What do crayfish eat?
Cancers are considered a delicacy, many people like to eat them. Did you ever think that crayfish eat? From what, say, "raw materials" is such a charming dish?
It turns out that the belief that cancers eat rottenmeat, carrion, more of a myth. Of course, they do not disdain animal food. And since the speed of movement of the cancer is small, then they can simply catch live food in very rare cases. So they have to be content with not swim or crawl anymore. But such food in their diet is only 10%! The remaining 90 are plant foods.
Diet of crayfish
Now consider what the crayfish eat. In their diets there is a lot of plant food. These are algae, coastal grass, fallen leaves from trees. This variety of water lilies, egg capsules, sedge, horsetail, elodea, and many other herbs - water and water-flooded land plants. Especially they like Nettles. At one meal, the male eats much less than the female, but it is 1-2 times a day, and the female 1 time in 2-3 days. Before wintering or reproduction, crayfish eat much more actively than at other times. Meat food that can eat crayfish, is also varied, albeit smaller in volume. Crayfish eat shellfish, worms, insects, larvae, tadpoles. Very willing to eat dead food, slightly decomposed, they feel it at a great distance and find it pretty quickly. But if the food decays for a long time, then the crayfish are indifferent to such food. Simply put, the corpses must be fresh! Sometimes cancers can even catch live food, showing the wonders of hunting skill and lightning reaction. They love invertebrates - rotifers, daphnia, cyclops.
Ration of crayfish in an artificial reservoir
There is always a lot of vegetation in the pond,phytoplankton, zooplangton, small invertebrates, so there is no problem with feeding cancers to an artificial environment. To ensure that this nutrient base has multiplied and multiplied, add mineral fertilizers and organic substances to the pond. Of course, this is not what the crayfish eat. They are fed to the pond for spoiled meat, fish, leftovers and pruning of vegetables, bakery products, soaked grain, oil cake, and much more. In ponds, as in cages, it is necessary to watch, that all this food was eaten at one time. If it remains, then there will be a loss of crayfish, water will cloud and there will be oxygen starvation.
Diet of crayfish in the aquarium
If you find it difficult to immediately orient in the matter,than feed on crayfish, then bear in mind that there are specialized feeds for crayfish and crabs on sale. But if they are not available to you, the crayfish are fed with grass, especially they like nettles. They also plant various algae for them, which they gladly eat. It is necessary to watch, that algae always were in an aquarium, if necessary to place. Just in small quantities, you must offer them slices of spoiled meat, chicken, as well as dried animal feed. Be sure to make sure that the food does not accumulate in the aquarium, does not decompose and does not rot. Pieces should not be there for more than 2 days. In order for crayfish to eat well, without suffering from lack of appetite, it is necessary to maintain the temperature in the aquarium more than 15 degrees.