Made in the USA SHRIMP

[hedge_fund]

Why does the US lag so much behind Asia and Europe when it comes to shrimp breeding? In the past I've purchased shrimp from Asia and Germany; honestly I hate sending money overseas. I would much rather send my money to someone that bred these shrimp in the good ol' USA. Most of us spend a ton on shrimp some ranging into the thousands...wouldn't it be nice to purchase high quality shrimp from a broke college student for example?

So why aren't there many quality breeders in the US? I started with shrimp in 2005 and nothing has changed 7 years later. It still seems that the best shrimp come from other continents.

We should all get serious about breeding.

[shrimpnmoss]

+1 We're still catching up. Shrimping has only really exploded here in the last couple of years as the price of shrimp dropped so more people can get into the hobby. The growth in the last year has been really phenomenal. Look at the tank journal section, I estimate 1/4 to 1/3 of the journals being started are shrimp tanks lately.

[Soothing Shrimp]

America is getting more serious about shrimp breeding, but take into consideration that other countries have been breeding shrimp far longer and have that much more people into shrimping.

As I understand it shrimping is actually encouraged by some governments over seas because it takes up little space and still is considered a form of farming to bring in revenue. Our gov doesn't get involved with it- except to charge us more through port inspections/bannings .

[diwu13]

It's probably cheaper to move to Asia and start shrimp breeding there honestly. Even if you're American due to the cheaper electricity costs, labor costs, and water costs?

[acitydweller]

shrimp hording

[AlisaR]

We won't drop a k on a single shrimp. They are very serious about it over there.

[Alaizabelle]

It's scary for a broke college student to start up a very high quality breeding tank. (At least, it is for this broke college student! How scary if one of those expensive shrimp dies! O_O )

It seems that we are slowly getting there, though! Very, very slowly!

[mordalphus]

I think there are serious breeders in the USA. Look at kangshiang, ykh, jimko, etc. They all have mini farms. I have my own mini farm!

No one will make a large scale farm until there is MONEY in it... There's not enough demand here in the USA to justify a large scale operation.

[ohbaby714]

I agree.
I bought from couple of name above and very happy with them.

All turned out to be a very high quality shrimps and at fraction of the import.

US breeders are here, we just need to support them and the rest will take care of themselve.

[FreedPenguin]

I think for there to a large scale shrimp farm here one of two things must happen. Or both.
One - I think there may need to be a niche where the farm could specialize in, as for example farming RCS would be pointless as the demand and supply of these are low and high respectively.
Two - Maybe some innovative forms of breeding shrimp as previously stated by others, the overhead would be substantially higher than in developing countries where costs of input are slightly(a lot?) lower.

I think it might be feasible to have a large scale operation farming shrimp but it would also have to do other things to remain profitable. For example, an outdoor aquaponic tilapia farm. I've seen 500g-1000g setups with a tilapia tank, plumbed to a growbed, and plumbed through a prawn tank. It would be possible to farm shrimp in the prawn tank. It would be cost efficient but there are so many different things that go into farming shrimp. It may or may not be possible.
Obviously sensitive shrimp may not be the best for this. Perhaps even prawn farming would be more profitable as they are consumed.

Just my thoughts!

[Alpha Pro Breeders]

I just moved to a 10,000 sq ft comercial facility in February, I guess you can say were getting serious. Getting close to 200 tanks set up, mostly 30's and 40 breeders just on the first level. Were remodeling the second level now and should hopefully be done by the end of summer. I've been breeding shrimp part time for several years and just decided it was time to go all in, were pretty happy with the results so far. Hopefully by the end of summer our numbers will be up and have enough different types of shrimp that importing them won't be neccassary. Of course there will (hopefully) always be that new hot shrimp on the market, and I'm pretty sure they will come from overseas.
Ron

[FreedPenguin]

Good luck Ron!

[Alpha Pro Breeders]

Originally Posted by FreedPenguin

Good luck Ron!

Thank you, as in any business we'll need it.

[Fdsh5]

Originally Posted by Alpha Pro Breeders

I just moved to a 10,000 sq ft comercial facility in February, I guess you can say were getting serious. Getting close to 200 tanks set up, mostly 30's and 40 breeders just on the first level. Were remodeling the second level now and should hopefully be done by the end of summer. I've been breeding shrimp part time for several years and just decided it was time to go all in, were pretty happy with the results so far. Hopefully by the end of summer our numbers will be up and have enough different types of shrimp that importing them won't be neccassary. Of course there will (hopefully) always be that new hot shrimp on the market, and I'm pretty sure they will come from overseas.
Ron

Wow!! Can I move in? Lol. I wouldn't get anything accomplished all day as I'd be staring at all the fish. Good luck with the new facility.

[Alpha Pro Breeders]

Originally Posted by Fdsh5

Wow!! Can I move in? Lol. I wouldn't get anything accomplished all day as I'd be staring at all the fish. Good luck with the new facility.

I've wasted more than one day staring at shrimp and frogs. Now I have a to do list that I knock out before I allow myself to get sucked in.