Breeding sturgeon at home with uzv. How to make money on sturgeon breeding? Key structural components
.Sturgeon breeding as a business. Breeding conditions for sturgeon. Video of a homemade RAS.
Sturgeon fish farms, very popular business in European countries. Countries such as France, Uruguay, Italy, as well as China and the United States are leading in the breeding of sturgeon in recirculating water supply systems for the production of black caviar, in our country this business is only gaining popularity and this niche is practically empty.
Minimal competition allows start-up entrepreneurs to engage in sturgeon breeding. Contrary to popular belief financial investments relatively small ones will be required if you assemble the RAS yourself. The profit from the sale of black caviar is more than $ 1000 per 1 kg, the cost of 1 kg of sturgeon is more than $ 20.
Sturgeon breeding.
The sturgeon is listed in the Red Book, its fishing in natural reservoirs is prohibited, the fine for a caught individual is more than 10,000 rubles. The shortage of sturgeon, and first of all black caviar, pushed entrepreneurs to grow these types of fish in artificial reservoirs using closed water supply technologies, which allow not only breeding and raising sturgeon, but also obtaining black caviar from fish.
In our country, the most common types of sturgeon are beluga, Siberian, Russian, stellate sturgeon, thorn, sterlet. You can get caviar from sturgeon in a farm no earlier than 7 years, and this process cannot be accelerated. On fish farms, they are usually engaged in breeding, the Siberian freshwater sturgeon and its hybrids are less whimsical, their puberty begins at 7-9 years old, but the Beluga is more demanding on the content, the first eggs can be obtained from females at the age of 18. Therefore, it is practically not grown for caviar, although the cost of 1 kg of Beluga caviar exceeds $ 10,000.
Sturgeon cultivation requires special conditions, so they cannot live in most common water bodies. The sturgeon requires constantly running clean water with a high oxygen content, while the water temperature should not exceed 24 ° C, the optimal water temperature for the sturgeon is 18 - 20 ° C. It is very difficult to create such conditions in most natural reservoirs, therefore, a closed water supply installation was developed by ichthyologists for breeding sturgeon.
Breeding of sturgeons in the RAS.
A closed water supply installation, or RAS for short, is a system consisting of:
- Pools.
- Oxygen generator.
- Water purification filters - drum mechanical filter, carbon, biofilter.
- Circulation pumps.
- Ozonizer and flotator.
- Oxygen sensors, pressure, p N.
- Air compressor.
- Ultraviolet lamp for water disinfection.
- Heat exchangers for heating and cooling water.
- Pipelines.
Pools are used in a round or rectangular shape, they can be polypropylene, metal with an enamel coating, capital of concrete and ceramic tiles or collapsible frame. Typically, for recirculation, polypropylene round pools are used with a depth of 1 - 1.5 m, a width of 2.5 m and more.
Purified water enriched with oxygen is constantly supplied to the pools, and part of the water is gradually pumped back, which is passed through purification filters, enriched with oxygen, then pumped back into the fish pools.
The water in the system is in constant circular circulation, while part of the water from the purification filters is still drained into the sewer, and part of the water is pumped from the water supply system.
Water enters the pools not as a stream, but in the form of a shower, this method is used to additionally saturate the water with air.
Regardless of the time of year, the water temperature in the system is maintained at 18 - 20 ° C. Water heaters are used in winter, coolers with heat exchangers in summer.
As is known in natural conditions in winter period With a decrease in water temperature, sturgeon growth slows down significantly, the optimal temperature is constantly maintained in the RAS, and the fish does not stop growing. If in nature the sturgeon reaches sexual maturity at about the 15th year, then in RAS at 6-7 years. Starting from 7 years old, in the conditions of a sturgeon farm, you can already get caviar for obtaining fry and selling.
The installation is located in a heated room, which can be a hangar, a greenhouse, or any covered room.
Breeding conditions for sturgeon.
To start breeding sturgeon, you will need to purchase fry. You can buy 5 gram fry in almost every sturgeon farm, the cost is about 15 rubles. a piece. A particular difficulty arises during transportation, because the fry is not enough just a container with water, you will need to adapt an aquarium air compressor to the container.
Before releasing the fry into the pools, the temperature of the water in the pools and in the container with the fry should be equalized.
