Growing sturgeon at home: what should you know about this business? Breeding sturgeon at home as a business Is it possible to breed sturgeon?

Some entrepreneurs have mastered certain types of business related to breeding various animals for the sake of making a profit. Unfortunately, in terms of profitability, these types of activities are inferior to sturgeon breeding.

The consequences of the economic crisis have affected almost all areas of human entrepreneurial activity. Many entrepreneurs have decided to abandon various types of activities, including livestock farming. Recently, there has been a trend towards leading a healthy lifestyle, which is inextricably linked with proper nutrition. Increasingly, people prefer to eat fish, but not meat, especially pork. Therefore, if you decide to start breeding sturgeon, you should not worry about marketing your products.

You can breed sturgeon at home if you create a certain temperature regime and provide water and sewerage.

Organization of a pond for sturgeon breeding

For the convenience of growing sturgeon, it is enough to have a plastic pool with a depth of 1.0-1.2 meters and a diameter of up to 3 meters. This is the most convenient pool model, since it can be maintained without much difficulty.

Choosing the right food

The main task is to obtain the maximum increase in fish weight in a short period of time. Therefore, the food must be high-calorie and appropriate for the age and weight of the fish.

Sturgeon leads a bottom-dwelling lifestyle, so food must quickly sink to the bottom.
The food must have the appropriate smell. In nature, these types of fish search for food by smell. This suggests that he has a well-developed sense of smell. The food should not only smell good, but also be attractive to this type of fish.
The dissolution time of food in water should not be less than 30 minutes.
For each size of fish, the size of the feed pellets is selected.

Where to get sturgeon fry

You should purchase fry only from large fish farming enterprises that have been breeding them for years. The better the product, the greater the likelihood of making a profit. In this case, you should not save on fry. Only healthy fry will be able to quickly adapt to new conditions and grow to the size of a commercial sturgeon.

Containers for growing fish

At the initial stage of development of this type of business, it is enough to acquire a small mini-pool. It can be installed in a residential area or in a cellular polycarbonate greenhouse. The mini-pool occupies an area of no more than 2.2 square meters, so it can be installed even in an apartment.

Growing equipment

To raise fish yourself, you will have to purchase the following equipment:

Plastic pool.
Water pump.
Compressor.
Automatic feeder.
Generator.

Capacity. To grow fish, you can purchase and install several mini-pools with a diameter of 2.5 meters.

Pump. With its help, water is supplied to containers from a well or borehole if sturgeon are grown in the private sector. If there is a central water supply, mini-pools can be connected to the water supply, but this method can be much more expensive, given today's water prices.

Compressor. It is necessary to constantly saturate the water with oxygen, otherwise there is no point in talking about growing fish at all. Moreover, you need to install a couple of compressors, just in case, so that if one of them fails, the next one will start working.

Automatic feeder. It is necessary for large production volumes. If this is the beginning of a business activity and it is possible to feed the fish by hand, then you don’t have to buy it. The fry feeds up to 6 times a day and with small volumes you can do without it.

Gasoline or diesel generator. An element as important as the compressor. In the absence of power supply or its suspension, the generator will help out and will not allow the fish to suffocate. The generator must have a power reserve so as not to operate at the limit. Then it will last a long time and will be able to guarantee the cultivation of sturgeon.

Here the list includes only the main components of a mini-farm, without which sturgeon breeding is impossible. In addition to these elements, you will need all kinds of pipes, taps, angles, tees, etc. If you calculate everything, then serious investments will be required. Despite this, if taken seriously, sturgeon breeding will pay off in the first year.

Water temperature

In order to live and develop, constantly gaining weight, a certain temperature regime must be maintained. It is believed that a temperature from +18°C to +24°C is optimal.

As for the winter period, you will have to maintain the temperature at the proper level. If you don’t do this, the water will simply become covered with ice, and this cannot be allowed. At the same time, a lot of energy consumption will be required, although you can work on the heating circuit and get by with minimal costs. It is not necessary to resort to heating with electricity or gas, as this will cost a pretty penny. It is better to use a conventional solid fuel boiler and use wood waste as fuel.

If fish are raised in inappropriate conditions, they will begin to get sick, especially if they are fry.

Room for growing sturgeon

Even in an apartment where there is running water and sewerage, you can raise fish. The most suitable option is the private sector, where you can build a suitable room without any problems and organize heating of both water and air.

Depending on the number of containers, the useful area of the mini-farm is calculated. At the same time, one container with a volume of 2 cubic meters can occupy an area of 10 to 12 square meters.

What do they feed sturgeon?

For this purpose, there are special feeds intended for growing sturgeon species of fish. The daily dose depends on the age and weight of the fish. The sturgeon feeds 4-5 times a day. If an automatic feeder is used, the fish may feed more often, depending on its settings.

Payback of such a business

This is a profitable type of business that, with the proper approach, will pay off in the first year. The growing cycle, from the purchase of fry to commercial products, takes about 9 months. During this period, the fry, weighing about 5 grams, gains a weight of about 500 grams, which is quite enough to sell the product. One fry can cost 20 rubles, or even more. Ready-made sturgeon sells for 600-800 rubles. for 1 kg. If you count everything, then one fry can bring a profit of 300 rubles, or even more. Unfortunately, this is not pure profit. The cost of feed will take up a significant amount of expenses.

Raising one thousand fry will require the purchase of feed in the amount of 30 thousand rubles. Electricity costs can also be significant and can amount to up to 20 thousand rubles per year, depending on the size of the mini-farm.

If you do not take into account equipment, then to raise 1000 fry, you will have to spend:

expenses for the purchase of fry - 20 thousand rubles;
food costs - 30 thousand rubles;
electricity costs – 20 thousand rubles.

Moreover, these are calculations without taking into account the cost of water. It is believed that water is taken from a well or borehole.

That's why, total costs are 70 thousand rubles. It is not difficult to calculate the profit from the sale of 1000 pieces of fish, weighing 500 grams and costing 600 rubles per kilogram: it will be 300 thousand rubles.

The net profit will be: 300 thousand rubles - 70 thousand rubles, a total of 230 thousand rubles.

To raise 1000 fish fry, you will need to purchase equipment worth 250 thousand rubles. In the first year of growing fish, the costs will be fully recouped. Starting from the second year, each thousand fry will be able to provide up to 200 thousand rubles of net profit.

Experience of successful farms

Unfortunately, this type of business has not become as widespread as the livestock business. Events of recent years indicate that large producers of sturgeon meat receive a permanent income already in the 2nd or 3rd year of their activity. At the same time, you can obtain not only sturgeon meat, but also sturgeon caviar using accelerated technology. This can happen in the 5th or 6th year of females' life. At the same time, it should be taken into account that sturgeon caviar can be sold for $1000 per kilogram.

Business plan

The calculation formulas are exactly the same, but to organize the breeding of sturgeon in large quantities (up to 20...30 tons per year), one should take into account the fact that you will have to spend money on the construction of a capital building. Alternatively, such a building can be rented. Moreover, you will have to spend a lot of money on paying wages to hired workers. Still, it is unlikely that you or your family will be able to cope with such volumes of work. As production volumes increase, other expenses, such as contributions to the budget, also increase. The larger the production, the greater the problems and the more difficult it is to raise sturgeon fry to a marketable state, the greater the risks associated with unforeseen expenses.

Who to sell sturgeon fish to?

