Crayfish Store Ideas

[black_sun]

Heeeeeeeeey! It's been forever since I've been on this forum, I missed you all! How's it going with everyone, what's new?

In any event, I had a few general questions for anyone who keeps, buys and sells crayfish:

I'm subletting space from an LFS to breed and sell my crayfish. And while getting everything started I had a few idle thoughts that I'd like opinions and answers to from "general public" lol


1.) P. alleni, C. quad, P. clarkii (and here, in NJ/NY, Marmorkrebs and P. acutus) seem to be fairly staple sights in the LFS scene. What other species would you personally want to see in a LFS for sale on a more regular basis?

(P. alleni are the electric blues and occasionally whites, C. quad is Australian blues/Yabbies and P. clarkii are the dark reds and occasionally oranges)

1a.) Do you think your selections are feasible ideas, or would they be too hard to sell/maintain/etc in an LFS?

2.) Of the species you do buy, do you find the prices too high, too low or reasonable?

2a.) Do you think certain species should be priced differently than they are?

3.) If a LFS offered printed pamphlets that had general care information, and in some instances, species specific care information, do you think this would be a good idea? Or just a waste of ink and paper?

4.) Got any other ideas, comments, etc... feel free to share! I can't wait to get this going and I hope it lasts!

Thanks!

 

[Taysius]

First off, I keep a C. Quad. I also had a P. Alleni but it was boring compared to the C. Quad so now my mother has it.

1.) Look into breeding dwarf crays if you can. If I saw some in a store there would be no way I could pass them up. It just wouldn't be possible.

1a.) I do think the dwarves are feasible. Even the brown shufeldti would be neat to see available in a shop. The CPOs may be a bit more pricey for you to get started with but might bring more attention as well with their bright orange color.

2.) My C. Quad was $11 and I got her in a cup from Wal-mart. We didn't even know the price until we rung her up at the register. IMO she was a bit pricey but we didn't care. She is well worth the cash. The original price on the P. Alleni was $13, and this was a brown variety. I would have never paid that for a brown cray. We only paid $3 since the poor thing was missing claws, antennae and all but 3 wimpy legs.

2a.) It depends on the species and color. $13 for a white or even blue P. Alleni would have probably been feasible but that's asking a lot for a brown, IMO. My C. Quad was only labeled as "Blue Lobster" so I really had no clue what I was getting at the time. She was itty bitty and I wasn't very good at identifying crays at the time. If I went into a LFS now and was looking for another C. Quad, I would have no problem shelling out the $11. Maybe even more for a male with those sexy claws. Also, if species are properly labeled and kept, I am more likely to pay a little more than if they all say "Blue Lobster." My husband feels the same way and he's not even the fish guy of the house and is the one who actually hands over the cash.

3.) I think pamphlets are an excellent idea. Maybe even add an email address or Facebook page for people to contact you with any issues they may have. Obviously keep that separate from your personal accounts. Crays, to me, seem like a big impulse buy animal. You see a lot of people put them in their pretty aquariums and quickly find out how destructive they can be. A lot of folks seems to be shocked by the fact that crays needs quite a bit of veggie matter in their diet too. Add in that they are escape artists and that's a lot of simple info to us, but not to the possible buyer that has only seen a brown cray out in the pond.

There will always be those that don't want to listen to your care advice. You can't really do much about that. Hopefully though, more people would be thankful for a bit of reading material to go along with their new pet.

4.) I think I answered everything to the best of my ability. I'm no crayfish pro but I do have about a year worth of my own experience with my C. Quad and the P. Alleni I rescued and rehabilitated. I've had no issues so far though I am nervous about the time with the C. Quad has her first adult moult. I read that is when they can have problems. Only time will tell.

 

[black_sun]

I was thinking about dwarves. CPOs would be expensive to start with, but after getting a few pairs breeding... I think having them in the store and selling they wouldn't be an horribly expensive item. And Cajuns are easily obtained and bred, they'd be a great idea!

$13 for a brown P. alleni? Really? Wow, no... I was thinking of keeping anything that was normal coloration at feeder prices, since they won't draw as much attention and require almost no selective breeding.

Contact info is a great idea, and I even already have accounts set up (originally they were for people here, MFK and BC to reach me when I wasn't on the forums regularly). ^_^


How old is your quad and what size? Generally, the molts can be made easier by warming up the water a bit more and adding an additional air source (since the warmer water will lower the O2 in the water). And there is the debate on whether adding a bit of salt will aide in the molting process, some say yes and some say no (it's not detrimental as long as you aren't radically altering the salinity levels, but personally I've never seen any difference). The most important thing, separate the cray from everything else when the first signs of molting occur... tankmates can stress them into molting too quickly and limbs get lost/ripped, they can get themselves stuck or well, they can get eaten/attacked by something.

If your cray has signs of shellrot/burn, molting can become dangerous since those spots have a habit of making the shell stick and they cray becomes stuck and dies as result. Occasionally, you can step in and assist in these instances but it doesn't always work out. But those are worst case scenarios, really. They usually do just fine under most circumstances. ^_^

 

[Taysius]

I will send you a PM as to not clutter your thread with my own things.

 

[demonte1997]

black_sun I sent you a PM about this. Hoping you might still be housing some Cherax that I can buy.

 

[theemon]

how did this ever turn out?

 

[demonte1997]

I haven't heard back from black_sun yet but I'm sure he will post in here when he sees this. In the past he was great at giving me tips on how to set up a cray tank and what to look for.

 

[rastoma]

I haven't heard back from black_sun yet but I'm sure he will post in here when he sees this.

Last activity 01-29-2011

I doubt he's going to see it.

 

[carolinyens]

Marmorkrebs might be a feasible option as well. Like someone thats unsure about keeping crays but wants to get into this area of the hobby. Plus theres less to worry about with reproduction and also a good selling point for those that are on the fence.