In nature, sturgeons lead a benthic life and feed on a variety of plankton, small fish, insects, worms, and mollusks. When kept in RAS, natural feed is replaced with balanced compound feed with a high protein content. Each fish age has its own food, the older the fish, the larger the feed pellet size is used.
Experts recommend that beginners start with imported feed, over time you can learn how to make feed yourself. As additional protein supplements for adult fish, boiled eggs of waterfowl - geese, ducks, as well as minced fish can be added to the feed.
At the age of one year, the fish is called a year-old, then it becomes a year-old. Yearlings already weigh about 500 grams, such a weight in restaurants is called portioned, from live fish weighing 500 grams, a cooked portion of 350 - 370 grams is obtained. Therefore, to sell sturgeon to restaurants, it is enough to grow fish up to a weight of 500 grams.
If you want to get caviar, the fish needs to be raised for about 7 years.
At the onset of puberty, additional hormones are injected to the fish to spawn.
During the spawning period in females, the number of eggs for the first time is 15% of the total weight of the female, in the next more than 25%.
In nature, about 3% of the fry survives and grows from caviar, in a fish farm this figure is more than 70%. During the spawning period, eggs are extracted from the female, and the milk is removed from the male by milking, while the fish does not die, it is released back into the pools, on next year caviar is also obtained from fish.
Eggs in trays with water are fertilized and placed in incubators with running water, in natural conditions only in running water larvae develop from eggs, therefore the design of the incubator is built in such a way as to recreate conditions for the development of larvae from eggs.
The incubator is a structure of several upper rows of trays, into which water is constantly drawn from pipes, and the lower ones with caviar.
When the upper tray is full of water, it hits the lower tray and pours the water into the caviar tray. At the same time, the eggs in the tray are shaken and float, thus, the eggs are constantly saturated with oxygen and washed with water.
A week later, sturgeon larvae emerge from the eggs and are moved to the pool. The larvae grow very quickly and after a month they turn into fry.
Sturgeon breeding as a business.
Breeding sturgeon is definitely promising business, but the complexity of RAS technology makes many entrepreneurs abandon such an undertaking.
If you are interested in sturgeon breeding, study the literature, visit the nearest sturgeon farm and consult with specialists.
You can find owners of sturgeon farms on forums on the Internet. It is not necessary to buy the RAS unit entirely, you can assemble it yourself, it will be much cheaper, all the components are on sale.
There will be no problems with the sale of fish and black caviar, since there are practically no competitors in this business and the price of these products is consistently high.
Sturgeon breeding in a homemade RAS video (video by Aleksej Rublev).
Popular business ideas
How to make money in contact
Due to the fact that today the domestic market is in dire need of high-quality fish of the sturgeon family - the restrictions on the import of foreign products affect - for enterprising fellow citizens, artificial breeding of sterlet at home has become a profitable source of income. Beginners are attracted by the fact that large financial investments are not needed here: the process can be organized in any utility room.
In order for sterlet breeding as a business to bring stable revenue, you need to go through several stages:
- site preparation, arrangement of communications;
- selection and purchase of containers;
- passing the approval procedures in the sanitary and epidemiological station, obtaining permits from veterinarians;
- acquisition and launch of fry;
- growing fish to the desired weight;
- sale of goods, partial or complete processing on the territory of the enterprise is possible.
Our business valuation:
Initial investment - 3,000,000 rubles.
Market saturation is low.
The complexity of starting a business is 5/10.
Where can you breed sterlet?
For those who do not plan to create an extensive fish farm, the territory of a private house is quite suitable. It is quite possible to breed sterlet in the country, the conditions of which allow living in it all year round. In addition to a sufficient area (at least 30 m²), it is necessary to ensure uninterrupted power supply (you will need spare generators) and water supply (you may need to install filters), full ventilation, heating, and sewerage.
The sterlet gets sick from stress, and therefore it is advisable to choose a quiet area for such a business. Therefore, growing sterlet at home is possible only if there are no busy transport interchanges near the home, large enterprises, crowded places, public institutions and livestock farms.
How to choose working containers?
Before starting the selection of equipment, you should decide where to buy sterlet fry for breeding will be more expedient - this is an important item of expenses that cannot be cut back. It is also possible to start a business from an ordinary plastic pool with a diameter of 1.5 m and a depth of at least 1 m. In such a container, up to a ton of fish can be grown in a year. As production develops, it will be necessary to invest in the purchase of additional tanks.
