Topic: PEELER CRABS - Shore and velvets (Read 2570 times)

rusty1 · « **on:** July 16, 2007, 01:04:38 PM »

Hey guys,

Been getting a few crabs down the scars a mixture of shore velvet etc. Now i was using them pretty quick so just seperated them into trays and gave em a lil drink. Now the shore crab were fine but all the others had croaked it within a few hours of been left.

Anyone any idea why? and is there different ways to keep different kind of crabs??

Cheers gents

Ramrod · « **Reply #1 on:** July 16, 2007, 06:35:52 PM »

Hi Phil, the velvets need to be kept cool, their backs covered with water, and an aerater supplying plenty of oxygen . The green crabs can cope with warm or cold water with next to no oxygen but not so velvets. A tank as opposed to a tray is whats needed.

cps · « **Reply #2 on:** July 16, 2007, 11:02:05 PM »

velvets are best placed in boiling water for 20 mins then stored in our lasses belley ;D

baza · « **Reply #3 on:** July 16, 2007, 11:12:25 PM »

ive found a cooler like the one in your pics ray though its in melton mowbray :-\ its a long way to go and collect as he wont deliver. on the plus side its only cheap. what i need to know is do you use some kind of aeration like an air pump aswell as the chiller and can you control the temp of the chiller or does it do what it says on the tin. im hoping to collect some velvets but im reluctant to do so without somewhere to keep them alive. ive heard you can remove the lungs and legs and keep the shell intact then freeze then remove the shell when you defrost. it sounds like a good idea though i would prefer to bring them on to perfect condition before ii peel them. i was thinking maybe using an aerator/waterpump and frozen bottles of water to keep the water cool. id just like to know the best arrangement. ps im sorry if its been covered b4

Baramundi Bob · « **Reply #4 on:** July 16, 2007, 11:18:48 PM »

Don't be sorry baza its good to revisit old topics although I think this is a new one. With any crab if you can keep the water clean and the quality good the heat isn't too much of a problem for keeping them (having said that the cooler it is the better they seem to be) but I would suspect if you kept it too cool they would slow down the moulting process.

baza · « **Reply #5 on:** July 16, 2007, 11:25:30 PM »

its the velvets that im worried about glen. they are supposed to be kept cool? ive got a day off tommorow i might have a ride down and pick the cooler up along with a few pies mmmmm pies :P

Baramundi Bob · « **Reply #6 on:** July 16, 2007, 11:34:53 PM »

DIY CHILLER

This might be worth a read to you guys. Second hand fridges are easy come by.

http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/dyiprojects/l/bldiydonchiller.htm

Ramrod · « **Reply #7 on:** July 17, 2007, 07:20:21 AM »

Quote from: baza on July 16, 2007, 11:12:25 PM

ive found a cooler like the one in your pics ray though its in melton mowbray :-\ its a long way to go and collect as he wont deliver. on the plus side its only cheap. what i need to know is do you use some kind of aeration like an air pump aswell as the chiller and can you control the temp of the chiller or does it do what it says on the tin. im hoping to collect some velvets but im reluctant to do so without somewhere to keep them alive. ive heard you can remove the lungs and legs and keep the shell intact then freeze then remove the shell when you defrost. it sounds like a good idea though i would prefer to bring them on to perfect condition before ii peel them. i was thinking maybe using an aerator/waterpump and frozen bottles of water to keep the water cool. id just like to know the best arrangement. ps im sorry if its been covered b4

I use an aerator too baza just to be safe. I have about the best part of 200 litre of water in my tank at the moment, even so my cooler tripped last week with the lightning and started to cloud up a little and you could smell the water. I put the cooler back on and in no time the water was clear again. I hardly loose a single crab with this system and it,s the same water I started with. Going back to peeling them I would remove all the shell if you want the best quality of crab. Some of the chillers have temprature control and some don,t. If they dont put plenty of water in or they will be too cold.

Baramundi Bob · « **Reply #8 on:** July 17, 2007, 07:36:26 AM »

These chillers are worth their eight in gold. Very difficult to get hold of at a reasonable price though :'(.

rusty1 · « **Reply #9 on:** July 17, 2007, 01:11:05 PM »

Cheers for all the info guys.

Ive got a bait fridge and that so I was actually thinking of installing some kind of pipework like shown in that diagram and pumping the water thro to cool it down. I just wasnt convinced it would have enough of a cooling effect but from readin that it sounds like it could be possible.

I may have to get me tools out and have a bash and see what I can come up with. :)

Baramundi Bob · « **Reply #10 on:** July 17, 2007, 02:18:02 PM »

Let us know how you get on Phil.

