Ok, so i'm confused

mikedmatthews · Post by **mikedmatthews** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 6:37 pm

i was at a certain LFS recently that i don't typically go to, but i had 15 minutes to kill, and they sell "feeder" crayfish. i stopped to take a look at what they had and there were at least 6 different species in the tank. don't ask me what they were, but i could tell they were different.

so i started thinking, if they have these crays they must get them from the same distributor. so the distributor does what...breeds them? collects them? buys them from multiple breeders/collectors? i'm having a hard time with this. assuming it was breeders, wouldn't the breeder have mostly the same species? and if they buy from multiple breeders, wouldn't they pick ones in close geographic proximity to themselves? and wouldn't those breeders have probably only a couple species that likely they collected and put in their pond, most likely weighted heavily towards the regionally dominant species? and if its collectors, how could they sell them so cheaply? its long hard work to collect enough crays to sell to a wholesaler. so that didn't make sense to me. why so many species?

so while i'm squatting there looking at them trying to figure this out and trying to decide if i have any shot at picking out a pair that's the same species of anything, my 3 year old comes up and starts flailing his arms pointing at them (scaring the crap out of them in the process). about this time i decided it was futile and left. anyone ever see anything like this?

ToddnBecka · Post by **ToddnBecka** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 7:53 pm

I suspect they're random species collected along with ghost shrimp, probably from different sources. After enough strays accumulate from the shrimp shipments, the distributor probably rounds them up and unloads them.

mikedmatthews · Post by **mikedmatthews** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 8:57 pm

so, what are you thinking then, baited traps?

pleco_breeder · Post by **pleco_breeder** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 9:49 pm

Hello,

Believe it or not, there are actuallly farms out there that raise nothing but "feeder crayfish". Most of these go to various baitshops, but there is also a substantial portion that make it into the hobby under the name of feeder or freshwater red lobster depending on how much they are trying to sell them for. None of these farms make much of an effort to prevent local contaminants in their ponds since that's just more production.

The only species of crayfish that I'm aware of that does make an active effort to prevent local species from infesting their ponds is the red claw that is used for human consumption. Because of the aggression levels in that species, some lines of less aggressive crays can run up into the millions of dollars for enough to stock a single pond. A single wild cray producing in the same pond could destroy the genetic lines enough to cut back production by as much as 80%

Probably more than you wanted to know, but it does answer the question.

Larry Vires

mikedmatthews · Post by **mikedmatthews** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 11:34 pm

see, i figured there were some farms, i just couldn't imagine that in a group of 20 crays presumably from the same supplier that i would see something like 6 species. there were a lot of different body shapes, head shapes, arm shapes, tail shapes, colors, etc.. they didn't show any agression in that tank, but i guess they couldn't figure out a territory to fight over.

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 10:54 am

I have a friend that uses golf course ponds to raise crays. His are O. Immunis. He invited me up to his "special pond" and we used a drag net to catch them:

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 1:45 pm

mikedmatthews wrote:see, i figured there were some farms, i just couldn't imagine that in a group of 20 crays presumably from the same supplier that i would see something like 6 species. there were a lot of different body shapes, head shapes, arm shapes, tail shapes, colors, etc.. they didn't show any agression in that tank, but i guess they couldn't figure out a territory to fight over.

In wild ponds there are often several species together. I know in the creeks around here there are 5 different species in the same creeks. At least 3 of the species are not native. When you are catching bait, you don't really care what you catch.

mikedmatthews · Post by **mikedmatthews** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 1:59 pm

how 'bout that. i didn't realize there would be so many close together.

pixl8r · Post by **pixl8r** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 4:02 pm

Where I grew up in Sothern California, we would go to the streams in the hills behind our house and catch what we called Red Devils and Brownies. I know, very scientific names, but hey, my friends and I were 10. The red crayfish were extremely aggresive, but they would live in pools and streams with the smaller brown crayfish.

I remember one large shaded pool had hundreds of both species. We used to feed them tadpoles and apple cores. So at least two species lived in close quarters and in large numbers, in the wild.

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 4:51 pm

O. Immunis is quite peacefull to each other and to wary tank mates. They will snag a curious fish, but do not actively hunt. I see mine climb all over each other with no battles taking place.

My friend says he can get several thousand each year from a small 50' pond only 2' deep, typical of a golf course pond.