Egg developement?

[AquatiCreations]

Hey guys,

My crayfish have been breeding like rabbits lately, I'm curious as to when I will start seeing eggs? :confused:

[black_sun]

If you don't separate the male(s) from the female(s), it may be a long time. The male will keep breeding with the female, replacing his own sperm plug over and over and over again. And that will prevent the female from berrying. She needs a place to be able to hide away without being bothered by anything before she'll extract her eggs.

But if they are separated, you should see the female berry in as early as a few days after the encounter, but as long as a few weeks after the encounter. If you don't see eggs after a month's time, you should consider reintroducing the male and the female to try again.

However, do note that some species will mate in captivity but will not produce eggs. These are generally species which require temperature changes to signal that it's time for them to begin producing offspring. And you'll need a chiller to do this, or a tank that's outdoors during the beginning of a seasonal shift.

[AquatiCreations]

Ah,thanks black sun.

These a P.Alleni, so I'm fairly certain that they don't require temp changes, However I have not separated them yet,would it be easier to take away the males,and leave the female in the existing tank(less stressful)?

[black_sun]

Ah, P. alleni, no worries then. They breed and berry under almost all conditions. ^_^

You can do either, which ever works best for you. You just don't want to move females that are already berried, then it actually is rather stressful for them (and if they tail-flick, you can lose eggs). But before they've extracted any eggs, it doesn't really matter. If you feel that she's very comfortable in her current tank, you could move the male instead, but it's really up to you. There's no negative impact either way at this point.

But a random thought, whatever ends up being the larger tank (if you have different sized tanks), is where the female should go. When her offspring hatch you're going to need to separate her from them (as she will eat them readily, mmm children snack) and provide the offspring with a large environment to hide and avoid each other as they grow (limiting cannibalism). And it will be easier to catch and remove her than the offspring, so it'd be like already having them in a larger tank. Rather than catching all of them and moving them away to a new tank.