Sturgeon fish are an ancient family. According to reports, they appeared about 250 million years ago. Sturgeons are distinguished by their appearance: the presence of bone scutes, a long muzzle and four whiskers near the mouth allow them to be recognized immediately among a wide variety of fish families. Sturgeons resemble cartilaginous fish in their structure, they do not have vertebrae, instead of which there is a cartilaginous chord, which has increased elasticity.
The most common sturgeons are the Baikal sturgeon, the Russian sturgeon, as well as sterlet, beluga stellate stellate sturgeon and kaluga. All of them are quite large and some specimens reach a length of up to 3 meters. Beluga is the largest representative of this family, and sterlet is the smallest fish of the sturgeon family. Almost all sturgeons are migratory fish, that is, they live in the seas, and come to rivers to spawn, the exception is the Baikal sturgeon, which is adapted for life without salt water.
Sturgeons are predators and therefore feed on small fish, various worms, mollusks and insects. The difference of this family of fish is a long period of life, so puberty in them occurs quite late.
Since the Baikal sturgeon does not require salt water for its content, its breeding began earlier than other fish species of this family. Currently, the sturgeon has taken root on the Volga, it is bred in many farms in Europe, as well as in Uruguay.
Sturgeons spend the first years of their lives in the seas, and only when they enter puberty (12-16 years old) does the fish rush to the estuaries. It moves upstream to certain places where spawning occurs.
Breeding sturgeon fish, although quite complicated, but very profitable. If you have some knowledge, developed economic approaches, you can use sea pastures on which sturgeon will be grown, giving not only valuable caviar but also tasty meat, while labor costs can be minimized.
The food business has always been profitable, and fish farming, especially sturgeon, is no exception, as it is one of the main food products. In some countries, it is fish that is the main product and the bulk of all dishes are prepared from it.
It is not in vain that sturgeon is considered one of the most valuable species of fish, as already mentioned, it is a source of not only black caviar, but also tasty and healthy meat. Recently, such a type of business as sturgeon breeding has become very widespread.
To start this business, you must have a piece of land on which you will have to equip a swimming pool where there will be running water or you can buy a ready-made pond. If you plan to grow sturgeons weighing up to a kilogram, it will be quite simple to additionally saturate the reservoir with oxygen. If sufficient funds are available, you can purchase a specialized pool in which constant circulation of water is performed, but this is not necessary.
With the acquisition of fry there are currently no problems. The sturgeon grows quite quickly, and if you import the fry in the spring, then by autumn it may well reach a weight of one kilogram. For this, it is necessary to create ideal conditions for its growth and apply high-quality feed.
If you decide to create an enterprise for the production of caviar, then you should buy already adult fish, whose age will be more than 14 years, this is the age of sturgeon at puberty.
If you succeed, then there will be no problems with the sale of products. Depending on the direction of your enterprise, the amount of invested funds, the payback of this type of activity is 1-10 years.