To determine which equipment for growing sterlet will be justified at the first stage, you need to take into account the existing categories of adult fish, usually in demand from the end consumer:
- up to 300 g - round pools described above are suitable;
- up to 2 kg - round containers, the depth of which is at least 120 cm with a diameter of 220 cm;
- sorting tanks designed for keeping larvae and distributing the grown-up generation - they are rectangular trays with dimensions of 220x50 cm, their depth does not exceed 50 cm.
One of technological stages is the cultivation of sterlet in cages - as a rule, in such conditions, young animals are kept that have not yet begun to gain weight.
In the long term, keeping sterlet will pay off only if the businessman carefully monitors the surrounding conditions. Part of the water needs to be replaced twice a week (there is no need for a complete drain and subsequent filling, we are talking about draining and replacing only a quarter of the volume), you should also clean the containers and maintain a stable microclimate. To facilitate compliance with the feeding regimen, you can put feeders (if food enters the pool at a time that is not usual for the fish, it will not accept it).
Possibilities for breeding sterlet in a natural or artificial pond
Breeding sterlet in a pond can be an economical business option. The object must be prepared in advance: drain the water, clean it completely, cover the bottom with lime and wash it off after a while.
If the reservoir is artificial, when filling it, you need to populate it with natural biomaterial - a variety of freshwater plants and algae, worms and molluscs. These manipulations are carried out approximately 2 months before the planned fry landing (which usually occurs in late spring).
Sterlet is not able to withstand the domestic winter, and if business is not limited to selling marketable fish, it is better to transfer it to the pools for the winter.
Benefits of working with RAS
Recirculating water supply devices create an optimal environment for fish development and weight gain. Moreover, it is important that the technology of growing sterlet in RAS is characterized by a high degree of automation.
Key design components:
- several combined round or rectangular pools. It is preferable to choose portable variations - they are much cheaper than stationary ones;
- oxygen generator;
- pumps;
- pressure Sensors;
- UV lamps for disinfection;
- pipe systems;
- filters, flotation devices and ozonizers;
- air compressor;
- devices for temperature control.
Continuous breeding of sterlet in RAS is based on a flow-through water supply system, it enters the pool in trickles, and not in a stream, which significantly increases its oxygen saturation level.
Conditions for the acquisition of fry
When deciding where to buy sterlet fry, first of all, you need to focus on the reputation of the supplier company: sometimes you have to deliver material for growing from afar, so it is important that the manufacturer has established logistics and is able to deliver the goods to the customer intact. The sale of fry, as a rule, is carried out by large farms, which have a full cycle of growing sterlet and sturgeon in general - they operate on the basis of highly productive equipment that optimizes all stages of working with caviar.
On average, the price of sterlet fry is kept at the level of 15-30 rubles for each (their weight by that time is only 5-6 g). The required amount must be calculated based on the area of \u200b\u200bthe pools and the size of the starting capital. Since the fish is bottom, you need to take into account the stocking density: for each square meter the bottom can be released up to 300 fry, provided that the diameter of the pool is at least 2.5 m.
The temperature of the water in the packages and containers in which the fry were transported must first be brought up to the indicators in the pools - so the disembarkation will be carried out in the most comfortable conditions for the sterlet.
The specifics of the fish feeding process
The intensity of the increase in live weight directly depends on the quality of its nutrition. An economical option is to purchase domestic feed for sterlet that meets industry standards and sufficiently saturates its diet with useful elements. You can buy foreign counterparts, but they will significantly affect the final cost of production. Moreover, for fry and adult fish, you need to select different compositions.
At the stage of fry, sterlet is fed 6 times a day at regular intervals, adult fish - 4 times. The sterlet collects food from the bottom, so the food should be well submerged and retain its shape and flavor for at least 30 minutes.
The potential profitability of the enterprise
To grow 1 ton of fish in a pool with a diameter of 2.5 m, you will need 1800 fry, which is about 40,000 rubles. For them, food will be purchased for the amount of about 80,000 rubles, the cost of water and electricity will result in 38,000 rubles. It turns out that in order to grow a ton of fish, you will need to spend 158 thousand rubles (this is without taking into account the initial investment in equipment, premises and registration). Under these conditions, 1 kg. fish will cost the entrepreneur 158 rubles. One such cycle will take 9-10 months.
