Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

There are 2 types of freshwater prawn i know of that are edible and plentiful

1. Macrobrachium Australienese - Google to find out more + image as i dont have one handy yet.
Very edible freshwater Shrimp grow to well over school prawn size in the murray darling system and taste tops.
Have caught them in the macquarie river and farm dams out dubbo/warren way in western nsw
Put a trap in the cotton irrigation ditches or run a prawn net thru when the flows are stopped and you will have more than you know what to do with.
Myself plan to make them a staple in my system when i finally get it going.
There used to be a guy selling them at Karuah NSW but he sold the biz and the new owners arent doing much if anything with them...
If i can successfully breed once up and going will be happy to talk about supplying breeding colonies to others if they work out.

I also plan on bringing back a mass of the freshwater floodplain mussels from out there as the price that the aquaculture places charge fro em is disgusting, esp when you go out there and see how common they are....awesome biological filter aids..

2. Havent experienced these ones but heard about from multiple sources--Cherapin- like a macrobrachium from the Murray on steroids!.live in Qld/Nt i think..here's a link to a story that has a nice piccy of one about 1/2 way down the page cooked up on a plate. Huuuge!
http://maypiece.com/page.asp?ID=12&subID=14

so yeah, hope that has been of some interest...and look forward to picking your collective brains soon

cheerz

D

ALL over the place,,, they are endemic.

. . . . and when you cook and serve them... they become Pandemic !
Cheers IanK

the ones for dubbo sure taste tops boiled in some nicely salted water...or butterflied in garlic and butter, or,or,or,or.......

Dagz,

I know what you mean. We had a few acres between Dubbo and Gilgandra (Medway Station at Terramungamine) for 13 years and had the most beautiful Yabbies in our dams (until Locust spray put and end to them for about 4 years!!). But the Macquarie River had heaps of shrimp and they were just as nice, as you say, on an open hot plate, butterflied and basted in butter, and a splash of Pernod!
We used to trap them for Murray Cod bait using Sunlight Soap as an attractant in a multi-holed peach tin. But used a "square hook" when we wanted a feed of them.

Cheers Ian K

Have you run into any cherapin yet Ian?

Dags, do you know this couple in the web site? It sure is an a cool adventurous life they live!

well can't find them here, so you guys should send me some I found some glass shrimp but need a million of those to get a feed and they would be hard to shell
Dagz you said two, what's the other, and I am interested if you get some

Hey Bill, nope, dont know em but they sure seem to be living la dolce vita!

and Nocky, the two are

1. macrobrauchium australiense- all through the murray / darling in nsw- prolific in Macquarie river, western nsw i know for sure-lots of em get bigger than a school prawn and are delicious.

once up and running i wanna trial em for breeding/fish feeding ---should be fine as they go nuts in farm dams and love algae. when you see how common they are in the wild you wanna say shame on you to those pet shop peeps charging $10 per critter!!!
If i can get em up and going, and they breed, will be more than happy to share

2. the cherapin from the northern QLD/NT-- friends have caught em up round MT Isa in QLD, check the pic in the link a couple o posts back- big as a dinner plate and a real delicacy by accounts. think theyd need pretty warm water and prob quite aggressive.....

wish me luck, waitin to see if i get my first 1000ltr ibc tonight...for $70.....we shall see...

also, those mussels you bought, you'd almost be better off takin a trip out to western NSW by car, catching a zillion of em and airfreighting them home as you would get a gazillion in a few hours-- they are incredibly prolific in the western floodplains out around Dubbo/Warren---absolutely everywhere.....

I was wondering what people were on about to begin with, then your description of how to catch them reminded me of my childhood fishing trips to the Murray.

We too caught them for bait, we used an old tank strainer, and used to put in a bar of soap and some fresh gum leaf branches, caught heaps.

Thanks for the memory revival , great days when all the lakes in VIC were overflowing, went for a drive on my last visit, very sad to see many of the old fishing grounds completely dry

Dagz are they the mussels that grow in still water, can't get over to NSW ATM so send them over, but shrimp I definitely want for my tank with native fish in, keep me posted
Googled macrobrauchium australiense and not even one page???

yep Nocky. re: mussles--the very same.

you can increase stocking density of these apparently by adding a handful of bran or pollard into their holding tank every so often-- they are said to enjoy this....

get out west when the water levels start falling and you wont be able to pick em up fast enough.
thats what i hope to do later this year when i get crackin.

here's a pic of a macrobrauchium for ya-- check the price tag!!!

http://www.livefish.com.au/index.php?ma ... ts_id=1793

like i said, when u know how many of these things are in the macquarie river, it makes you laugh, and seriously consider becoming an aquarium supplier!!!

actually, if these work out in my system, im betting there will be a lotta the community here interested in tryin them.

cheerz

D

Dagz,
Unfortunately, no I haven't, but they do look just like the big brothers of the shrimp we used to get at Dubbo in the river. With the extra long front pincers and the fanned tail.
Had a look at your link to LikeFish. . . . HSM . . . .13 bucks each!!! That meant we would have been having about a $200 prawns on a bun!!! And the missus has the hide to tell me I've never shouted her a expensive meal!!!!

I did sample one freshwater crusty that was excellent, but it is illegal to touch them now, and that was a Lamington crayfish. Beautiful Blue and White markings, lives in the clear water streams in Lamington National Park and feeder streams outside the Park. They were just the Duck's Nuts with some Jarlsberg cheese inside afire toasted Jaffle.

Wouldn't mind bringing some of the MA's back from Dubbo. My wife has just got back from a week's visit there. . . bummer that I didn't even think to organise her with the bait tank etc. 'cause she drove there and back!! Oh well, next time.

Cheers IanK

Last time i checked, many spinies were still allowed to be caught, believe it or not...i think the lammington ones may well be protected, and those glenelg ones in Vic, and maybe the gian astacopsis gouldii in tas, but many you are still allowed to catch with a hoop net!.

u r right though, too dangerously tasty for their own good...

lol re: $200 prawn sanga!-- reminds me of my neighbour story when he went to california few years back and bloke in pet shop tryin to tell him how rare this suphur crested cocky was-- thye wanted 5k for him.!-- he walked out laughing...

dont know if im gonna be able to wait 6 months til rennos done to get started, seeing everyones systems is makin me uber jealous....

Dagz,



You mean these mothers! Look quite good on a plate don't ya reckon!
I can just imagine it on the bottom of a Jade Perch filled fish Tank, looking up with loving eyes, just waiting for you to feed him. Without touching the Fish. . . .of course!!

Cheers IanK