You can sell your products according to various schemes: sell on the market, where you can organize your own retail outlet, sell in a store by agreement with the owner, or supply to restaurants by concluding appropriate agreements. Through restaurants you can sell up to 70 kg of sturgeon per month. It is not difficult to calculate how much fish needs to be grown per year: up to 1 ton of fish or up to 2000 units, weighing 0.5 kg each. These small sturgeons are the most sought after in the restaurant business. The most exquisite and delicious dishes are prepared from them.

As practice shows, you can make serious money on a home mini-farm. In about 3-5 years, if you approach it smartly, you can organize a business with a turnover of several million rubles, and this on your own backyard or summer cottage. But not everything can be obtained immediately and instantly. In any case, you should start with a small volume of growing sturgeon meat. And when experience and confidence appear, production volumes can be increased, not immediately, but also gradually: first raise 1000 fry, then, if possible, 2000 pieces, and then, as they say, appetite comes with eating.

Conclusion

Naturally, business is not such a cloudless endeavor. In the process of organizing, serious organizational problems may arise related to legitimizing your business. After all, without these skills it is unlikely that you will be able to negotiate with a store or restaurant. Therefore, the business plan does not include organizational measures related to obtaining the relevant documents. In addition, it is not known what it will cost the entrepreneur and whether it can be organized at his dacha or on his personal plot. In addition, without the appropriate documents, it is unlikely that you will be able to purchase fish fry.

Each business project requires an integrated approach with various calculations. Each business plan should include various losses associated, for example, with the death of some fry. In other words, risks must be taken into account, and this is not always possible. Therefore, when engaging in a non-traditional field of activity, you can always leave something out, and this “something” can ruin the entire business.

The food business is considered one of the most reliable and promising. Despite the relevance of high technologies and the development of service areas, natural products are still in high demand. Another thing is that working with food requires greater responsibility in terms of organizing the economy. But this also has an advantage for beginners. The fact is that many areas seem inaccessible, too risky and difficult, although in practice everything turns out differently. In turn, breeding sturgeon at home as a business is a fairly profitable type of activity, although due to external difficulties with the development and technical organization of fisheries as such, many entrepreneurs do not consider this area at all. In reality, not much effort is required, and the result in most cases justifies the entire investment. To understand the benefits of such an enterprise, it is worth first considering its features.

Features and advantages of the sturgeon business

Fish farming initially provides the owner with several advantages. First of all, this is low competition, at least in the case of sturgeon. The fishing business itself is specific, and premium types are completely on the sidelines of the main areas of business activity. Further, it is worth noting the low level of investment at the initial stage. Although sturgeon is in no way a cheap fish, its breeding is not as expensive as it might seem to an inexperienced entrepreneur. Of course, without knowledge in this area, it is not easy to achieve noticeable success, but literature on breeding sturgeon at home is now available in a wide range, so the subtleties on this topic can be mastered in the shortest possible time. In addition, a lot can be learned with experience and after 1-2 years there will be no need for additional sources of knowledge.

In terms of compatibility with home conditions, this fish is not ideal, but its keeping is quite acceptable. Owners have to devote 3-4 hours daily to maintaining such farms, and up to 15 hours during sorting periods. That is, this is not the most labor-intensive business and it can be combined with other work.

Technology for breeding sturgeon at home

Work begins with organizing the site where the activities will take place. The technical arrangement of the site is being carried out - tanks and related equipment are being installed to maintain the farm. Then you can move on to the main part, when fry are purchased and the development of future products begins. Depending on the format in which the activity is carried out, breeding sturgeon at home may require special documentation. At the final stage comes an equally important procedure - the sale of fish. It is best to agree in advance with clients on the sale of sturgeon products and draw up a logistics supply plan.

Fish farming area

Initially, it is worth considering the possibility of expanding your business outside the home. If you have modest opportunities for the initial organization of the household, you can use a room in an apartment or in a separate house for these purposes, which is even better. The minimum area size is 30 m2. But it is much more important to provide communication supplies so that sturgeon breeding at home is as efficient and productive as possible. It is mandatory to have a water supply, power supply systems, as well as heating, sewerage and ventilation. It is desirable that the electrical network provides the ability to operate from an autonomous power source in case problems arise with the central power supply.

Technical equipment

The sturgeon is not particularly capricious in terms of life support conditions. To maintain it, you can use plastic mini-pools or similar containers, the depth of which does not exceed 1 m, and the diameter is up to 3 m. The main thing is that the material of manufacture is not rubber. However, tanks alone are not enough for full-fledged fish breeding. It is also necessary to provide special equipment that will provide aeration, filtration and cleaning of containers from contamination. But first of all, you should provide a pump that will pump water. Then, to carry out fine and coarse cleaning, it is necessary to provide the containers with sterilizers and filters. The best equipment for breeding sturgeon at home is equipped with automatic devices for determining the composition of the water and its condition. But you can also purchase separate measuring instruments that will allow you to assess the level of water hardness and its temperature. In addition, you will need oxygen generators and special devices to make daily fish care easier. In particular, it would be useful to provide for the presence of several nets, buckets, as well as scales, containers and special clothing on the farm.

Sturgeon fry

At first, you should focus on purchasing fry from other representatives of the industry. Large farms sell fry at wholesale prices, so this expense item will not bring significant costs. It is important to initially select a high-quality supplier who will supply the farm with fry with a healthy gene pool. As a rule, breeding sturgeon at home begins with five-gram fry. Next, the fish is grown to 600-700 g and goes on sale. You can, of course, not stop the growth of sturgeon here, but there is no point in this, since in the restaurant business the marketable weight of the fish corresponds to 600 g.

In the future, it will be possible to consider the possibility of equipping the farm with fish incubators. This step can be called a phased transition to a new level. The owners of such farms independently raise fry from caviar, which is also produced within their own enterprise. This not only reduces the cost of purchasing primary “raw materials”, but also allows you to make money from other market newcomers by selling them the same fry.

As the farm grows, the needs of the fish must be more carefully considered. The better the conditions of detention, the healthier the sturgeon will be. As it develops, capacity requirements change. If at first you can get by with the simplest tanks, then in the future you will have to use special containers, focusing on the size of the occupant. For example, for individuals weighing less than 300 g, a small pool with a round shape is used. These are products whose depth is about 80 cm and diameter - 150 cm. Fish weighing from 0.3 to 2 kg are placed in round tanks with a depth of 120 cm and a diameter of about 220 cm. Sorting containers should also be provided. In such containers it will be possible to contain the same fry weighing up to 5 g. For sorting, special rectangular trays should be provided. Regardless of the containers, growing sturgeon at home should occur at the optimal temperature. For sturgeon, a favorable temperature range is considered to be from 2 to 27 °C. During the period of active growth and general development, it is advisable to bring these limits to 17-22 °C. This temperature contributes to the approaching process of spawning in females, which begins already from the age of six.

Feeding the fish

Special automatic devices must be provided for feeding. In general, sturgeon are not picky when it comes to nutrition, but to get good offspring, you shouldn’t skimp on food. The rate of increase in live weight of fish directly depends on the quality of food. When choosing products for feeding, you should take into account the presence of crude fat, fiber, phosphorus, lysine, protein and other useful microelements that sturgeon breeding at home requires. What to feed the fish - this issue is decided individually depending on financial capabilities, but the main thing is that the food is heavy and quite aromatic. The fact is that sturgeon in natural conditions feed directly from the bottom of the lake and rely on their sense of smell.

Where and how to sell fish?

