Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I was lurking here a couple days ago, and someone mentioned in another thread that they were considering putting these in an aquaculture system. I'd never heard of freshwater shrimp other than those big prawns...

So I've been doing some reading on them. Wikipedia says they get up to about 1.6" in length.

Not being one who particularly loves eating shrimp and consequently knowing little about them, is that too small to eat?

They're probably too small, but how small are they... what would be a more ideal size?

Also, other than the size, is there anything else that would make them unsuitable for eating?

For that matter, has anyone ever eaten them here anyway, maybe just for the hell of it?

Thanks in advance, I'm genuinely curious.

Not too small for a fish to eat!

Glass shrimp would probably be better.

I am planning to use glass shrimp with guppies. Guppies will be too small to eat the shrimp

Guys, I sort of meant something more direct as far as the eating goes. The big prawns (can't ever remember the name) seem like they'd be too difficult to raise, what with the saltwater for the spawn and so forth.

Cherry shrimp are very small?

2-4 cm

Yeh, I think that's about 2-4cm.

The smallest I've ever noticed anyone eating are like popcorn shrimp, but it seems like those are at least 1.5" (4cm) and that's just the tail...

Not really worth it for the eating side of things... What about some type of crawfish?

Sorry NoMoreNicksLeft,

For some reason I thought you were going to put these in to the same tank as your fish.....was reading more into your post than was actually there.

I guess nothing is too small to eat if you have enough of them.

Yeh, well one can eat dirt and bugs too... but it doesn't mean these are good to eat.

I was sort of wanting the opinion of shrimp aficionados, what they would think of these.

I'm pretty sure there too small (and not convinced that the flavor wouldn't be off for that matter), but I keep wondering if after 20 or 30 years of breeding them if a guy might not manage to get them bigger than they are now. That's what, a couple hundred generations?

Nope, they are way too small.
However the fish will love them.
I got 20 given to me 3 months ago, I now probably have 300 in a 3 ft tank.

No. They're too small.

You could eat them....probably taste like prawns...

Cost a bundel though....since they are about $2 each here.

New Zealand and some Asian countries farm a freshwater shrimp.

NoMoreNicksLeft, you can buy freshwater prawns from Miami Aquaculture:
http://www.miami-aquaculture.com/macrobra.htm

consistent temperatures above 80 degrees F (27 C), but not exceeding 90 degrees F (32 C).

I'm aware of the M. rosenbergii (can't ever remember the name)...

They just seem like they'd be difficult to raise. The larva require saltwater, don't they?

Was wondering if there were any real alternatives. The cherry shrimp can supposedly be stocked very high density, freshwater their entire lifecycle... everything I read says that you don't even have to try to breed them, have enough of them and they take care of that for you.

Of course, they're also so tiny, there's probably no reason to bother.

Maybe I should just plan on raising catfish.