The selling cost of sterlet is about 700 rubles per kilogram, that is net profit per ton will be 542,000 rubles. This means that the profitability of the business is such that it will pay for itself in just a year and a half. If the income received is invested in the development of the production site, part of the fry can be raised for further production of caviar (its cost can reach 70,000 rubles per kg) and further independent growing of fry - then the enterprise will fully meet internal needs.
In conclusion, it should be noted that the demand for sterlet is kept on high level, largely due to Russia's sanctions on European products. Therefore, if you start a business now, the cultivation of sterlet for caviar and directly in the market will be a highly profitable business for several decades.
Breeding animals and fish at home has recently become more and more popular. Many entrepreneurs master the quail business, breed piglets and other livestock, but in terms of profitability, these types of activities are not comparable to sturgeon breeding at home.
In addition, the economic crisis has affected almost all areas. economic activity people, including animal husbandry, forcing many to abandon this type of business. But the demand for food, even in times of crisis, always remains at a high level, and there may be a shortage of such a delicacy as sturgeon meat.
Therefore, those who decide to engage in this species business activitiesdon't worry about possible problems sales of finished products.
Sturgeon breeding can be done at home, it is enough to have a heated room, connected water supply and sewerage.
In order to be able to serve the container without any special difficulties on our own, the dimensions of the plastic pool should be small. In practice, the most convenient models for growing sturgeon in artificial conditions are containers with a depth of 1.0 - 1.2 meters, and a diameter of no more than 3 meters.
How do I catch more fish?
In 13 years of active fishing, I have found many ways to improve the bite. And here are the most effective ones:- Bite activator. It attracts fish in cold and warm water with the help of pheromones and stimulates their appetite. Pity that Rosprirodnadzor wants to ban its sale.
- More sensitive gear. Read the appropriate guides for your specific tackle type on the pages of my site.
- Bait based pheromones.
In order to obtain a significant increase in weight in a limited period of time, food must be high in calories and correctly selected depending on the age and weight of the fish.
- The sturgeon is a bottom fish, so the food should, when it gets into the water, immediately sink to the bottom.
- The feed mixture should smell good. In wild, natural conditions, the sturgeon searches for food by smell, it has a very well-developed sense of smell, so the food should be selected that has a pronounced aroma that attracts this breed of fish.
- The feed should not dissolve quickly in water, for a quality feed this is the time
should be less than 30 minutes. - For fry and grown-ups, the feed should be different in granule size.
Fry should be purchased only from large fish-breeding enterprises that are engaged in sturgeon breeding.You should not save on quality, because the future quality of marketable sturgeon depends on how healthy the planting material is and is ready to withstand the adaptation period in a new place, and a decrease in the mortality rate of fry.
At the first stage of the development of the sturgeon business, you can purchase a small mini-pool, which can be located in a residential building, or in a greenhouse made of cellular polycarbonate. You can even put such a container in an apartment, because its dimensions occupy an area of \u200b\u200bno more than 2 m2.
Equipment that you need to grow sturgeon:
- Plastic pool.
- Water supply pump.
- Compressor.
- Automatic feeder.
- Generator.
Capacity for growing sturgeon, can be purchased in different sizes and if the room allows, then you can simultaneously put several pools with a diameter of up to 2.5 meters.
Pump needed for supplying water to tanks, from a well or a well, if it is planned to grow sturgeon in a country house or in a private household. If there is a central water supply, a tank for growing sturgeon can be connected to a water supply system, but economically, this approach will be more costly than taking water from an individual source.
Compressor - the most critical node in the system. Without constant saturation of water with oxygen, the life of a fish is impossible, this unit must be duplicated. In case of failure of one compressor, a spare unit must be put into operation.
Automatic feeder will allow you to save a large amount of time that is spent on feeding the fish, but it is not at all necessary to acquire it, if it is possible to manually feed the fish regularly, the fry should be fed up to 6 times a day, then with a small volume of production, you can do without a feeder.
Gasoline or diesel generator, in the event of an accident on the power lines, it will allow not to suspend the process of growing sturgeon.The power of the generator should be equal to the total power of all mechanisms and units involved in raising fish, and also have a small margin so that the generator does not work for wear and tear.
Here are listed only the most significant components of a mini-sturgeon breeding farm. When organizing the process of growing fish, the purchase of pipes, fittings, taps and other fittings will also require significant cash costs.