The final stage in the process of fish farming is the direct sale of the product. In this case, it is live sturgeon, which today is readily bought by hypermarkets, specialized fish stores and, of course, catering establishments and restaurants. By the way, one copy can cost about 1 thousand rubles. Accordingly, breeding sturgeon at home for sale can be a very profitable business. But it is very important to initially calculate the possibilities and channels for selling the product, as well as negotiate delivery and financial settlement formats with partners.

Positive feedback about the business

It cannot be said that this type of activity is devoid of technical difficulties associated with the daily responsibilities of the owner, but many entrepreneurs note the autonomy of the farms. Thanks to automatic feeding systems, adjusting water temperature and filtration, there is no need to carefully maintain order in keeping fish. But, of course, in the first stages such freedom from work is out of the question. There are other features of breeding sturgeon at home that are a plus for this type of business. For example, a low level of competition, which is reflected in the form of considerable income. Private entrepreneurs negotiate directly with the same restaurants, covering several establishments at the same time.

Negative reviews

The negative aspects of running such farms are usually associated with high risks of losing money. Death of fry, disease, lack of demand in small towns and the need to obtain approval from veterinarians and the sanitary and epidemiological station are just some of the problems faced by fish farm owners. And this is not to mention the costs, without which it is impossible to organize the breeding of sturgeon at home for the purpose of subsequent sale. Again, in terms of initial investment, this is not the worst type of business activity, but in order to obtain a high financial return in the future, expenses may increase.

Conclusion

For people who have at least once observed sturgeon in natural habitats, it can be difficult to believe in the possibility of growing such fish at home. Especially in a plastic pool. Yet such farms are quite common and many of them are thriving. If you initially calculate the correct approach to feeding and cleaning water, then breeding sturgeon at home as a business will become a reality. It would also be a good idea to provide opportunities for future expansion of the enterprise. There are often cases when, after 2-3 years, entrepreneurs decide to transfer farms to natural reservoirs. Accordingly, fish production volumes are also growing. At the same time, the possibilities for selling sturgeon should also be assessed, otherwise you may be left without permanent sales channels.

Breeding sturgeon, if you are ready to create the necessary conditions for this royal fish, will give you the opportunity to eat homemade, and therefore high-quality and environmentally friendly food, as well as receive a regular income. The caviar and meat of this fish have been considered a delicacy for centuries and are in constant high demand. Of course, to create such a business will require certain investments and efforts. But this type of activity is characterized by good profitability, and the money spent will pay off relatively quickly.

Home breeding of Siberian and Russian sturgeons as a business

Sturgeon is a freshwater fish, one of the most ancient representatives of its species. It has an elongated body and an elongated head, pointed towards the oral cavity. There are Russian and Siberian sturgeons. There are some differences when growing them:

The Siberian sturgeon has good survival rate, which was noted at all stages of the biological cycle. This helps to minimize risks during artificial breeding.
During wintering, the Siberian sturgeon, unlike the Russian sturgeon, does not come to the surface of the water to obtain oxygen, so the fish can be kept in cages completely submerged under ice. Waste does not exceed 10.4%. Also during this period there is less loss of live weight than in the Russian species.
Siberian sturgeons have a slightly lower growth rate than Russian sturgeons - from 238 g (two-year-old fish) to 989 g (eight-year-old fish).

Breeding sturgeon is a difficult but profitable activity

The sturgeon family also includes sterlet, beluga and stellate sturgeon. All these fish have the ability to adapt to any living conditions, even if they change frequently. Thanks to this quality, sturgeon are successfully bred at home.

Photo gallery: fish of the sturgeon family

Russian sturgeon

Siberian sturgeon

Sterlet

Beluga

Stellate sturgeon

Fish farming allows you to make a good profit. The fishery is gaining popularity due to the following factors:

Sturgeon meat and caviar are popular products. And the level of competition in this area today is relatively low.
The business does not require large start-up investments.
You don't need to have any special knowledge. Today there is enough literature containing the necessary information. The necessary instructions can also be found on the Internet.
Breeding sturgeon does not take much time. It takes 3-4 hours a day to care for fish. The only exception is the sorting period. On these days you will have to devote 15–16 hours to work.
The business begins to pay off within 7–9 months.

Video: organizing a sturgeon farm

To create a farm, you need to purchase and install specialized equipment. You can do something with your own hands. And also choose and prepare the room properly.

Equipment

To breed sturgeon on a home farm you will need:

1. Automatic feed dispensers and feeders.

You can give food to fish manually, but these devices greatly facilitate the procedure and save a significant amount of time.

2. Pumps for pumping water.

During the selection process, look for models that can operate efficiently without being at the power limit. Otherwise, the pumps will not last long.

3. Oxygen generators (aerators) to provide fish with oxygen.
4. Pipes for creating a closed water supply circuit.
5. Sterilizers and filters for purifying the reservoir from contaminants, food residues and fish waste products.
6. Incubators for hatching larvae (if you do not buy fry).
7. Libra.
8. Containers for sturgeon.
9. Freezers.
10. Nets, buckets.

Arrangement of a pond or pool

A prerequisite is the presence of water supply, sewerage, uninterrupted supply of heating and electricity. It is advisable to purchase generators. They will come in handy in case of a power outage. There are two options for sturgeon breeding:

in ponds;
in swimming pools.

The basement of a house is suitable for breeding fish in a pool. But the room should be quite spacious, at least 30 square meters. meters.

Pool

For a novice entrepreneur, this option will be the most suitable (and profitable). Experts call this fish breeding technology RAS, which means “installation of a closed water supply.” In practice, this is expressed in the construction of one or more connected pools with recirculation, to which water purification systems are connected.

Sturgeon breeding pools can be placed in a spacious basement

First, you will need to purchase a plastic pool (preferably round) with a depth of 1 m and a diameter of 1.5–2 m. Using one such container you can produce up to 1 ton of products per year. As production increases, new pools need to be installed. When choosing them, focus on the weight of the fish:

for individuals weighing up to 300 g, you will need a round pool with a depth of 0.8 m and a diameter of 1.5 m;
for fish weighing from 300 g to 2 kg - a container 1.2 in depth and 2.2 in diameter;
for larvae weighing 0.5–5 g - rectangular plastic trays 50 cm wide and deep, 2.2 m long.

It is allowed to use pools made of materials such as:

metal with enameled surface;
polypropylene;
concrete covered with ceramic tiles.

You will need to create conditions as close as possible to the sturgeon’s natural habitat. It will be necessary to ensure the flow of purified, oxygen-enriched water into the pool, which will be partially pumped out and fed into filters to undergo several stages of purification (mechanical, biological), equalize the temperature, saturate with oxygen and eliminate bacteria. Thus, the liquid in the RAS system must be in constant circulation.

Important! In addition to standard lighting, rooms with swimming pools should have ultraviolet lamps, which are turned on once a day to disinfect air and water.

When breeding fish in pools, the water must be well saturated with oxygen. This is done by installing a compressor.

Sturgeons also require good lighting. It should be of medium intensity. Don't use too bright a light. But you shouldn’t keep fish in a dark room either.

Video: practical tips for arranging a closed water supply installation

Natural or artificial pond

Sturgeon are bred in ponds of natural and artificial origin. This allows you to save money on purchasing equipment. If you decide to build a pond on your backyard, you should consider a number of features:

1. The place should be well lit (about 5-7 hours a day in direct sunlight).

If natural ultraviolet radiation is not enough, you will have to install ultraviolet lamps for biological treatment.

