Mud crab fattening

Holding and rearing large newly molted (known as water crab) mud crabs to 10 to 45 days until they become hard is termed as fattening. Soft shelled crab of size above 80mm carapace width and weight above 550 grams are used for the fattening technique. Mud crab fattening an emerging industry in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and attracts youth since it is a short term high profitable venture. The pond-based fattening and floating box culture based fattening were practiced in the Islands. The open pond based culture practices are highly influenced by adverse weather conditions. Further, the farmers without fish ponds were also facing issues in taking up the technology. In order to sustainably utilize the available land and to have a controlled environment for fattening purposes, ICAR- CIARI, Marine research laboratory developed an indoor vertical circulatory crab fattening unit with a capacity of 100 crabs. In this technique the water of salinity 15 to 22ppt passes through the each crab boxes arranged in vertical racks through gravity and drain water from the system collected and purified with the help of sand filter and pump in to the overhead tank. The crabs are fed with 5-10% of the body weight with shrimp/ clam meat or trash fishes and fattening period generally ranges from 25 to 50 days.

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Source :Contact person with Name, Designation e-mail and phone no: Ajina S.M, Scientist, ICAR- CIARI, Email : ajina.m@icar.gov.in, Mob. 9820645172