But, all investments, with the correct organization of the sturgeon breeding process, pay off already in the first year of the mini-farm.
Water temperature
In order for the sturgeon's live weight gain to be significant, it is necessary to maintain the optimal temperature regime of the water in which this fastidious fish is bred. Temperature from +18 to +24 is the most optimal for sturgeon growth.
In winter, it may be necessary to heat the water to the desired temperature. A small pool holds more than 2 m3 of water, which, when heated, even by 1 degree, will require significant energy consumption. But, water heating is a must.
If the sturgeon is raised in unfavorable artificial conditions, it often gets sick, especially when it comes to fry that have not yet matured.
You can even breed sturgeon in an apartment equipped with running water and sewerage. If you plan to breed sturgeon in a private house, then any heated room can be equipped for this purpose.
A mini-farm can be located in a greenhouse, and equipped with air and water heating.
The area that the mini-farm will occupy is calculated from the number of installed pools. For one tank with a volume of 2 m3, a room with an area of \u200b\u200b10 - 12 m2 is sufficient.
How to feed sturgeon
Feeding is carried out with special compound feed for sturgeon fish species. The daily feed rate depends on the age and weight of the fish. Feeding is carried out 4 - 5 times a day. If an automatic feeder is used, the feed is fed more frequently.
Business payback in detail
The business of growing sturgeon is profitable and pays off in the first year. Usually one cycle takes about 9 months. During this time, a fry weighing 5 grams. gains a live weight of 500 grams. this is the most demanded weight of sturgeon, which can be sold through restaurants, supermarkets and markets.
The cost of one fry varies widely and starts from 20 rubles.
The price at which sturgeon is sold on the market is 600 - 800 rubles per kilogram, that is, each neglected and well-fed fry will bring income of 300 rubles or more, but this will not be a net profit. Feed is a significant part of the sturgeon business costs.
In order to grow 1000 fry to marketable weight, you will need to purchase feed for 30,000 rubles.
Electricity costs will also be significant and depend on the size of the mini-farm. The minimum set of equipment will consume electricity for 20,000 rubles per year.
Without taking into account the cost of equipment, the costs for one growing cycle of 1000 fry will be:
- Purchase of fry - 20,000 rubles.
- Food - 30,000 rubles.
- Electricity - 20,000 rubles.
The cost of water, which can also be significant when connected to a water supply system, is not taken into account and only the electricity used to supply water from a well or well is calculated.
The total costs are: 70,000 rubles.
Profit from the sale of 1000 fish weighing 500 grams. 600 rubles per kilogram, will be: 300,000 rubles.
Total: 300,000 - 70,000 \u003d 230,000 rubles of net income.
The cost of a complete set of equipment for growing 1000 sturgeon fry will be: 250,000 rubles.
In the first year of running the sturgeon business, the costs will almost completely pay off. Starting from the second cycle of sturgeon rearing, the entrepreneur will receive more than 200,000 rubles from every 1000 fry.
Today this type of business is not as well developed as animal breeding, but even large producers sturgeons reach stable profit already 2 - 3 years from the start of production. In addition to breeding sturgeon for meat, it is possible to obtain, according to an accelerated technology, at 5-6 years of age, female sturgeon caviar, which can be sold at a price of $ 1000 per kilogram.
Business plan
A business plan for a large sturgeon farm is calculated according to the formulas given above for mini-farms, with the only difference that to organize sturgeon production in volumes, for example, 20-30 tons per year, will require a capital building, which will need to be built or rented.
Also, a significant expense item will be the payment wages hired workers, without whom, with such production volumes, one cannot do.
Who to sell sturgeon fish to
You can sell fresh fish in the market or in fish stores, but the easiest way is to donate the grown products to restaurants that need this type of product monthly in a volume of up to 70 kg. It is the small sturgeons weighing 500 grams. ideal for preparing delicious dishes from this type of fish.
Growing a sturgeon at home can be a real, profitable business. If you take business organization seriously, then in 3 - 5 years it will be possible to organize a farm, even on a personal plot, with an annual turnover of tens of millions of rubles. But, to master this business it is worth starting with a small mini-farm for 1000 sturgeon tails.