2. A pit with internal slopes of the dams should be dug under the reservoir.
3. A layer of sand (15–20 cm) is poured onto the bottom, on top of which waterproofing is laid. A regular PVC or LDPE film is suitable for this purpose. Then the pit is filled with a layer of gravel (approximately 20 cm). Sturgeon prefer muddy bottoms.

To create favorable conditions for the growth of algae and other flora, you need to add organic (manure, wilted grass) and mineral fertilizers (ammonium sulfate at the rate of 2 kg per 100 sq. m or superphosphate at the rate of 15 kg per 100 sq. m).

4. After preparing the bottom, aquatic plants are planted. They are selected depending on the depth. At the very bottom it is necessary to plant tilla, pondweed, swampweed, and water buttercup. In the shallow water area (up to 40 cm deep) reeds and sedge should be placed. And among the above-water plants they choose orontium, water lilies, elodea, egg capsules, and duckweed.

On average, for one small pond (4 x 6 meters), it will be enough to plant 10 plants of each type so that they maintain biological balance and saturate the water with oxygen.

5. To prevent stagnation and blooming of water in the pond, it is necessary to install a pump filtration system by placing the pump in the deepest part of the pond and connecting it to the filters via hoses.

After arranging the reservoir, the fry can be released.

Video: DIY ultraviolet lamp for a pond

Conditions for landing and growth of fry

Raising fry at the initial stage of business at home is quite problematic. It is much easier to buy them at fish farms that specialize in sturgeon breeding. Buy fry weighing at least 5 g and launch them into a pond in warm weather. The most suitable time is late spring or summer.

Fry can be raised from eggs, but it is much easier to buy them

Sturgeon can live at a temperature of +2°C..+ 27°C. But for active growth, fish require indicators of +18°С…+22°С. Such conditions ensure early maturation of sturgeon.

Females begin to spawn at the age of 6 years, whereas in the wild this occurs only at 12–15 years of the sturgeon’s life.

Important! There should be no more than 60 kg of fish per 1 square meter of reservoir.

Fish care

Care involves regular feeding, cleaning the reservoir and sorting of grown individuals and fry.

Water condition monitoring

If you use tap water to fill your pool, install a carbon filter to prevent chlorine from entering. Change the water once every 3 days. But this should be no more than 15% of the liquid of the total volume.

You cannot completely change the water in the pool!

For the full development of sturgeon, the chemical composition of water (level of carbon dioxide, oxygen, pH, density of fertilizers) is important. An analysis of the chemical composition of water can be ordered from the SES, Vodokanal or from a private independent water analysis laboratory.

Table: optimal water composition for sturgeon breeding

Indicators exceeding those indicated indicate that the reservoir is polluted, which can negatively affect the life of the sturgeon. Therefore, carefully monitor the condition of the filters and wash them regularly, add the necessary chemical and biological additives.

Feeding

Sturgeons are undemanding when it comes to food. But despite this, it is necessary to take a responsible approach to compiling their diet. After all, the increase in weight and health of fish depends on the quality of food. Sturgeons can be given live food:

larvae of various insects;
bloodworm;
shellfish and worms.

Special balanced feeds have also been developed for fish. They are available in granular form. For example, one of the popular manufacturers of such products is Aller AQUA. The company produces food for different categories of fish. For larvae - starting mixtures that contain immunostimulants. Young animals can be given Aller Thalassa, Aller Performa and Aller Futura MP. Aller Metabolika, Aller Trident and Aller Bronze have been developed for adult sturgeon. The manufacturer also produces food for individuals that are raised for caviar - Aller Sturqeon REP.

For sturgeon you can purchase special granulated food

Adult fish weighing 500 g and above are fed 4 times, fry - 6 times a day, adhering to the same time intervals. The food must contain the following elements:

25% crude fat;
50% crude protein;
3% fiber;
phosphorus;
lysine.

Sturgeon eat at the same time every day; any deviations from the schedule can cause them stress.

Keep in mind that the sturgeon takes food from the bottom of the reservoir. Therefore, choose heavy food that will not float on the surface, but will sink down. Food must be resistant to moisture and not disintegrate for at least 30 minutes.

Sturgeons develop unevenly: strong individuals push weaker fish away from food and therefore grow faster. Therefore, transplant the grown fish into a separate container every month.

Possible problems and their solutions

No type of business is without difficulties. Sturgeon farming is no exception. Thus, over the course of a year, 10% of the fry consistently die. This is a natural process, and there are no methods to influence it.

Another problem could be an accident or power failure. As a result, the lighting regime is disrupted, which causes the growth of fish to slow down. Installing an autonomous generator will help avoid such consequences.

Problems can also arise due to failure of cleaning systems and other equipment. If you understand the structure of these simple mechanisms in advance, you will be able to save on repairs.

Video: cleaning the filter yourself

Inappropriate conditions for keeping fish can cause them to develop the following diseases:

Adenovirus infection. The fish shows apathy, loses weight, and death occurs in 50% of cases.
Iridovirus infection. Sturgeons refuse food, begin to accumulate at the bottom of the reservoir, and lose body weight. There is hemorrhage from the back and abdominal cavity. Death occurs in 95% of cases.
Infection with the herpes virus is asymptomatic until the fish dies. The mortality rate is 97%.
Flexibacteriosis appears as light spots near the fins and on the abdominal cavity. The mortality rate does not exceed 13%.
Bacterial hemorrhagic septicemia. Sick individuals experience a lack of appetite and pinpoint hemorrhages on the body. Fish swims on the surface. The death rate reaches 70%.
Saprolegniosis. The disease is expressed in the formation of a white coating in the tail area. The mortality rate reaches 50%.

No treatment has been developed for these diseases. Prevention is compliance with the regime for keeping sturgeons.

For sale, individuals are usually taken that have reached a weight of 500–600 g. Strong individuals grow to the desired size within six months, while weak sturgeons require up to 9 months. Sturgeon can be sold to restaurants, cafes, supermarkets, fish stores, and markets.

Creating your own website, which will contain information about your products and prices, will help increase sales.

It is recommended to start a business by growing 1 ton of sturgeon per year. This is the optimal amount that one person can handle. To do this, you need to purchase 1800 fry, the cost of one is 2-3 dollars. To ensure 1 kg of fish growth, you will need 1–1.5 kg of feed. It can be purchased at a price of 1.2 dollars per 1 kg. The cost of equipment depends on the volume of products grown. To obtain 1 ton of fish it will take approximately 3 thousand dollars. To determine your profit, you also need to take into account the costs of water and electricity.

Considering that the average market price for sturgeon meat is approximately $15 per 1 kg, the income from each kilogram will be about $5.

When raising sturgeon for caviar, the investment pays off longer. But at the same time, the profit will be higher. Female sturgeon produce eggs every 2–3 years for 17–18 years.

To turn sturgeon farming into a profitable business, you need to organize your business responsibly. Prepare the reservoir and create the necessary conditions. Regularly clean filters, change water and check that equipment is working properly. Monitor the condition of the fish and the chemical composition of the water. Use good food for sturgeon, because skimping on its quality can provoke the development of diseases. An attentive owner has every opportunity to get an excellent result.

In the ranking of expensive delicacies, black caviar and sturgeon meat occupy far from the last positions. But the reason for their high cost should be considered not only exquisite taste. The fact is that it is extremely difficult to obtain these products: due to the threatening decline in the sturgeon population in nature, their industrial fishing is currently prohibited throughout Russia.

