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Introducing: Cambarellus diminutus
Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 5:07 pm
by YuccaPatrol
I will post a detailed report soon, but here are a couple photos of the newly collected Cambarellus diminutus.
In short, my field collection trip was a success and I was able to collect a small group of individuals as well as identify numerous potential collection sites for future trips. Before I return to collect more, I must first get a positive identification on these, complete some thorough water testing, and determine that my aquaria are suitable and safe for these tiny little crays.
Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 5:22 pm
by CanadianCray
I know some guys in Germany would be drooling over those.
Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 5:30 pm
by Newjohn
YuccaPatrol
It is good to hear that your trip was a success.
Thank You for the Photo's.
I look forward to the Updates.
Germany !
Any new Crayfish in this Hobby, is something to drool over.
John
Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 6:08 pm
by YuccaPatrol
Thanks Newjohn and CanadianCray.
Here's one more photo. I desperately need to clean the aquarium glass inside and out, but there is some added detail in this shot worth posting. . .
Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 6:15 pm
by milalic
very, very nice.
Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 12:14 am
by zwergkrebszuechter
CanadianCray wrote:I know some guys in Germany would be drooling over those.
Yes they are.
Do you happen to come to Florida in the future? There are great species like Cambarellus schmitti and blacki. I have not seen photos of black yet, but schmitti is awesome.
Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 12:33 am
by Neonshrimp
Thank you for sharing the beautiful specimens! Are these adult crays? Best wishes on your future field collection trips
.
Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 4:45 pm
by CanadianCray
zwergkrebszuechter wrote:CanadianCray wrote:I know some guys in Germany would be drooling over those.
Yes they are.
Do you happen to come to Florida in the future? There are great species like Cambarellus schmitti and blacki. I have not seen photos of black yet, but schmitti is awesome.
LOL I was thinking of you Andy when I first saw those.
Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 5:05 pm
by Mustafa
This is great, Yucca!! I hope they breed just as readily as their C. shufeldtii cousins. Keep us updated!
Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 6:39 pm
by Gregor Samsa Mendel
YuccaPatrol--They're adorable! Is that little 2 cm thing in the top picture an adult?
Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 7:07 pm
by YuccaPatrol
Neonshrimp wrote:Thank you for sharing the beautiful specimens! Are these adult crays? Best wishes on your future field collection trips
.
Yes, these are adults. From everything I have read, C. diminutus does not grow larger than 2.5 cm.
Future trips will be more productive. Even though I knew where to find the right streams where they live, it still took half a day to figure out exactly where they were in the stream and how to best collect them. These streams also had an abundance of ghost shrimp, and every time I put the net in the water it came up with lots of these.
zwergkrebszuechter wrote:
Do you happen to come to Florida in the future? There are great species like Cambarellus schmitti and blacki. I have not seen photos of black yet, but schmitti is awesome.
I know that C. Blacki lives about 50 miles east of where I was collecting in Alabama, so I will definitely try to collect them in the future too. I'll have to really do my research because they have only been found in one single pond.
Mustafa wrote:This is great, Yucca!! I hope they breed just as readily as their C. shufeldtii cousins. Keep us updated!
I hope so too. A more detailed update and full description of my collecting trip will come as soon as I finish the water testing and get a look at these under stronger magnification.
Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 7:15 pm
by Mustafa
YuccaPatrol wrote:These streams also had an abundance of ghost shrimp, and every time I put the net in the water it came up with lots of these.
Interesting....you might want to catch some of those, too, as they *might* be Palaemonetes kadiakensis (the "other" freshwater ghost shrimp). Both P. paludosus and P. kadiakensis occur in the gulf region as far as I know.
Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 7:48 pm
by YuccaPatrol
Mustafa,
I did bring home some of them because I just couldn't help myself. They do not have the same orange band markings of the ghosts that I have purchased as feeders. Same basic body shape, but I haven't really looked closely at them other than to notice that they didn't have any orange on them.
When I first started looking for the crays, I saw so many ghost shrimp that I assumed that the crays would be easier to spot among the debris than the ghosts. It turned out that the crays were MUCH harder to see.
Had I not made that assumption, I probably would have found crays much sooner because I am certain that I was dumping nets that contained crays at the beginning.
I'll try to get a photo of these ghosts soon. (I sure have my work cut out for me over the next week or two)
Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 8:28 pm
by Mustafa
YuccaPatrol wrote:
I'll try to get a photo of these ghosts soon. (I sure have my work cut out for me over the next week or two)
Try to take a closeup of the rostrum, too, if you can. P. kadiakensis has a shorter, stockier rostrum than P. paludosus.
Posted: Mon Sep 25, 2006 6:00 am
by badflash
Keep us posted on the behavior of these crays too. Are they diggers? Do they eat plants? Are they agressive?
Great work!