Breeding sturgeon on a mini farm. How to start a profitable business
Rating: 4.4 19 votes
To start a business like sturgeon farming, a mini farm is best suited. Sturgeon caviar and meat are in stable demand, and the competition is still low. The sturgeon is unpretentious; to grow it, you don't need a lot of special knowledge.
Sturgeon varieties
What are the subtleties of sturgeon breeding? A mini-farm can become a profitable enterprise, since the sturgeon is listed in the Red Book and it is not caught in natural reservoirs. This shortage amid the popularity of meat and caviar creates good business conditions.
Fast maturing sturgeon breeds are used for breeding:
- siberian;
- amur;
- white;
- sterlet;
- bester.
In fish farms, beluga, thorn, stellate sturgeon can be bred, but they grow and mature slowly.
Products for sale
What products does sturgeon breeding give? The mini farm will not produce eggs for the first 6-8 years. To pay off the costs of keeping fish, farms sell sturgeon meat. This could be:
- live fish;
- smoked fish;
- canned sturgeon;
- soup sets;
- liver;
- vizig.
For the production of smoked fish and canned food, additional production will be required. But the processed products will cost more. Final goal farms - obtaining caviar.
Perspectives
How promising is sturgeon breeding? A mini farm can pay off in 2-3 years after starting work. The purchase of equipment will have to spend about three thousand dollars. For feed and utilities - 500 dollars, about 1000 to buy quality fry. In general, the initial costs will cost about 5 thousand dollars.
How expensive is sturgeon breeding (mini farm)? The price of the equipment can be reduced if you make a part yourself or order a small company.
The average income from the sale of one sturgeon is $ 6. Accordingly, a small farm can bring in 3.5 thousand dollars a year, and this is at the initial stage, excluding caviar production.
The natural loss of fry can be up to 30%, this is the norm for keeping in captivity. IN natural environment habitats only survive and grow to sexual maturity about three percent of fry.
By the age of six months, the sturgeon can gain a mass of half a kilogram. At this age, fish can already be taken to restaurants, as it is ideal for making portioned dishes. Fry peers grow unevenly. Dominant fish get more food and gain weight faster.
The first production cycle is completed when even the weakest fry have reached the desired weight. This happens after about 8-9 months. After that, you can get your first income and purchase a new batch of fry.
The mini-farm will be controlled by the SES. Water samples are taken twice a year, and sturgeon will also be checked. You will need to provide documentation for fry and feed. At the initial stage, the business will require serious investments, the payback period will be quite long. The entrepreneur will begin to receive serious profits after the fish reach maturity.
RAS
How to organize sturgeon breeding (mini-farm)? A business plan starts with costs. What does it take to start a business?
- Equipment.
- Premises.
- Reservoirs.
- Malek.
- Feed.
The farm can be organized on your own courtyard, but then you will have to build the main and auxiliary premises. Breeding sturgeon (mini-farm) at home in small areas is impossible, since equipment and pools take up a lot of space.
The sturgeon loves running clean water. It is difficult to organize suitable conditions in a natural reservoir, therefore recirculation will be more convenient.
RAS is a closed water supply installation, fish farming modules for fish farming. The RAS consists of:
- reservoirs;
- filters for water purification and compressor;
- oxygen generator;
- UV lamps for water disinfection;
- heaters;
- pipelines;
- sensors.
The water in the RAS system is in constant motion. It is filtered and enriched with oxygen and then returned back to the tanks. Part of the polluted water is discharged into the sewer, part of it evaporates, so you need to constantly replenish its volumes.
Food
Highly important point in fish farming - food. Food must be chosen carefully, because the health and growth rate of fish largely depends on it. The food should not become limp and dissolve in water, since sturgeon live and feed in the lower layers of the water. Quality feed pellets do not lose their shape for more than half an hour. Pay attention to the composition of the feed: it must contain all the substances necessary for fish.
Fry and adult fish require different pellets. Every 10 days, the sturgeon is sorted by size and fed in different containers. At first, you need to buy special feed, but over time you can learn how to make it yourself.
Buying fry
It is from the fry that sturgeon breeding begins (mini-farm). The cost of one fry is 2 euros. After the equipment is installed and the feed is prepared, it is time to buy the fry. It is quite difficult to breed sturgeon on your own, so in the first pairs you will have to buy them from large farms.
The weight of fry for sale is 5 grams. The further growth of fish depends on the quality of the fry, so you need to be careful about purchasing. You need to feed babies 6 times a day, half-year-old fish - 4 times a day.