Therefore, such an activity as breeding sturgeon at home can become the basis of a profitable business for novice entrepreneurs. You should not assume that this large fish necessarily requires natural reservoirs or huge pond farms: practice shows that sturgeon feel quite comfortable and quickly gain weight even in small pools of closed water supply systems. If you wish, you can place such equipment in your garage.

Why breed sturgeon?

When talking about artificial breeding of sturgeon, we mean raising them for the sake of producing caviar. However, this process can hardly be called fast: as a rule, males reach maturity only at the age of 8–12 years, and females at 10–14 years. Moreover, sturgeon spawning occurs once every 3 years. In pools, the rate of maturation increases, but only slightly: one way or another, it is impossible to obtain eggs from a female younger than 5–7 years.

The question arises: how can the farm survive until the first spawning individuals appear? The fact is that it is not at all necessary to feed sturgeon for so long: already at 12 months it reaches a marketable weight of 1.2–1.5 kg. Accordingly, a business plan for growing sturgeon may involve generating income from the sale of products such as:

Live, chilled or frozen fish. The wholesale price for sturgeon is 750–900 rubles per kilogram, the retail price is up to 1,300 rubles per kilogram;
Dried sturgeon, cold or hot smoked. Fish processing requires creating your own production facility. But the price of the product is also high - from 1800 to 2800 rubles / kg;
Soup set. Consists of the abdomen, fins, heads and tails of the fish. Sold in stores for 400–800 rubles per kilogram;
Sturgeon liver. The product contains a lot of useful substances, and therefore is highly valued in cooking. Cost - up to 1000 rubles per kilogram;
Sturgeon glue. Used in restoration work and when applying gilding to wooden products. Price - up to 20,000 rubles per kilogram.

Obviously, you can make good money even by selling these products. However, in the future, the cultivation of sturgeon fish should be focused on the production of black caviar. The cost of such a delicacy exceeds 30,000 rubles per kilogram.

Business Features

Of course, many novice entrepreneurs have an idea of the basic rules of fish farming. But growing sturgeon differs significantly from this - primarily in the matter of providing optimal conditions for rapid weight gain. In addition, this business has other features:

Sturgeon is a premium product. Its cost is comparable to the prices of salmon meat. As for caviar, it is ten times more expensive than analogues of other types;
There are not many sturgeon breeding farms in Russia. Therefore, an entrepreneur, within reasonable limits, can pursue his own pricing policy;
Sturgeons feel quite comfortable in captivity. Moreover, when kept in artificial conditions, their productivity even increases;
You don't need to be an expert to master the technology of growing sturgeon. Currently, this topic is covered in detail in scientific works and articles;
If you provide the fish with a balanced composition of feed, good water quality and the correct stocking density, then it will practically not get sick;
Sturgeon breeding as a business remains in demand regardless of the influence of political or economic factors.

Sturgeon breeds for breeding

Sturgeon are large bottom-dwelling fish that usually live at depths from 2 to 150 meters. There are freshwater, anadromous and semi-anadromous species. The first live permanently in the river basin, the second come here from the sea only to spawn, and the third try to stay near the mouth, making short migrations during the breeding season.

The sturgeon genus consists of 17 species, each of which has commercial significance. But their population is rapidly declining, which makes us think about the prospects for such a business as. Fortunately, almost all sturgeon breeds are suitable for this:

Siberian sturgeon. Reaches a length of 2 m and a weight of 200 kg. Includes freshwater and semi-anadromous varieties that live in the rivers of Siberia and Transbaikalia, as well as in lakes in eastern Kazakhstan. Males mature at 9 years, females at 12 years;
White sturgeon. The largest of the sturgeons. Maximum dimensions: weight 816 kg and length 6 m. Fishing weight is 15–20 kg. White sturgeon is an anadromous fish living off the coast of North America, from the Aleutian Islands to California;
Russian sturgeon. Breeding sturgeon at home began with this species. Reaches a length of 2.4 m and a weight of 120 kg. Fishing weight - up to 20 kg. Lives in the Black and Caspian Seas. Males mature at 8–10 years, females at 11–12 years;
Amur sturgeon. Includes freshwater and semi-anadromous varieties. Reaches a length of 3 m and a weight of 200 kg. The average weight is 50–70 kg. Lives in the Amur basin and the Sea of Okhotsk. Males mature at 9–10 years, females at 11–13 years;
Atlantic sturgeon. Rival of the white sturgeon: 6 m in length and 400 kg in weight. Found only in the Black Sea and the Bay of Biscay, the total population numbers no more than 1000 individuals. Males reach maturity at 7–9 years, females at 10–14 years;
Lake sturgeon. Reaches a length of 2.7 m and a weight of 130 kg. It lives primarily in the Great Lakes of North America, as well as in the Mississippi and St. Lawrence river basins. Males mature at 7–8 years, females at 10–13 years;
Sakhalin sturgeon. Almost extinct species. The average weight is 45–50 kg, but there are individuals 1.8 m long and weighing 80 kg. A small population prefers the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan;
Persian sturgeon. An anadromous breed, close to the Russian sturgeon. Reaches a weight of 80 kg and a length of 2.4 m. It is found mainly in the southern regions of the Caspian Sea, although there is a small population in the Black Sea;
Sterlet. A small freshwater representative of sturgeon, living in the rivers of Siberia. It is distinguished by early maturation: males begin to reproduce at 4–6 years, females at 6–8 years. With a maximum length of 1.3 m, it weighs 16–20 kg;
Stellate sturgeon. An anadromous breed, reaching a weight of 80–100 kg and a length of 2.2 m. It is the most heat-loving, and therefore goes to spawn later than others. Lives in the Black and Caspian Seas. Males mature at 8–12 years, females at 10–14 years;
Beluga. The largest representative of the genus, growing to a length of 5 m and a weight of more than 1000 kg. Habitat: Azov and Black Seas. There is also a large population in the Caspian Sea. Males reach maturity at 12 years, females at 16 years;
Kaluga. In 55 years it grows to a length of 3.7 m and a weight of 380 kg. It has two varieties - semi-anadromous and freshwater. Both live in the Amur basin. Kaluga reaches maturity later than everyone else - males at 16–18 years old, and females at 18–20 years old;
Thorn. Lives mainly in the Caspian Sea. Very rare in Black Sea waters. This migratory fish grows to a length of 2.15 m in 30 years and weighs 40 kg. Males reach maturity at 10 years, females at 12 years;
Paddlefish. In nature, it lives in the Gulf of Mexico, where it is very rare today. At the same time, it grows successfully in an artificial environment: in a year you can get individuals up to 70 cm long. Reaches a length of 2.2 m with a weight of 90 kg;
Bester. Being a hybrid of beluga and sterlet, it combines the rapid growth of the former and the early maturation of the latter. Weighing 30–40 kg, it reaches a length of 1.8 m. It is kept exclusively in nurseries: it is prohibited to release it into the wild.

Sturgeon breeding methods

The method of breeding sturgeon is determined by the availability of land and a reservoir near the farm, the climate in the region and the availability of natural food supply. The following options for keeping fish for commercial purposes are distinguished:

In the pond. To grow sturgeon in a pond, a small natural reservoir is used. It is cleaned, populated with plants, worms and snails, and fry are released here in the spring. In this case, the problem of wintering fish arises: even in frosty conditions, the pond should not freeze to the bottom;
In the swimming pools. If there is no suitable natural reservoir on the site, you can dig artificial ones. Their depth reaches 2 m, area - up to 200 m². When breeding sturgeon in a pool, it is necessary to ensure high quality water by constantly filtering and saturating it with oxygen;
In the cages. If the climate permits, in a freshwater river or lake basin it is more profitable to raise sturgeon in mesh cages on artificial food. At the same time, algae and other inhabitants of the reservoir enter the fish’s diet. The cages do not even need to be cleaned, since the waste products of the sturgeon are washed away with water;
In RAS. Using a RAS for growing sturgeon is the most expensive method - in this case, you cannot do without purchasing special equipment. But at the same time, thanks to the constant maintenance of optimal conditions, the fish here grow even in the cold season, quickly gaining weight.

