It is safe to say that the food business, with the right approach, almost always brings good profit. Entrepreneurs who decide to start their own business in this industry earn quite a lot. For example, Russian sturgeon is a rather expensive and tasty fish that is simply bred at home. Let's talk about this topic in more detail and deal with all the important points.
Sturgeon family: general information
The habitat of this fish species is quite wide: from the northern hemisphere of Europe to northern Asia and America. Currently, 4 genera are distinguished: sturgeons, sterlet, beluga, as well as other similar fish. So, the maturity of an adult occurs at about 8-15 years, for females - at 8-30 years. The average fecundity of sturgeon is approximately 700,000 eggs for spawning. In a week, fry hatch. From this we can conclude that the Russian sturgeon is quite prolific, especially considering that it can live up to 50 years. The largest individuals weigh about 25 kilograms, while the average figure is about 15-20 kg. It is worth paying your attention to the fact that sturgeon breeding appeared about 70 years ago. Since then, this lesson has not lost its relevance.
Some business features
Before starting your own business, it is recommended that you familiarize yourself with all its features. Sturgeon breeding is good because fish products are in great demand and you definitely will not have problems finding a point of sale. It can be city restaurants, pet shops and fish shops. Another important point is that, although competition is not completely absent here, there is no overabundance of this product. In fact, you can sell the grown sturgeon without any problems.
You do not need large investments, since it is not at all necessary to start with a large number of fish. It can be one hundred or two hundred individuals. Nevertheless, do not get fry. This is due to the fact that so you have to wait about 5-6 years until the females begin to spawn. Therefore, sturgeon breeding should be started with the purchase of mature individuals from 8 years old. Since this type of fish is not particularly demanding on feeding and keeping, there should not be any problems.
Choose a room
At the first stage, you need to choose a place where you will breed sturgeon. It can be a room with an area of 30 squares. These sizes are due to the fact that you need to install a pool. There, it is imperative to carry out lighting, heating, install a sewer system and supply water. If all this already exists, then there are no problems at all for you.
In the event of a power outage, you must have at least one running generator. Another important detail - the Siberian sturgeon does not tolerate stress, and is also a very shy fish, so make sure that there are no noisy places nearby, for example, roads or public squares. Interestingly, the sturgeon family is not very demanding on lighting, moreover, an excessive amount of light has a bad effect on the fish as a whole.
How to choose containers
Here you have two options: grow fish in the pool or pond. Which one to choose is up to you. But let's talk about everything in more detail. In the first couple, it is advisable to breed sturgeon in the pool. A plastic container with a diameter of 2 meters and a depth of 80 centimeters is suitable. About one ton of sturgeon can be caught from such a basin per year. In addition, if you have time, as well as desire, you can design the container yourself. But there are several small nuances. For example, fish of different weights should be in separate pools. The classification is as follows:
- individuals up to 300 grams - a pool of 1.5 meters in diameter, 80 cm deep;
- sturgeons from 300 grams to 2 kg - a pool with a diameter of 2.2 meters, a depth of 100-120 cm;
- sorting containers for larvae weighing up to 5 grams. It is recommended to use rectangular trays with a depth of 0.5 meters and a length of 2.2 meters.
But since the Russian sturgeon is not too picky about the conditions of detention, small deviations from the norms are allowed. In any case, maintaining cleanliness, as well as the optimal temperature range from +2 to +27, is simply necessary. Also, once a month you need to spend the whole day sorting fish. For what, you will learn a little later.
Features of the content in the pond
If you, as a beginning businessman, have the opportunity to keep fish in a pond, then it’s better to do so. You can save on equipment and provide fish with comfortable conditions. But before you start the sturgeon, you must completely drain the water, clean the bottom and fill it with lime. After that, the lime is washed away, and the pond is filled with clean water. Further, Russian sturgeon can be launched. The fish must find natural food, so plant the bottom with algae, shellfish, let the worms, etc. All this must be done immediately after cleaning the reservoir.
Experts recommend starting the fish about 2 months after you fill the pond with clean water. During this time, algae will have time to grow, and there will be much more mollusks. You need to start the fish in the warm period, it can be either late autumn or early spring. By the way, in some cases (during severe winters) the wintering issue is acute. During frosts, so that the fish doesn’t freeze banally, try to transfer it to the pools.