Adult fish and fry do not tolerate transportation well. Observance of the temperature regime and additional enrichment with oxygen will be required.
Getting offspring
Usually the fry is bought from large fish farms, but sturgeon breeding on a mini-farm is also possible. In nature, sturgeon begins to breed at the age of ten (in captivity, this period is reduced), but the reproductive age also lasts a long time - up to 18 years.
You can buy already adult females, then you will not have to wait so long for eggs, but such individuals will also be expensive. In captivity, due to favorable conditions, offspring can be obtained after six years. In order to stimulate the desire of fish to breed, you need a spacious reservoir.
Raising fry requires special knowledge and an incubator. The caviar is fertilized artificially and placed in special containers, where it is washed with water and saturated with oxygen. After a week, larvae emerge from the eggs. After a month, they will turn into fry. If we organize the cultivation of fry, then it will be possible not only to save money on the purchase, but also to sell them to other small farms.
And again about import substitution. Western politicians, apparently, did not even suspect what an invaluable service they would render by introducing their sanctions against Russia to literally all industries and production of the country. It's hard, I don't argue. But many domestic entrepreneurs are now talking about their desire for these sanctions to last for some time, because at last, domestic products, which were previously displaced by imported goods, have become in demand, and many farms that were thinking about bankruptcy a year ago have perked up. Trades that used to be traditional for the country began to revive: sturgeon farming, trade in furs, jewelry, grain, and timber. So, while all the sanctions imposed hit not only Russia, but also the European countries themselves.
Breeding guppy fish in a home aquarium for sale is certainly a good business. What can you say about a more serious business that generates hundreds, thousands of times more income? Breeding sturgeon, or as they are also called "royal fish" - a world-renowned delicacy (both meat and the most valuable product - black caviar), is a long-term project. So, those aspiring entrepreneurs who, after reading the article, “catch fire” with an idea, should be patient.
Business brief analysis:
Business setup costs:2,000,000 - 3,000,000 rubles
Relevant for cities with population:no limits
Industry situation:the supply market is not saturated
Complexity of business organization:4/5
Payback: from 3 years
A completely natural question arises: what will fish farms live on for 6-8 years, until the first caviar appears? This is exactly how much time it takes for sturgeons to start spawning in a closed water supply installation - RAS (what it is, I will tell you below). Under natural conditions, this period is several years longer. True, there is a kind of Ob sturgeon, which begins to spawn faster - after 3-4 years.
But even this period is very big for the fish industry, which every day needs to spend decent sums on fish feed, provision of facilities, and other needs. Therefore, enterprises engaged in sturgeon breeding make a profit on the sale of fish meat, and products and semi-finished products obtained from them. For example, the products of a fish sturgeon farm may look like this:
- Live fish. Now a kilogram of sturgeon is sold in stores at prices ranging from 700 to 1300 rubles.
- Smoked fish. Requires own production for smoking. A kilogram of products is sold at a price of 1900 to 2500 rubles.
- Canned sturgeon. It also requires the organization of its own cannery. The price is different.
- Soup sets. They include heads, tails, and other parts of fish left after processing them for the needs of other production. Price from 350 to 450 rubles per kilogram.
- Sturgeon glue. This product is used in painting, restoration work, jewelry, and modeling. The price is different.
- Viziga. This is the name of the sturgeon cartilaginous backbone, which is used in baking pies, kulebyak, and other primordially Russian products.
- Liver. This is also a delicacy, which is served to customers in restaurants for "crazy" money.
- Semi-finished products, such as sturgeon cutlets, made mainly from waste obtained from other industries.
As you can see, the list of products is very impressive, but the long-term perspective is nevertheless aimed at obtaining black caviar, the cost of which can go up to $ 1,500 per 1 kilogram (the price depends on the size of the eggs and some other criteria).
Many of my colleagues, describing various business ideas, write that it is possible to breed sturgeon at home. I disagree with them. Apparently, they have never seen with their own eyes what they are writing about, in this case - sturgeon breeding farms. First, you need to immediately clarify that we are not talking about an apartment in apartment building... How do you imagine a RAS installed in an apartment?