Where to buy sturgeon for breeding?

A complete scheme for breeding sturgeon in a RAS from caviar requires the purchase of expensive incubators and additional devices for caring for larvae: it is advisable for a beginning farmer to do without these costs at first. Therefore, a beginner can start by purchasing one-month-old fry weighing 3–5 g.

You can buy sturgeon for breeding only in fish farms and factories. Before concluding a deal, you need to research a potential partner and make sure that they comply with the technology requirements. You should also talk to experts on the same forums and find out what you should pay attention to and how to distinguish high-quality young stock from substandard ones. Where to buy sturgeon fry for growing:

- LLC "Chernozemye Breeding Plant" (www.zaprudskoe36.ru);
- Company "Siberian Sturgeon" (rybasibiri.rf);
- Fishery "Elisey" (elisey24.ru);
- Skif LLC (skif-fish.ru);
- Fishing farm "Osetrinskoe" (www.osetrinskoe.ru);
- Fish hatchery “Dukhovnitskoye” (fish hatchery-dukhovnitskoye.rf).

Of course, it is advisable to visit the selected farm in person - look at the conditions of keeping the fish, negotiate on the price and method of delivery. Analysis of offers on the Internet allows you to determine how much a sturgeon fry costs for breeding:

Prices for young sturgeon

When calculating how much sturgeon costs for breeding, you should remember: for an inexperienced entrepreneur, the waste of fry can reach 40–50%. Therefore, livestock sizes must be adjusted taking this indicator into account.

How to raise sturgeon fry?

Despite a certain independence and the ability to actively feed, fry weighing 3–4 grams remain sensitive to housing conditions. To preserve expensive livestock, you need to fulfill a number of requirements:

Before introducing young animals into the pool, you need to heat or cool the water to the same temperature as it was in the shipping container;
The fry should not be fed for the first two days. During this period, they are given 19 hours of daylight;
The water temperature should be gradually increased to 19–22°C over three days. The oxygen concentration in it should not fall below 8 g/m³;
Starting from the third day, the fry must be fed eight times a day, scattering starter feed and live feed on the surface of the water;
After two weeks, the number of feedings should be reduced to six, and daylight hours should be reduced to 18 hours;
When using water supply, you need to settle the water to remove chlorine from it or pass it through a carbon filter;
Every two weeks, the fry should be sorted by size, placing them in different containers. Otherwise, large individuals will take food from small ones.

The growth rate of fry directly depends on the composition of the water. When breeding sturgeon at home, you need to constantly ensure that the key indicators of its quality do not go beyond the norm:

Water quality for fry

For beginners, growing sturgeon at home is of interest primarily due to the unpretentiousness of the fish. Providing her with comfortable conditions for growth and development is quite simple:

Swimming pools must be kept clean. Any debris, leftover food and dead fish should be removed from the water immediately;
When raising young animals, the stocking density should not exceed 50–55 kg of live weight per square meter of bottom area;
Every three days it is necessary to replace up to 15% of the water volume in the pools. When drawing from a centralized system, water should be passed through a carbon filter;
According to sturgeon breeding technology, the optimal temperature in summer is considered to be 19–25°C, in winter - not lower than 12–15°C;
The rate of water exchange in pools should be at least two to three volumes per hour. In case of a power outage, a backup generator is installed on the farm;
The water depth in the pools should reach at least 90 cm. But in extreme conditions with high oxygen content, the fish will survive at a depth of 40 cm.

The chemical composition of water must comply with standards. Sturgeon is unpretentious, but an increased content of any elements can affect its development:

Water quality for sturgeon

To maintain optimal conditions for growing sturgeon, you need to regularly monitor the pH level. Adult fish can withstand short-term changes in the pH range of 6.0–9.5. But at low values, the effect of nitrates increases, and at high values, the concentration of ammonia increases. To regulate acidity, it is advisable to use weak solutions of hydrochloric acid, caustic soda or caustic potassium.

What to feed sturgeons?

In nature, 85% of the sturgeon's diet consists of animal food - small fish and bottom organisms (crustaceans, snails, mussels, shrimp, insect larvae), and, in extreme cases, sea and river algae. But when breeding sturgeon at home, it is impossible to provide such a feed composition, and therefore fish farms prefer to keep the stock on complete mixtures. You can prepare them yourself:

Composition of food for sturgeon

Component, %	Option 1	Option 2	Option 3
Fish flour	45,97	36,97	42
Wheat flour	5	–	–
Soybean meal	20	28	24,97
Feed yeast	1	2	–
Vitamin premix	1	1	1
Fish fat	3	3,5	3,5
Sunflower oil	3	3,5	–
Linseed oil	–	–	3,5
Powdered milk	5	–	–
Wheat bran	5	–	–
Corn gluten	10	15	15
Chlorella	–	10	–
Corn germ	–	–	5
Zeolite	1	–	–
Probiotic	0,03	0,03	0,03
Sunflower fuzz	–	–	5

The process of preparing compound feed is difficult for a beginner to master. In this case, it is necessary not only to maintain the exact proportions, but also to granulate the mixture correctly so that it retains an appetizing smell, sinks well and does not dissolve in water too quickly. At home, it is better to use ready-made food of domestic or foreign production. They are produced for fish of different ages:

For broodstock, a mixture is used that increases the sexual activity of individuals. It contains fishmeal, protein sources and vitamin premixes;
For larvae, food made from dried microorganisms is suitable - brine shrimp, daphnia, cyclops. It is added to the fry’s diet for the first three months;
Three-month-old young animals are given growth compound feed with a high content of vitamins, in the form of granules with a diameter of 1–2 mm;
For commercial sturgeon, a mixture is used that includes 50% protein and 15% fat. It contains almost no carbohydrates: this prevents fish obesity.

The fry need to be fed six times a day, and the older ones - four times. It is important to adhere to the schedule: sturgeons get used to receiving food at the same time, while violation of the schedule provokes stress in them. Feeding rates are determined as a percentage of the live weight of the fish:

Daily diet of sturgeon

Age, days	Body weight, g	Feed, % weight	Age, days	Body weight, g	Feed, % weight
0–15	0,1–0,4	12,0–13,5	100–120	40–60	3,0–3,7
15–20	0,5–1	9,5–11,0	120–140	60–80	2,4–2,9
20–30	1–2	7,4–7,7	140–170	80–100	2,1–2,6
30–40	2–4	6,4–6,9	170–200	100–500	1,8–2,3
40–50	4–6	5,5–6,0	200–250	500–1000	1,6–1,9
50–60	6–8	5,1–5,3	250–300	1000–1500	1,3–1,7
60–70	8–10	4,8–5,1	300–350	1500–2000	1,0–1,4
70–80	10–20	4,5–4,8	350–500	2000–3000	0,7–1,0
80–100	20–40	3,8–4,3	500–720	more than 3000	0,5–0,7

How to register a business

Unfortunately, sturgeon are a favorite prey for poachers. When choosing, an entrepreneur must understand: if you do not document the origin of the fish or caviar, you may face persecution from both tax and law enforcement agencies. Therefore, it is better to register your farm as an individual entrepreneur or peasant farm. During the registration process, you must indicate the appropriate activity codes:

OKVED sturgeon breeding

Freshwater refers to agricultural activities: such products are mentioned in Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 458 of July 25, 2006 under numbers 03.22.40.150 and 03.22.40.160. Accordingly, a businessman has the right to use the Unified Agricultural Tax system. If we are talking about breeding sturgeon in sea water, then there is no alternative to the simplified tax system.

