Could either eastern long neck turtles or Murray short neck be bred for aquaculture.

[loueyjohnstone]

Hi all this might be a ridiculous question but I have been looking at starting an outdoor hydroponic system that takes the water from pond and the plants then clean the water while getting all the nutrients thay need while at the same time it keeps the water clean and life in the damm running pretty easily. I know I can do this with yabbies and will still be using yabbies in one of the dams. But am now seriously turning one of them into the greatest possible turtle home I can make it so they grow to size and breed so eventually it gets to the point where there's two many juveniles at that point I'll harvest all the extra ones. While I probably won't get the same price a kilo as the yabbies I send to market but surely pet shops and the like would snap them up pretty quickly.i guess other than is this crazy would the long or short neck turtles be better for this purpose? Has any one tried samething before like this. Can anyone point me in the right direction for reading material blogs websites whatever

 

[Sdaji]

What you're talking about is aquaponics, which is pretty common and usually done with fish.

Yes, it's conceptually possible. Turtles produce plenty of organic waste.

Young turtles will sell for many multiples per kg compared to yabbies, though you won't be producing them anywhere near as quickly, or selling them with the same model.

What species is best is a hyperdimensional question, and there are dozens of options, not just 'long necks or short necks'. Local temperatures, how much effort you want to put in, how you want to sell, which state you are in (for legal reasons) will all be relevant. I don't think it will be legal to sell them as food anywhere in Australia (I may be wrong) but there is plenty of demand from the pet market for some species, with prices ranging from about $20-$2,000+ per turtle, depending on species, sex, age/size, location and market (wholesale vs retail and private vs commercial sales).

 

[dragonlover1]

Adding to what Sdaji said, I go to many expo's in the Sydney/ Illawarra region and see most turtles sell for $50-90.

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

All I'm going to say here is do NOT aim to breed any Murray river turtles or ANY river turtles in the Emydura complex, especially with the aim of supplying them to the captive pet trade. The Australian government in all its wisdom has abolished the recognition of all individual subspecies in the entire Emydura complex labelling them simply as "river turtles" this means that EVERYTHING from Macleay,, Hunter, Clarence, Sydney basin, Brisbane river, Cooper creek, Krefft's river, etc are all now just deemed "Murray River turtles" when they are NOT. This is why the genetic integrity of the entire Emydura complex has gone to $%&! and can never be undone... so many captive "Murray's" have been dumped into the wild thus snowballing this genetic disaster. If you're going to keep and breed turtles with the aim of supplying the pet trade, stick with Eastern long necks and nothing else. They are more suited to closed dam/pond environments, they are a lot smaller and are one of the most suited turtles for captivity whereas Murrays and all Emydura are river divers and grow exceptionally large and are quickly seen as a burden by unsuspecting people who've purchased them, they get dumped and that's a huge problem. ELN naturally occur across QLD, SA, NSW and VIC.... they have the largest natural range of all Australian freshwater turtles, if captive ELN get dumped into the wild, or inadvertently escape your pond/dam, they will cause no irreversible genetic damage to wild turtle populations.

 

[Steph-Steve]

Hi all this might be a ridiculous question but I have been looking at starting an outdoor hydroponic system that takes the water from pond and the plants then clean the water while getting all the nutrients thay need while at the same time it keeps the water clean and life in the damm running pretty easily. I know I can do this with yabbies and will still be using yabbies in one of the dams. But am now seriously turning one of them into the greatest possible turtle home I can make it so they grow to size and breed so eventually it gets to the point where there's two many juveniles at that point I'll harvest all the extra ones. While I probably won't get the same price a kilo as the yabbies I send to market but surely pet shops and the like would snap them up pretty quickly.i guess other than is this crazy would the long or short neck turtles be better for this purpose? Has any one tried samething before like this. Can anyone point me in the right direction for reading material blogs websites whatever

That is one of the greatest ideas I’ve ever heard. I think though, that pet shops would not be able to buy the numbers of turtles that you would be producing. An alternative idea would be to contact national parks and wildlife and offer the surplus of turtles to them for restocking of the rivers and lakes, especially the Murray River turtles; they are becoming increasingly endangered.

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

That is one of the greatest ideas I’ve ever heard. I think though, that pet shops would not be able to buy the numbers of turtles that you would be producing. An alternative idea would be to contact national parks and wildlife and offer the surplus of turtles to them for restocking of the rivers and lakes, especially the Murray River turtles; they are becoming increasingly endangered.

That wouldn't happen... under no circumstances would captive bred Emydura be released into the wild. It is also a common misconception that the Murray river turtle is "endangered" it is actually the most prolific species on the continent and has been unfortunately introduced into systems outside its normal natural range and thus destroyed the genetic integrity of many coastal subspecies including but not limited to : Brisbane river turtle, Hunter river turtle, Clarence river turtle, Macleay River turtle, Sydney Basin short-neck, Cooper creek turtle, Krefft's turtle, George's turtle and Purvis turtles. Murray river turtles are basically the cane toads of the Australian Freshwater Turtle scene and all captive breeding of them should be completely ceased. Years ago, about a decade ago there was actually a petition started to prevent them from.beung brought into the captive trade in the state of QLD.

ELN's on the other hand are functionally extinct in many areas across their natural range like Greater Brisbane thanks to the never-ending urban sprawl and habitat loss.