Ray,

Just 1 more question honest ;) What temp is your water on a warm day like today ? and are your crabs inside a garge ? or a cellor or in the shed ????

rusty1 · « **Reply #11 on:** July 17, 2007, 06:19:52 PM »

Do you guys recon it would work better if the pipe went thro a freezer instead of a fridge?? Would have thought it would cool it better, only thing i can think is that the fridge would develop a lot of frost like when you leave the door open

baza · « **Reply #12 on:** July 17, 2007, 06:41:05 PM »

ive got myself a readymix darbo tub sorted, should hold plenty of water, and hopefully i ll win the chiller. theres another chiller on ebay and its a 4way one, its also cheap tho postage might be expensive. id imagine its worth an experiment phil it would chill it a lot more than the fridge,

Ramrod · « **Reply #13 on:** July 17, 2007, 06:53:16 PM »

Quote from: Baramundi Bob on July 17, 2007, 02:18:02 PM

Let us know how you get on Phil.

Ray,

Just 1 more question honest ;) What temp is your water on a warm day like today ? and are your crabs inside a garge ? or a cellor or in the shed ????

Can,t tell you the temp as I bust the thermometer a few week ago :-\ It,s in a brick building with no windows Glenn. The cold water trickles into the tank above which is where I store worms/prawns ;D which is about twice as cold as the main tank where I keep the crabs. Top tank cold, bottom tank cool is the best way I can describe it. In winter when the whites are in you would,nt keep your hand in for much more than a minute it,s so cold.

Baramundi Bob · « **Reply #14 on:** July 17, 2007, 08:14:10 PM »

I was just wondering Ray as to how much the chiller will cool the water down. My water temp today is 21 deg c which is very warm indeed. I would be happier if it were around 16 degrees. Its no great problem but I dread a really hot summer. Might have a go with the fridge idea to see what happens. I have around 40 gallons of water on the go, not sure what that is in litres.

Dav · « **Reply #15 on:** July 17, 2007, 09:24:42 PM »

Technical technical to bloody technical ;D...maybe one day i,l start a colony ;D

rusty1 · « **Reply #16 on:** July 18, 2007, 03:30:53 PM »

Quote from: Baramundi Bob on July 17, 2007, 08:14:10 PM

I have around 40 gallons of water on the go, not sure what that is in litres.

Think its about 150liters.

Just been looking at baths and some free standing poly tanks for the job. Is 40 litres enough mate? Ive found a few about 40-60 litres, but then the next jump up is to like 120+ litres which may be a bit too much i think.

I was gonna make a decent sized sand filter too so hopefully once its set up it should just run itself. I knew my biology degree would come in handy sometime :)

Ringer · « **Reply #17 on:** July 18, 2007, 03:33:08 PM »

Quote from: rusty1 on July 18, 2007, 03:30:53 PM

Quote from: Baramundi Bob on July 17, 2007, 08:14:10 PM
I have around 40 gallons of water on the go, not sure what that is in litres.

Think its about 150liters.

Just been looking at baths and some free standing poly tanks for the job. Is 40 litres enough mate? Ive found a few about 40-60 litres, but then the next jump up is to like 120+ litres which may be a bit too much i think.

I was gonna make a decent sized sand filter too so hopefully once its set up it should just run itself. I knew my biology degree would come in handy sometime :)

Quote from: Baramundi Bob on July 17, 2007, 08:14:10 PM

I was just wondering Ray as to how much the chiller will cool the water down. My water temp today is 21 deg c which is very warm indeed. I would be happier if it were around 16 degrees. Its no great problem but I dread a really hot summer. Might have a go with the fridge idea to see what happens. I have around 40 gallons of water on the go, not sure what that is in litres.

40 gallons is 180 litres

Baramundi Bob · « **Reply #18 on:** July 18, 2007, 04:47:30 PM »

Hi Phil,

Depends what sort of system you are to use Phil. If your going to run one like Rays then you should be ok with less water. For a system based on a bio filter it is said that the more water you have the better. It supposedly helps for stocking density ie you can put more in (probably because the ammonia gets more diluted) and it helps for temperature control (i think because it takes longer for a larger amount of water to heat up). If you wanted to go a step further you could get into protein skimmers etc like Chopper uses.

rusty1 · « **Reply #19 on:** July 18, 2007, 05:22:30 PM »

Eye Glenn, been having a read. All very complicated really isnt it ::)

I think ill start of with maybe a 60gallon tank, and see how it goes. Can always get another to double the volume. Think ill have a trip to BnQ at the weekend pic up some 8mm copper pipe, and a few bits and bobs and have a go at running a cooler thro the freezer and see how I get on.

Found a load of great info at http://www.glaucus.org.uk/wetthumb.htm . I guess you may have read it before, but I found some of the stuff on there a really good read. Id love to set up a marine aquarium like they mention on that site with native fish and that in.

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Author Topic: PEELER CRABS - Shore and velvets (Read 2570 times)