Siberian sturgeon: features of feeding and care
This type of fish feels great in cool water (below 13 degrees). This somewhat simplifies its breeding. It is worth noting that sturgeons are not picky about food. Nevertheless, they need to be fed well and in a timely manner. An important role is played by periodicity. So, adult fish need to be given food 4 times a day through measured periods of time, that is, every 6 hours. Fry should be fed every four hours. This mode eliminates the occurrence of stress in the fish and refusal to eat. At the same time, you need to understand that sturgeon fry should not eat the same thing as adults. In addition, the food should have an impressive weight and fall to the bottom. This is due to the fact that sturgeon in the wild eats from the bottom.
As for the purchase of feed, then you have several options. One of them is to use foreign products, which differ in that they have a high feed ratio. But there are domestic counterparts that are less expensive, but their QC is somewhat lower. Well, you can always do the food yourself. At the same time, only you control the QC. Do not forget that the rate of weight gain, as well as the condition of the fish as a whole, depends on good nutrition. Therefore, if you want the Siberian sturgeon to grow quickly and give good offspring, you need to make the right diet. The amount of crude protein should be at least 50%, and raw fats should be at least 20%.
How to care for fry?
In order for the mortality rate to be within acceptable ranges, it is necessary to properly care for the fish. As noted above, Russian sturgeon is not picky fish, but this does not mean that you do not need to change the water in the pool. If water comes from the water supply, install a carbon filter to remove chlorine. Approximately 2 times a week, remove 15% of the water.
Every month you need to carefully check the fish. So, large individuals need to be planted in a separate pool, and fry left for cultivation. Timely sorting is very important. If you do not plant fish in time, then large individuals will begin to eat small ones. To ensure that the business is profitable from the first months, it is recommended to purchase fry in specialized stores. So you can avoid many problems. Many entrepreneurs reduce the mortality rate among fish by crossing (hybrids). A striking example is the Russian-Lena sturgeon.
How cost-effective is sturgeon breeding
The first thing that interests beginning businessmen is the profitability of the business and the payback period. Let's count all the items in order. According to statistics, from 1,500-2,000 fry, you can get a ton of sturgeon for sale. On average, one fry will cost 12-13 rubles, therefore, we will spend about 20,000 rubles on the purchase.
In addition, it is necessary to provide fish with food. It is advisable to make a purchase for the entire growing period, which will cost about 70 thousand rubles. The amount of electricity spent can be different, as a rule, you should spend no more than 15 thousand rubles for the entire period. So, our costs are 105 thousand rubles. Based on this, we obtain a cost price approximately equal to 105 rubles. For example, the Amur sturgeon is excellently sold in restaurants at 500 rubles per kilogram. Hence we have a net profit of 395 rubles. Thus, approximately 400,000 rubles can be earned per year. But you need to consider that you have to constantly spend money on feed, electricity, water, additional equipment, etc.
Very important for a businessman!
It should be noted that sometimes females throw eggs faster than you manage to expand the boundaries of your pool. In this case, the question of where to put caviar is acute. Of course, most will sell it, and rightly so. That is what is best for you to do. But you must understand that the female sturgeon dies after throwing eggs. Consequently, the population of adults in your pool can decrease significantly. But not so long ago, studies were conducted that allowed to euthanize the fish, make a small incision on the belly and squeeze the caviar. Then a small suture was applied, as a result of which one female brought eggs more than 10 times. You can take this approach. Remember that live sturgeon costs much more than dead sturgeon.
Some interesting details
One of the richest rivers in the Russian Federation is the Urals. Russian sturgeon is abundant here. Nevertheless, uncontrolled catch is prohibited. But concluding a license for a ton of adult fish is not so difficult. Believe me, the invested money will pay off with interest, since with about 10 females you will get more than spend. Of course, this will not happen immediately, so you have to wait.
What else is worth recalling is that the fish has the property of being sick. Often the cause is contaminated water. In order not to increase mortality, it is necessary that the Russian sturgeon, the photo of which you can find in this article, be sedated from other species.
Conclusion
As you can see, sturgeon breeding is a rather interesting direction for starting your own business. Nevertheless, if you purchase fry, then the costs will not pay off immediately. Of course, a lot depends on the conditions of keeping the fish, but despite this, sturgeons develop quite slowly, remember this. An acquired adult Russian sturgeon, the photo of which differs significantly from young animals, will pay off an order of magnitude faster, but the costs in this case will be more. Here, in principle, and all the useful information on this topic. Breeding sturgeon is easy and inexpensive. The main thing is to create appropriate conditions and just wait, giving no more than 3 hours a day to
care for the pool and fish. And once a month to devote a day to sort the fish.