Things You'll Need
- Mature male and female lobsters
- Lobster holding tanks
- Pump
- Air stones
- Ultraviolet sterilizer
- Seawater holding tank
- Plankton nets
- Zooplankton
- Newly hatched brine shrimps
- Lobster rearing tank
- Individual grow-out cages
Instructions
Wait until the female lobster is soft from molting and place a male into her holding tank. The female will release a pheromone into the water, which curbs the male's aggressive behavior. The male lobster will deposit sperm packets into the female's seminal receptacle by inserting his first pair of pleopods, which are reproductive appendages on his abdomen. Observe the mating and then remove the male.
Observe the female over the next few months, but be aware that it may take up to 15 months before she releases eggs.
Take note of the eggs, which adhere to the female's swimmerets after she passes them from her oviducts. These eggs will be carried by the female for between 10 and 11 months before they hatch. The swimmerets are swimming legs, which are also used to brood eggs.
Remove the female after the larvae hatch.
Adjust the pump so that the air stones produce less water movement in the larvae holding tank.
Connect an ultraviolet sterilizer to the seawater holding tank. Lobster larvae are susceptible to disease and the water used for their culture needs to be free of pathogens. Treat all natural seawater with ultraviolet sterilization before pumping the water from the holding tanks into the larvae tank.
Use a plankton net to harvest zooplankton from the sea. Add the plankton to the larvae tank. Wait for the larvae to molt over the next 10 to 20 days. Lobster larvae will molt four times during this period.
Add newly hatched brine shrimp when the larvae enter the fifth stage and sink to the bottom of the rearing tanks. These larvae will continue to molt during their first year, at which time they will be 1 1/2 inches long.
Transfer the growing lobsters to a larger rearing tank and place each individual lobster into its own cage within the grow-out tanks, as soon as they will begin to show aggression toward each other.