thanks

nico

Hi all, I\’m aware of aquaculture (indoor farming of sea animals) being used to grow abalone in South Australia, this is commercially viable but not as profitable as open ocean farming of these animals as there is a bunch of time and energy spent on creating the right temperature and using UV lights to stimulate spawning and the like. So at the moment I\’d suggest its not a commercially viable option to farm shrimp which market for far less than abalone which are at $150/kg in places. So in summary: a hobby sure go for it, a business look elsewhere.

-Steve

Eugenio Mastroviti , Mon Apr 18 17:19:27 2005 :

Serious comment now:

it’s a nice idea, but not commercially viable – at least not in a small aquarium. First, there is the temperature issue. Most edible shrimp come from cold waters, and cannot actually survive in warm water (where “warm” is the temperature a fishtank can reach in Europe during summer, say 22-25 C), and for technical reasons a fishtank cooler can easily cost 10 or 20 times more than a water warmer such as those sold with tropical fishtanks – this, among other things, is the reason why, for example, Mediterranean biotope fishtanks are so difficult and expensive to set up. On top of that, there is the oxygen density issue – on average, a fishtank can sustain 1 cm of fish per 30 sq. cm (1″ of fish per 12 square inches) of surface, meaning that, for example, to keep 3 bettas, each one 2 cm long, you need a fishtank with a free surface of at least 180 sq. cm. Even adding a bubbler or two, thus increasing the oxygen exchange with the atmosphere, and doubling the numbers due to the fact that crustaceans have lower oxygen requirements than fish, with a hobbyist’s fishtank you won’t go too far.

A note: these numbers are for freswater fish and shrimps; salt water contains even less oxygen (and most edible shrimps come from the sea, not from rivers), so the density of the animals would have to be even lower

Eugenio

Eugenio Mastroviti , Fri Mar 4 13:04:33 2005 :

Dear Sir

my wife and I followed your advice and began breeding shrimps with the purpose of selling or eating them. Unfortunately, my wife could not bring herself to eat sweet little creature she had seen hatch and grow up and experience life, and feed from her hands.

I am now the happy “adoptive father” of approx. 25.634.318 shrimp, and am considering the opportunity of suing you for damage under some wacky American law or other.

You’ll hear from my lawyers

Yours sincerely

Eugenio Mastroviti

Matt , Sun Jan 23 16:04:31 2005 :

Possible. Too much work though. It’s best to corral them in an oceanside area.