One of my many hobbies...

[Terran]

I raise/breed Neocaridina denticulata sinensis (red)(Red Cherry Shrimp) and Cambarellus shufeldtii (Cajun Dwarf Crayfish)....

The red coloring of the shrimp does not occur in nature the red is a color morph that was selectively bred by enthusiasts the wild form occurs in southern china and in Taiwan...the red though was originally bred in Taiwan
Currently Im trying to breed brilliant red and more opaque colored Red Cherry Shrimp from my current stock...With a decent amount of success so far

I am also trying to seperate two different strains from my wild population of Cajun Dwarf crayfish. There is a blue color morph that can be obtained so I have seperated crayfish who are carrying blue characteristics. There also appears to be orange characteristics that I am trying to seperate....So far the young that I seperated have not yet reached sexual maturity...


Here are some pictures of the tank that holds the shrimp and crayfish that have traits that I am uninterested in continuing...my culling tank....

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a257/andruk81/Shrimp3_0002333.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a257/andruk81/Shrimp3_00012222.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a257/andruk81/Shrimp3_00026.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a257/andruk81/Shrimp3_0002444.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a257/andruk81/Shrimp3_00024.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a257/andruk81/Shrimp3_00012.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a257/andruk81/Shrimp3_00025.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a257/andruk81/Shrimp3_000233.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a257/andruk81/Shrimp3_00023.jpg

Sorry about the picture quality....I dont have a great camera to get super detailed shots...and i had to resort to using my video camera to grab these shots...

[capncnut]

That's a damn interesting hobby you have there brother and the pics are fine.

[Terran]

Well compared to others in the hobbie my pictures are a little above average....

The guy who I purchased my shrimp from has some fantastic photos....and tons of different species of shrimp...

Heres one of his pictures of Red Cherry Shrimp
http://www.petshrimp.com/images/redcherryshrimp.jpg

Clearly a superior picture...

If anyone is interested his site is http://www.petshrimp.com/...

[capncnut]

This must be popular because the store in the link is all out of stock! It's crazy that people would want to keep these things as pets (although the Neocaridina "blue" does looks cute!). When I was a kid I used capture the odd 'wiggly thing' from the stream and put them in my tank. They used to fight each other tooth and nail, can it be the same with these?

[Terran]

Yeah its pretty big I imagine...

The guy from Petshrimp.com is not really a large seller...I was actually one of the last people to get a shipment of the Cajun Crayfish and REd Cherry shrimp(the crays should be instock again soon because they breed like crazy)...but there are plenty of other places to get shrimp and crayfish from...
http://www.aquabid.com/
Its like ebay but for aquarium life....just go to the invertabrates section for shrimp and crays....
http://www.bluecrayfish.com/
They sell only crayfish but have some fantastic species...
I personally perfer smaller less aggressive crays...but they have some that are beautiful...

[Kaos]

Crawfish /Shrimp Etouffee

4½ hours 4 hours prep 4-6 servings
6 tablespoons oil
6 tablespoons flour
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 scallions sliced, green parts reserved
4-6 cups shrimp stock (recipe follows) or water 3 tablespoons creole seasoning, such as cacheres
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 lb crawfish tails, peeled
1 lb shrimp
hot sauce
cooked white rice
(http://www.recipezaar.com/library/getentry.zsp?id=160)
for stock

2 lbs shrimp shells, and tails from shrimp 3-4 quarts water 2 stalks celery, cut in half 1 onion, with skins on sliced in half 2 garlic cloves, sliced in half 1/2 cup baby carrots
for shrimp stock, place 2 lbs of shrimp shells and tails into a stockpot, add 3-4 quarts of water.
add celery, onion, garlic, carrots, bring to boil.
lower to simmer and cook 3-4 hours, adding water if needed. drain through a sieve, discarding solids.
for the etouffee: heat 6 tbs oil and flour together in a heavy pan until it turns brown, stirring for 15-20 minutes.
add onion, stir, celery, peppers and seasonings, stirring, until vegetables are softened.
add shrimp stock and stir in slowly.
mixture will be very thick, so you can adjust the thickness to your liking by adding extra stock, simmer 10 minutes.
add shrimp, cook 5 minutes, add crawfish.
cook on simmer for 10 minutes until cooked through.
serve over rice.

[Terran]

Im not opposed to eating them...but....

When the Shrimp when fully matured they are only 2.5-3.5cm... the crayfish 3-4cm....SO considering half their bodies make up their tail the shrimp tails are 1.25-1.75 cm... and the crayfish 1.5-2cm....

So considering that the meat is only about 1/2 the weight of the tail...
For 2lbs of meat ...Ill just make a rough estimate...what Ill need like 300,000 shrimp/crayfish...for one batch of Crawfish /Shrimp Etouffee....


That being said I have been trying to get a hold of these crayfish called Marmorkrebse or (Marbled Cray)...Ill cut in paste a post authored by Mustafa from Petshrimp.com

They are completely unkown in the US, although they are supposed to originate from North America. So let me explain shortly for everyone else.

"Marbled Crayfish" are a species of crayfish that started showing up in German hobbyists' tanks in the early to mid nineties. They spread very rapidly since they were so easy to breed. People were swearing for years that their one crayfish female would produce offspring asexually without the help of any males. In fact, no males were ever found! Even hatchlings brought up in tanks that never had any contact with other crayfish would produce offspring at sexual maturity. So, the suspicion was that these crayfish are parthenogenic. This suspicion was confirmed recently when some scientists conducted some laboratory experiments with the crayfish and published a paper about it.

So, this crayfish is the only parthenogenic decapod crustacean known to science! To this date even the scientists were not able to figure out what species this crayfish really is. They determined that it must be a Procambarus species, but it seems like the species has never been scientifically described. How do you scientifically describe a species of crayfish that only occurs in hobbyists' tanks, and nobody even knows where this species occurs naturally (if it occurs naturally at all)?


So these crayfish can reproduce like crazy...and the best part is they grow to 10cm long....and thats an edible size...!....I want some so badly to raise...
I contacted this guy from germany about the possibility of sending me some...Speaking of Germans...where the hell has Toby been?...

[kortick]

actually Kaos that recipe looks
pretty good...

[Debbieangel]

Crawfish /Shrimp Etouffee

4½ hours 4 hours prep 4-6 servings
6 tablespoons oil
6 tablespoons flour
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 scallions sliced, green parts reserved
4-6 cups shrimp stock (recipe follows) or water 3 tablespoons creole seasoning, such as cacheres
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 lb crawfish tails, peeled
1 lb shrimp
hot sauce
cooked white rice
(http://www.recipezaar.com/library/getentry.zsp?id=160)
for stock

2 lbs shrimp shells, and tails from shrimp 3-4 quarts water 2 stalks celery, cut in half 1 onion, with skins on sliced in half 2 garlic cloves, sliced in half 1/2 cup baby carrots
for shrimp stock, place 2 lbs of shrimp shells and tails into a stockpot, add 3-4 quarts of water.
add celery, onion, garlic, carrots, bring to boil.
lower to simmer and cook 3-4 hours, adding water if needed. drain through a sieve, discarding solids.
for the etouffee: heat 6 tbs oil and flour together in a heavy pan until it turns brown, stirring for 15-20 minutes.
add onion, stir, celery, peppers and seasonings, stirring, until vegetables are softened.
add shrimp stock and stir in slowly.
mixture will be very thick, so you can adjust the thickness to your liking by adding extra stock, simmer 10 minutes.
add shrimp, cook 5 minutes, add crawfish.
cook on simmer for 10 minutes until cooked through.
serve over rice.
ROFLOLMAO.....good recipe thanks lol!!!