Cambarellus diminutus - why gone from USA

Nonnative to Wisconsin species of crayfish are illegal to possess or transport into Wisconsin too. This type of legislation is becoming increasingly common as state wildlife departments fight to avoid the introduction of invasive species. As a result livestock distributors will not carry many natives because of the regulatory issues.

Although I did not see any legislation in the New York Environmental Conservation website so I think you will not have any problems.
Andy
 
thanks guppy - I've already kept other dwarf crays,
I'm simply looking to try the smallest adults possible.

narwhal -
thanks for the legal counsel.
i'll pm you my billing address :grinyes:
 
Hey Spypet,

I know this is late, but I'm also really interested in these tiny crayfish. Did you order them already?
 
SubRosa said:
People rarely appreciate and keep species native to their locale. NA Sunfish are very popular in Europe as well and rarely kept here.
Click to expand...
very true. its not cool unless its from another country. we have some fish and inverts here that looks way better then some of the others in the hobby yet get ignored. at least with plants its not that bad.
 
Victor - not yet, but I'll update this thread when I do.
since I can buy up to 10 crayfish for the same shipping,
I'm inclined to get extras for resale to those interested.
so anyone sure they want a pair should PM me soon.
I'm also waiting for better weather as NYC has had a
record snowfall January. The Germans have plenty of
inventory; to them this crayfish is as common as RCS,
so there is no point in rushing my purchase for now.
Ironically, in Europe this crayfish costs more than CPO,
so why American resellers are charging so much is a
mystery when you can get them so cheap with Euros,
while the CPO is a North American native crayfish :wall:

I discovered something interesting while on various
international invert forums - CPOs are banned in the
UK as a potentially invasive species, while there is no
mention of Marmorkrebs - a self cloning laboratory cray
that should not even be in hobby trade to begin with.
just goes to show you how backwards most of these
invasive species legislation regularly get.

some more tidbits - there is another dwarf cray growing
in popularity now - even more so than the CPO. it's called
Cambarellus Texanus. it's the same size and temperament
as the CPO with high contrast stripes and a more distinct
cambarellus_texanus_gestreift_1304_2.jpg

carapace. It's color is rumored to change a bit in order
to blend in with your substrate.

I'm not getting them, since I want Diminutus
for it's smaller stature and less aggressive temperament.
It's just interesting how so many North American native
species are promoted by hobbyist in foreign markets,
while over here we are clueless about them.
 
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I'm curious as to why you want C. diminutus instead of C. shufeldtii. Is it that the diminutus are even smaller than the shufeldtii? Interested in trying a new species of cray? Hoping to establish them in the hobby here? Sorry if you made this point previously and I missed it. I never bothered looking into cray species aside from shufeldtii and patzcuarensis, so I am wondering if some sellers out there may be mistaking diminutus for shufeldtii. As an amateur invert keeper and having little knowledge (for the most part) of native species outside my state, I certainly wouldn't be able to differentiate between the two species. Maybe if someone highlighted any specific differences between the species, or if I saw them side by side in person... eh, still doubt I could definitely ID them.

I realize I'm bringing this thread back from recent death, my bad. :)
 
no problem Ed, I'm always glad to respond. I have kept shufeldtii and found them to be too large and aggressive. diminutus are definitely smaller, and the theory is the smaller they are the more intimidated they become by other tank inhabitants and the less dominant the crayfish behave. I only have a little anecdotal evidence of this from various German forums I read, so until I have the diminutus in my tank and see their behavior first hand I can't be sure. diminutus also have lower breeding yields, as their smaller bodies can only host half as many (same size) eggs when compared to CPO. I should have pairs of both Diminutus and CPO's by end of March, so I'll update this forum in the coming Months as to their comparative behavior patterns and net breeding results. I have no ambitions about "establishing them for the hobby here" nor selling them for a profit. anyone can buy them both cheap in Europe, so why people continue to overpay for these in North America boggles the mind.
 
here is a C.Puer which is 20% larger than Diminutus.
you can see it's size relative to dwarf cory and RCS.

[YT]L6h_Nc1-2ZM[/YT]
 
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