The farmer also needs to undergo inspection by sanitary and veterinary inspections. To do this, you will have to provide them with water analysis results, certificates for the plastic from which the pools are made, certificates for feed and documents for fry. Based on the results of the inspection, the company will be registered.

In the future, before selling each batch, you need to send water and a couple of kilograms of sturgeon to the veterinary service for analysis. In return, the organization will issue veterinary certificate No. 2 for this batch necessary for sale.

Sturgeon farm premises

It is better to breed sturgeon at home for sale in a household plot or in a country house: it is difficult to imagine an installation weighing tens of tons in a city apartment. Any building can be used as a nursery - a barn, outbuilding, garage, basement of a house. A spacious polycarbonate greenhouse is also an acceptable option.

To create a sturgeon breeding farm with a productivity of 1500 kg per cycle, a room of 6 x 12 m is required: here you can place a RAS for eight pools with a diameter of 2.5 m each. When arranging it, it should be taken into account that:

Heating a workshop is easier and cheaper than heating water. Therefore, an autonomous heating system must be installed on the farm;
Access to a well, well or water supply is required. Replacing water in swimming pools requires a daily consumption of 5–6 m³ of water;
The farm must be electrified. Sturgeon breeding equipment consumes about 3–5 kW of power;
You need to think about a way to drain waste water. This could be a central sewer, storm drain or your own septic tank;
Exhaust ventilation is required in the workshop. Evaporation from the surface of the water increases the level of humidity, which can lead to the appearance of fungus;
To grow sturgeon at home, you need to choose a place far from sources of loud noise and vibration.

Equipment for growing sturgeon

The main equipment for growing sturgeon at home all year round is the installation of a closed water supply. Water constantly circulates in it, flowing from the pools into a mechanical and then into a biological filter. Next, it is disinfected with ozone or ultraviolet light, saturated with oxygen and again supplied to the pools. Part of the water is periodically discharged into the sewer, and a fresh portion is supplied to the system.

If you have certain knowledge, you can assemble such an installation yourself. But it’s easier to buy it ready-made from the manufacturer, who will also carry out full setup of all components and assemblies. In general, to breed sturgeon at home, an entrepreneur will need the following set of equipment:

Sturgeon farm equipment

Name	price, rub.	Quantity, pcs.	Amount, rub.
RAS
Pool for sturgeon 2.5 m	17700	6	106200
Pool for fry 2.5 m	17700	1	17700
Pool for young animals 2.5 m	17700	1	17700
Pool stand	22000	8	176000
Bottom drain	10000	8	80000
Automatic feeder	12000	8	96000
Oxygenator	130000	1	130000
Ozonator	146000	1	146000
Biofilter	80700	2	161400
Drum filter	250000	1	250000
Electrical shield	8000	1	8000
Control block	15000	1	15000
Circulation pump	7800	2	15600
Cables and pipelines	16000	–	16000
Water heating device	27200	1	27200
Water pump	5200	1	5200
Other equipment
Sewerage	80000	1	80000
Emergency generator	72000	1	72000
Exhaust fan	3500	2	7000
Thermometer	1200	2	2400
Universal water quality meter	49000	1	49000
Tools, nets	–	–	6000
Pyrolysis boiler 30 kW	32000	1	32000
Lamp	500	8	4000
Live fish box	24900	1	24900
cooling chamber	52000	1	52000
Total:			1597300

How to sell sturgeon?

As noted above, sturgeon begin to lay eggs only at the age of 5–8 years. A small enterprise simply does not have enough resources to maintain and feed fish during this period. Therefore, the main product of the farm will be live young animals:

Grown fry weighing 50–100 g (age 3–4 months). Of interest to farmers who are looking for where to buy sturgeon for breeding;
Portioned fish weighing 400–600 g (age 6–8 months). Most often, restaurants and cafes buy it for cooking;
Medium-sized individuals weighing 1000–1500 g (age 11–12 months). Such carcasses are sold to stores or used for smoking.

Of course, nothing prevents an entrepreneur from selling fish individually to private individuals. But the farm’s production volumes still require the use of wholesale marketing methods. How to organize the sale of sturgeon:

It is necessary to offer fish to owners of restaurants, cafes and sushi bars. A large establishment purchases up to 100 kg of products per month;
You can also make a proposal to the management of grocery stores and supermarkets. Such clients need all the documents for the fish;
Of course, selling sturgeon on the market is useless. But the owner of a large farm may think about;
In order not to waste time searching for buyers on your own, you can offer fish at a discount to one of the wholesale companies that supply retail goods;
You can sell sturgeon on the Internet through a website, as well as by publishing advertisements on bulletin boards, specialized forums and trading platforms.

How much does a sturgeon farm cost?

It is difficult to imagine a business plan for sturgeon breeding without calculating the volume of capital investments. Among other things, for this it is necessary to determine the costs of purchasing fry and food for them:

The area of 6 pools with a diameter of 2.5 m is 29.4 m². With a stocking density of 50–52 kg/m², 1500 kg of sturgeon can be raised here;
1500 kg of fish is 3000 fish weighing 500 g. When the young fish are 50% out of stock, the farmer needs to purchase 6000 fry;
Raising young animals from 3 g to 500 g takes 6 months. For this period, each sturgeon needs 950–1000 g of feed costing 150 rubles/kg;
Expecting that half of the fry will die at an early age, it is necessary to store at least 3000 kg of food. The cost of its purchase is 450 thousand rubles.

Thus, 2.4 million rubles must be spent on setting up and launching a farm producing 1500 kg of sturgeon per cycle:

Investing in a sturgeon farm

Every four months, the farmer will place the grown young fish in the main tanks, and release a new batch of fry into the empty tank. This way he will have time to complete three cycles in a year. This activity will also be accompanied by costs:

Fare 24000 Total: 2182740

Is it profitable to raise sturgeon?

It remains to be seen whether breeding sturgeon at home is profitable as a business. With three cycles, the farmer will have time to grow 4,500 kg of fish in a year. If you sell sturgeon live weight at a wholesale price of 850 rubles per kilogram, the total revenue of the enterprise will be 3,825,000 rubles:

Annual income of a sturgeon farm

Index	Meaning
Total revenue, rub.	3825000
Annual expenses, rub.	2182740
Profit, rub.	1642260
Unified agricultural tax, rub.	98540
Net profit, rub.	1543720
Profitability, %	70,7
Capital investments, rub.	2399900

Breeding aquarium fish at home comes as no surprise to anyone, but what about breeding large commercial fish? Moreover, in an apartment or private house. This is quite real! Just imagine that you yourself will be able to contribute to the fact that high-quality, tasty black caviar will appear on people’s tables, which is very highly valued in any society and has long been considered a symbol of prosperity.

Fish of the sturgeon family provide valuable caviar and equally valuable meat. And some sources claim that it is very useful. Both are constantly in high demand, so sturgeon farming can be a very good business idea. In addition, for many people, growing sturgeon at home is a rather interesting process that does not require large financial outlays. Sturgeon is quite picky in its diet, and creating suitable conditions for its reproduction and cultivation does not require any complex scientific knowledge.

