Breeding crayfish in your backyard

In aquaponics farming, water from the fish tank below is pumped to the upper tank to fertilise plants. The integrated system keeps the plants fertilised and the water, clean. Photos: The Star/Tan Cheng Li

I’ve only ever seen orange-coloured crayfish – they’re cooked ones. But in a semi-detached house in Alor Gajah, Malacca, I was amazed to see live ones – their colours are a gorgeous, greenish-blue hue. And surprise, surprise – they’re locally bred.

For three years, Effendy Halily Halili has been farming the crustaceans at home using aquaponics, and is also teaching people the same. Aquaponics combines aquaculture and water-based plant cultivation. Water from the fish tank is sucked into a planter box to nurture vegetables, and the plants function as a filter that keeps the water clean for the fish, so there is no foul effluent. The technique emerged as a combination of rearing fish and growing greens but practitioners have improvised the system to also rear crayfish and shrimps.