Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Corrective stocking Crawfish for LMB Forage?

Burgermeister,
That would be great! I would really appreciate it. I found some other contacts that I'll check out, too.
http://www.texasaquaculture.org/id86.htm

If you wait until the middle part of the season, don't be surprised to buy them for less than $1.25 per pound. I've bought them from Fiesta for $.99 per pound, two years ago.

I put them in the heaviest cover that I had. I'm trying to find where that place was. There are farms just east of Houston though.

Suggestion: Buy and extra 50lbs., make a list of work to be done and invite people over for a boil after the work is done.

I wish I could find that type of pricing up here. I usually get the crayfish/mud bugs/crawfish at about $0.10/per crayfish. I havent been able to find anything up here for anywhere near what you are getting them for. Ahhh so goes it with things up north.

Eric,

The first link posted by ewest states the minimum marketable size crawfish runs 23 crawfish/lb. (3 1/2") The larger sizes run 10-15/lb. Depending on the size bug you're buying, 10 cents/crawfish sounds reasonable.

In reference to Bob's post, I've never heard them
refered to as "crabs". Thats a new one.

Bob, I'd love to get them at those prices.

Texas715, I plan to take a day and see if I can find one of those farms, near by. 50 pounds for me was already in the plan. I try to have a Crawfish boil every March.

The price from Fiesta is for 15 to 17 Crawfish per pound. Some monsters, but not babies.

Eric, If you are interested in getting crayfish, my fish guy will be getting more around May '06. If you want his contact info., let me know. He's from Harrisburg, PA, and you are in his delivery range.

Thanks Sunil! I would love to find someone close by who has a reasonable price. The guy I am talking about at the $0.10 /crayfish has only about 1/2 - 1 1/2 inch crayfish. Nothing too big at that price and I am betting his are more like 50 - 75/lb. Since my pond is small I am not sure how much I might need, but my smallies and perch I am sure would love to see more in there than what I currently have. I havent seen any since I put them in, but you know how mud bugs are they hide well.

Eric, I tried to send you an email and it bounced back, and you don't seem to have a PM option.

Call John Sproch at 717-350-4431, and he can give you pricing.

Good luck.

Hmmmm shouldnt have bounced back. I will check into that. PM option? Never had that either. I must be living in the dark ages here. Either way, thanks for the info I will give John a shout.

1/2 to 1 1/2" puts a different light on it. Thanks Eric.

Don't feel too bad about the PM option. I'm embarrassed to say that until a recent message showed up in my mail, I didn't know anything about PMs. When I went to view the message, I noticed a couple of notes from when I first joined the board.....almost 4 years ago now.

Remember Grimes post from a few weeks back. He had like 35 PMs from the past few years that he never knew about.

Sunil Yep never knew about them either, spend about an hour returning them all.

Ahhh at least I am not alone!!! Great thing about this forum we can pontificate on how smart we think we are but in short we see how ( how shall I say it ) less than smart we really are

Hey guys, Most crawfish originate from my area of SW Louisiana. I am finishing up a 20 acre cypress lake now and I also farm crawfish. Due to the influx of salt water in to the southernmost crawfish areas from the hurricanes, crawfish will be in shorter supply this year. The current price paid by the processors for our catch is 2.00/lb. At that price I would not eat them or feed them to my own fish. I suggest waiting until March or April when the prices should be better. Good Luck.

Thanks! I'm also hearing that prices will be up and to wait, until late March/early April to make the purchase. I doubt the Bass and Catfish will care if the shells are a bit tougher.

I just stuck a pool thermometer in my end of the lake, so I hope to have an idea of who will begin spawning and when. The only pool thermometer I could find has a yellow duckie on the top. I can already imagine the comments from the guys and probably my Mom, too. :rolleyes:

bobguillory, thanks for the input.

Do you happen to know the type (scientific name, or genus?) of crawdad that you raise?

Sunil I can see the wheels turning but before any one buys craws from a different local and stocks them think about the results ,if any, to your pond. If they are like fish , which I suspect , will they live and thrive in you local and what effect will they have on your pond. I don't know the answer but would want it before I act. Will, for example , LA craws kill off you native ones and then die out because they can't take the cold winter ? Those type questions come to mind.

crawfish link --
http://aquanic.org/beginer/crawfish/crawfish.htm

I saw an article recently about a "Rusty Red Crawfish" that , if I recall , was a problem up north. I can't find the article and am hazy on it anyway.

Rusty (Red?) Crawdads were discussed here previously. I remember about as much as ewest, that they're bad news.

I think the evil crawdad is called "Rusticus Immunus" or something very close.

He will take over your pond if transplanted.

My question was really out of curiosity, not the intent to buy crayfish from the south.

Here is an article on the Rusty Crayfish:

http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/aqua/northern.html

It doesn't seem evil according to that document.

Bigmac you haven't been the only one with the ducky thermometer. I had one until my lab was fed up and took care of that one. I have replaced it since with a regular pool one.

ceadmin :

Thanks for the link. That was not the article I saw and nither is the abstract below (but it may be the basis for the article I saw which I think was in North American Fisherman or In-Fisherman )
anyway I can't find it now. This study provides that the Rusty Red has caused the extintion of several US crawfish varities.

Nonindigenous Crayfishes Threaten North American Freshwater Biodiversity: Lessons from Europe
David M. Lodge

Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556; E-mail: [email protected]

Christopher A. Taylor

Illinois Natural History Survey, Center for Biodiversity, 607 East Peabody Drive, Champaign, IL 61820; E-mail: [email protected]

David M. Holdich

School of Biological Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK; E-mail: [email protected]

Jostein Skurdal

Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Fakkel-g�rden, N-2624 Lillehammer, Norway; E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract.�North America harbors about 390 native species of crayfishes, 75% of the world's total. In this article, we highlight the threats posed by nonindigenous crayfishes to freshwater ecosystem function, fisheries, and the biodiversity of native crayfishes; draw some lessons for North American freshwater conservation from the experience with nonindigenous crayfishes in Europe; and review existing regulations that address the introduction of nonindigenous crayfishes. Most North American crayfishes have naturally small ranges in the southeastern United States, rendering them very vulnerable to environmental change. In contrast, Europe has only five, broadly distributed, native crayfishes, all of which have been greatly affected by environmental changes, especially the introduction of nonindigenous crayfishes (mostly from North America). In response, many European governments have adopted strict regulations to protect native crayfishes. The loss of thousands of populations of native European crayfishes and the political responses to it offer useful guidance to efforts to protect North American freshwater biodiversity and ecosystems. As in Europe, the most important threat to native North American crayfish biodiversity is nonindigenous crayfishes (many from within North America). In several well-documented cases, nonindigenous crayfishes have greatly altered North American lake and stream ecosystems, harmed fisheries, extirpated many populations of native crayfishes, and contributed to the global extinction of at least one native crayfish species. However, most species are still relatively unaffected, but the smaller ranges of most North American crayfishes make them more vulnerable than European crayfishes. Thus, a narrow window of opportunity exists to protect the function of North American aquatic ecosystems, their fisheries, and the unique biodiversity of crayfishes that they contain.

ewest,

Is this what you were looking for??

http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/exotics/rusty.html


Can be found in http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=000055#000003

Russ :

Great info. It seems to be the same info and warnings that the study above and the article I read contained. The place I saw the short article was a mag. with a picture and short article. I bet it came from this same data source.