In your own home in countryside sturgeon breeding is, in principle, possible, but it requires a solid land plot for the construction of the main premises for keeping fish, auxiliary - storage facilities, etc., plus to this - production areaif you start making products that I have overpowered above. You won't last long on selling just one live fish. Setting up a breeding business requires building a small mini farmwhich can grow into a large fish farm over time.
Sturgeon varieties
First of all, you need to remember that sturgeon is listed in the Red Book, and its catch in natural reservoirs is prohibited. It is this scarcity, coupled with the taste of the sturgeon, that made his breeding business such a lucrative business.
The fastest growing and fastest maturing sturgeon species are used for breeding:
- Siberian sturgeon
- Amur sturgeon
- White sturgeon
- Sterlet
- Bester (hybrid of beluga and sterlet)
Beluga, stellate sturgeon, thorn, Russian sturgeon are also raised in fish farms, but in smaller quantities, due to a longer growth time. For example, the first "portion" of caviar from beluga can be obtained only after 17-18 years, and although the market value of 1 kg of beluga caviar is off scale for 10 thousand dollars, very few are taken for its breeding because of the time spent.
What is RAS
The closed water supply device is intended for sturgeon breeding in "artificial" conditions. It consists of:
- From several pools that have a round or rectangular shape. Usually, two types of pools are used - portable (made of polypropylene, metal with an enamelled inner side, or collapsible, with a frame; and, stationary - concrete, or tiled with ceramic tiles. The cheapest round pools made of polypropylene up to 1.5 meters deep, diameter - up to 2.5-3 meters. They are most often used in fish farms. By the way, such pools are ideal for breeding crayfish at home.
- Oxygen generator.
- 3 types of filters for water purification - drum type of mechanical action, coal, and biological.
- Pumps for water circulation.
- Ozonizers and flotators for water purification
- Oxygen pressure gauge
- Air compressor
- UV lamp for the disinfection process
- Devices for heating or cooling water
- And, pipe systems
More details can be seen in this photo.
The entire water supply system is flowing. After the purification and oxygen enrichment process, the water is fed into the pools in thin streams, rather than one continuous stream for greater oxygen saturation. Part of the water is pumped out into the tank, again goes through the whole cycle of purification and enrichment, and again enters the pools. After a certain period of time, some of the water goes into the sewer, and a new one is pumped into the system - from the water supply system.
All year round in the pools it is necessary to maintain a constant temperature, the most optimal for fish breeding - 18-20 0 C. The air temperature in the room should also be maintained at the same level as possible. It is these conditions that contribute to the rapid maturation of the sturgeon.
By the way, it will be much cheaper not to buy a ready-made RAS, but to assemble it yourself from components that are on sale.
Breeding in vivo
You can also breed sturgeons in natural conditions - in a pond. Of course, it will take much longer for the fish to mature, but this is offset by the significant cost savings. The pond can be both natural and artificial. In the first case, it just needs to be cleaned, in the second - to make liming. The bottom of the pond, which, by the way, should be bowl-shaped, must be covered with a layer of lime, then extinguished by flooding it with a layer of water, and then rinse everything thoroughly.
For spawning, fish from the pond are transplanted into another, specially prepared pond. Then - after the appearance of eggs or fry, they are transferred back to the first pond. you can find out the technical side of the question, how you can rent a pond.
Purchase of fry
Today, the cost of sturgeon fry ranges from 15 to 20 rubles apiece. How much you should buy yourself, based on your financial capabilities, and the number of pools. Oster is a bottom fish, so the density of its landing in the pool is measured by the number of pieces (or kilo of live weight) per 1 square meter. The enterprise, which I visited before writing this material, plants in a round pool with a diameter of 2.5 meters about 300 fry weighing 5-6 grams per 1 square meter. meter.
Before disembarking, the temperature of the water in the pool must be equal to the temperature of the water in those containers in which the fry were brought.
Growing conditions
The food of the fish living in the pond must necessarily contain natural, familiar food for it - various vegetation, aquatic insects, worms, mollusks. In the pools, all this is replaced with special feeds, for the selection of which there are some criteria:
- The pellet size should be appropriate for the age and size of the fish.
- Sturgeons eat from the bottom, so the food must sink.
- For the fast growth of the fish, the food must contain a lot of calories.
Boiled eggs of water birds and minced fish can be added to food for sturgeons, and fry of other fish can be added to adults in the pool. Often, sturgeons are injected with various special hormones as they mature to stimulate spawning.