Bulk ghost shrimp sources?

Does anyone know of any? The LFS wants $100 for 600 shrimp, and I'd like to find a better deal if I can. Also, they only carry the eastern speciesPalaemonetes paludosus, and I'd like the Mississippi valley species P. kadakiensis if at all possible. Surely there must be someone selling these guys out of Louisiana or Arkansas.

From what I hear, they are rarely successfully bred in captivity. Are you sure you want to buy a wild-caught native species in bulk?

Heres one I caught wild in Kansas.

They must be available from the pet wholesale trade. Can you approach a LFS and make a deal to have them buy you some from their supplier?
When I used to work in the trade, I scoured all the price lists and used my employer's business account and discount [with permission, and one owner did tack on 10% to my cost] to buy all kinds of crazy stuff for personal use.
If you can set yourself up as a business you can start an account and buy them yourself.
Another possible option, without knowing the laws, or what's native in your area, any time I have ever encountered grass/ghost shrimp in the wild, they were super abundant. Three scoops of a standard dipnet would get you hundreds. Here in New England that usually means in brackish water or at least very close to the coast. I have no clue what the situation is where you are.
If nothing else works out, I may be doing a fishing/herping/collecting trip to Cape Cod in April. I'd be glad to scoop you up a bunch. I doubt they'd be the same species native to your area but if that doesn't matter, say the word.

Thanks, Mike and Iturnrocks.

Iturnocks- I've heard of captive breeding success with these fellows; I have a large concrete tank that I can use to raise them in, and I hope to use them as feeders in my big sunfish tank and as regular tank inhabitants in my paludarium. It's my understanding that the Palaemonetes in the pet trade are pond-raised, not wild-caught.

Mike- at least in the areas I have ready access to, Palaemonetes are never abundant; it takes an hour's work to get a hundred or so of them. I have seen the absurd densities you talk about in coastal areas of NC and FL, and I've heard of the same in the Mississippi bottoms in Arkansas and Louisiana (one paper I read claimed you could get a liter of shrimp with one sweep of a dip net!). They're probably pretty thick in parts of Reelfoot or the Hatchie bottoms, but the game wardens probably wouldn't appreciate me collecting so many.

Edited by Newt, 15 March 2008 - 01:38 PM.

Whoops, forgot to mention- I appreciate your offer, Mike, but I'm going to hold out and see if I can get P. kadakiensis somewhere.

Not sure of the species but these little guys are in great abundance in a few places around here. Hundreds could be had with an hours work, and they have held clutches in aquaria.
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That's P. kadakiensis! I'll send you a PM.

Edited by Newt, 15 March 2008 - 03:38 PM.

Not true about the captive breeding! I have bred these with relative ease!

From what I hear, they are rarely successfully bred in captivity. Are you sure you want to buy a wild-caught native species in bulk?

Heres one I caught wild in Kansas.

So whats the secret? I'm guessing a fishless tank so they don't get eaten up by everyone else?

My understanding is that the ones sold at the pet store are grown in giant outdoor vats in Florida (where they get contaminated with bluefin killies, much to everyone's delight). Somehow, these folks are culturing them, no?

Benjamin, please do share your setup details. It'll make you one popular guy!

An odd source, though not really around you Newt, might be the bait shop. I bought a small chinese food containers worth today at the bait shop for $4.00. There's got to be 100 shrimp if not more.