of some things to expect given that your installation does not turn into fish food right out of the gate. Regardless, make sure you have plenty of rip rap rock along the bank. I have about 25% of my pond bank (the dam,the gentlest slope) lined with a band of 3 foot wide creek rock from gravel to 12 stones.

Sorry to be long winded, but sometimes I can’t help myself.
Posted By: Vortex 4 Re: Stocking pond with crawfish? - 03/01/19 04:35 PM
Our local grocery store, HEB, has started selling crawfish. $3.48/lb

It'll get a lot cheaper later in the season.
Posted By: DannyMac Re: Stocking pond with crawfish? - 03/01/19 08:28 PM
Told my wife to buy nine pounds today. I'll sort them out...up to three pounds little ones for the pond, the rest for us.
Posted By: Dave Davidson1 Re: Stocking pond with crawfish? - 03/02/19 12:35 PM
I tried that about 10 years ago. Bought some from a grocery store and headed to one of my small ponds. Fatheads were doing OK in it. I put them on the bank and they didn't do much. So I put them in the water and some promptly crawled out back onto the bank. I left and came back later. More were on the bank and I put them back in the water. The next morning I went to look. Evidently all had crawled out of the water and committed suicide by coon.

I called a Louisiana crawfish producer and asked questions. He said that while they were still alive and suitable for eating, they were mostly dying from being shipped and displayed on ice.

I haven't tried it since.
Posted By: Vortex 4 Re: Stocking pond with crawfish? - 03/02/19 07:24 PM
It is probably luck of the draw. I picked mine up Friday morning right after they were delivered and most of them adjusted well. (Some were DOA).

HEB was experimenting last year with selling pre-purged crawfish. Not sure how they do it but it might not enhance survival.

If you can get them fresh from the farm it'd be best. There are usually farms wherever rice is grown as crawfish ponds are rice paddies.
Posted By: shooterlurespond Re: Stocking pond with crawfish? - 05/21/23 03:10 AM
TGW1 - I ordered crawfish of the smaller variety, and got the mini-lobsters instead. I put them in the pond against my better judgment. I don't think I have many bass big enough to eat them. How bad did I screw up? Will they decimate my bluegill beds?
Posted By: anthropic Re: Stocking pond with crawfish? - 05/21/23 04:03 AM
Originally Posted by Dave Davidson1
I tried that about 10 years ago. Bought some from a grocery store and headed to one of my small ponds. Fatheads were doing OK in it. I put them on the bank and they didn't do much. So I put them in the water and some promptly crawled out back onto the bank. I left and came back later. More were on the bank and I put them back in the water. The next morning I went to look. Evidently all had crawled out of the water and committed suicide by coon.

I called a Louisiana crawfish producer and asked questions. He said that while they were still alive and suitable for eating, they were mostly dying from being shipped and displayed on ice.

I haven't tried it since.

When you buy them from a crawfish farm, they come in sacks of about 40 lb. They recommend opening one end on the shoreline and letting the healthy live ones make their own way out. There's always a few that don't make it, though.
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