Sturgeon at home: business advantages

The sturgeon family includes not only the sturgeon itself (Russian and Siberian), but also such species of fish as stellate sturgeon, beluga, and sterlet. Breeding sturgeon is not at all difficult, and this process is possible even in an apartment, which undoubtedly attracts entrepreneurs. The advantages of business are:

Sturgeon meat and caviar are an expensive and valuable product on the market. Demand will be ensured.
Sturgeon is not picky about breeding conditions and easily tolerates changes in temperature.
In order to provide the sturgeon with proper nutrition, neither large amounts of money nor special skills are required.
To start this business, you will need very little starting capital.

Sturgeon breeding room

You can start breeding sturgeon both in an apartment and in a country house. The quality of the final product will not suffer in any way if everything is done correctly. You will need a fairly spacious free area - approximately 30 square meters.

The room must be heated, especially in winter. In winter, for the sturgeon to grow, it needs an aquatic environment with a temperature of about 17 degrees Celsius, in the warm season - from 20 to 24 degrees. If you have not found another suitable room, then a polycarbonate greenhouse in which an equipped swimming pool will be placed is also quite suitable.

Equipment for sturgeon breeding

Specialized equipment can be purchased from supplier companies, and it will cost you from 10 thousand dollars. They will deliver you fully ready-to-use equipment and install it right in your apartment or house.

However, you can go the other way. In fact, the sturgeon will live and reproduce just fine in a non-specialized container, which you can make with your own hands if you wish. A small plastic pool with a depth of about 1 meter and a diameter of about 2-3 meters will do. Of course, you can use larger pools if the space allows. In a small pool you can grow about one ton of sturgeon per year, and you can do everything yourself, without hiring employees or spending additional money on their wages.

The pool must have compressors, special filters and aeration. You will also need a pump, as the pool will need to be cleaned periodically. An automatic feeder can be a useful piece of equipment, but you can do without it. Its advantages are that using it you will free up a lot of extra time, but it doesn’t cost a penny. Many entrepreneurs feed fish by hand.

When choosing a compressor and pump, pay attention to the fact that this equipment should not squeeze out its full maximum during operation. Calculate how much equipment power you need, and take equipment so that it works with a small margin. Otherwise, the equipment will wear out very quickly and you will need to replace it.

If you have sufficient knowledge, hands from the “right place” and free time, you can make a pool yourself. This way you will save quite a lot of money (the cost of producing a pool yourself is 2-3 times less than the cost of the same pool from a store). To begin with, one small pool will be sufficient, over time it will be possible to expand it or make several more of the same kind.

Purchasing fry

To start breeding sturgeon, of course, you will need fry of this fish. There are fish farms that breed different types of fish. You need to find one that breeds sturgeon specifically, and purchase a batch of fry from them. We recommend that you do not buy the first ones you come across, but consider different options.

Ask experts how to choose the right fry for breeding, and how you can distinguish high-quality fish from low-quality fish. It is better to approach the purchase of fry with all responsibility. Poor quality fry will grow very slowly and possibly get sick, and you don’t want that at all.

How to choose food

You also need to choose food for sturgeon carefully. There are a number of features in this issue. Firstly, the sturgeon feeds from the bottom, so it needs food that will sink in the water. Sturgeons have a developed sense of smell, and this is what they use when looking for food. The food should have an attractive smell to the fish.

Also, the food must be waterproof and not be destroyed by water. This rule must be observed because the sturgeon will not immediately absorb all the food, but will, so to speak, “stretch out the pleasure.” The food must remain waterproof for at least 30 minutes after being immersed in water. The consistency of the food should also be special: the food should swell a little in the water and become softer - this way the fish will eat it faster. And so that the sturgeon grow faster, and you can quickly sell them and make your profit, choose high-calorie food.

The composition of sturgeon feed varies. But experts recommend using food with approximately the following composition: fiber, protein, fats, lysine and phosphorus. Do not forget to take into account the size of the fish: small fish need small food, large fish need larger food. Everything must match the size of the fish.

Breeding sturgeon in a pond

If the option with a pool is not suitable for you, you can breed sturgeon in a pond. And if you already have a pond, then the task becomes much easier for you. You just need to bring the pond into the required condition, or find a suitable one. Before you place the fry in the pond, you need to prepare it for new inhabitants. The pond needs to be cleaned. If it is of artificial origin, then carry out the liming procedure: place a layer of lime on the bottom of the pond, pour a sufficient amount of water on top, and then rinse. It is advisable to carry out this procedure approximately half a month before placing the fry in the pond.

The bottom of the pond should be in the shape of a bowl. Also provide certain flora and fauna in the pond, which will contribute to the healthy development and reproduction of sturgeon. There must be algae, reeds, various green fertilizers, worms, and you can put shellfish. If insects get in, it will only be beneficial (additional food for the sturgeon). All this will create the necessary “atmosphere” in the pond in which the sturgeon will feel great.

It is recommended to place fry in the pond in the summer, and preferably at night. When some of the fish grow to larger than average sizes, they will need to be moved to another spawning pond. It is also created artificially. After a while, the eggs or the fry that have already been born can be returned back to the original pond. Be attentive to fish, especially males - they can become carriers of unwanted infections and infect a whole family of fry.

Business payback and product sales

To clearly show what the return on investment for a given business can be, let’s give an example. Let's say you took 5 g of fry. After about six months, some of them will weigh 500 g. Please note that only a part, since sturgeon fry will grow unevenly, that is, some faster, some slower. This is their peculiarity.

It is sturgeon weighing 500 g that are the best-selling. When some of the individuals reach this weight, you sell them and begin to wait for the rest to grow up. After 1-1.5 months, medium-sized sturgeon will grow to a large size, and after 2-3 - the smallest ones. After about 9 months from the start, the production cycle can be repeated.

You can sell your products anywhere: in restaurants, markets, shops, supermarkets, specialized fish stores, and wholesale organizations. You can also make some profit by selling the fry that you yourself have produced on your fish farm to other private producers and organizations.

Sturgeon breeding business plan

As already mentioned, sturgeon is a fairly expensive fish, and its cost starts from $15 per kilogram. And this is at a production cost of 7-8 dollars per kilogram. Already based on these figures, it can be understood that sturgeon breeding will bring good profits. A sturgeon breeding business can bring you about 8 thousand dollars every month. Of course, if the breeding is on a fairly large scale, and you do everything correctly.

The approximate cost of fish feed offered by specialized companies is $1.2 per kilogram. For 1 kg of sturgeon growth, about 1-1.5 kg of feed will be required. The price of the fry is quite pleasing - fry weighing 1 g will cost 0.2 dollars.

The cost of the equipment will depend on your “appetites” in this business. If you immediately want to equip yourself to the maximum and purchase equipment for growing sturgeon with a volume of 5 tons per year, then prepare an amount of 15-20 thousand dollars. If you are going to start small, then, accordingly, the costs will be much less.

In conclusion, let’s summarize what you need to remember about breeding sturgeon at home. Firstly, do not forget to feed the fish with high-quality food. Secondly, clean the pool regularly. Thirdly, from time to time check the functionality of the equipment (in particular, filters) and, if necessary, repair breakdowns. And fourthly, check the condition of the water often and add new water from time to time. Successful business to you!

A similar business with sturgeon breeding is. Find out how to do it at home and make a profit!