We want to breed crayfish. My husband bought 2 blues but species unknown. They were in a tank with reds and a white so I am assuming clarkii. I will have to mess with my camera. Tried to get a male and female but I think they look like 2 females. They are sharing a 20g long with some zebra danios right now. I'm thinking of giving them a 40g breeder. I saw all sorts of differences in opinion on their aggression. If I have the species right would they breed as a trio, 2 pairs, or do we just have to swap one if it turns out they are both female? For setup I was going to do sand bottom, rocks, floating plants, and some guppies I am breeding as feeders. Does it need heated if the room never goes below 75F and I prefer not to use hob filters but I know they are escape artists so I need to figure out some filtration? I have a screen top I could cut holes for air tubing or fit a thin cord under for an internal filter. How much filtration do baby crayfish handle?
breeding crayfish
- Thread starter Kaliska
- Start date
Tifftastic
"With your powers combined . . ."
I have no experience with this so I did some research and found that this seems like a high investment project. I suspected that after a certain stage the larval crayfish would need to be removed so the parents don't eat them and that's true. Its suggested to not have just one tank for babies, but multiples as any that grow larger will quickly eat the smaller ones. It seems like a lot of work to me.
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/inv/breedingcrayfish.php
http://aquariumtidings.com/freshwater-crayfish-care/
http://www.bluecrayfish.com/reproduction.html
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/inv/breedingcrayfish.php
http://aquariumtidings.com/freshwater-crayfish-care/
http://www.bluecrayfish.com/reproduction.html
Can't be more work than breeding bettas. I think I might give up on that. Changing out all the small containers, conditioning the pair with controlled viewing of each other, setting up the tank and maintaining the exact water conditions, stressing through the male and female damaging each others' fins while showing off for spawning, fry require live cultures of things like vinegar eels and bbs to have a good survival rate and my vinegar eels keep growing fruit flies, and then all the careful water changes, separating males eventually, and now you've got even more "jars" (I use square plastic containers) to change.
I did see that we might need to run 2 tanks and also the reason I thought to upgrade them to the 40g since it would take longer before the baby crays might decide to start going after each other. Right now I am feeding the tank frozen mysis shrimp and new life spectrum sinking pellets which I specifically bought because they are more herbivorous than many other "algae" pellets or wafers.
I did see that we might need to run 2 tanks and also the reason I thought to upgrade them to the 40g since it would take longer before the baby crays might decide to start going after each other. Right now I am feeding the tank frozen mysis shrimp and new life spectrum sinking pellets which I specifically bought because they are more herbivorous than many other "algae" pellets or wafers.
Tifftastic
"With your powers combined . . ."
It seems like babies are pretty easy to feed. Those articles were saying to feed them boiled greens and let it go to detritus type degradation. Which means you need good filtration to keep the water quality up. It also seems like you don't have to do anything special, they will just spawn.
Not so fast here.
First, I breed mine in a 40B with 2f-1m, I've used a 20L without issue. Crayfish need plenty of hiding spots and they don't care how natural it looks. Be very careful using rock piles as these guys are bulldosers. I use 3-4 sections of PVC cut into 4" lengths per crayfish. I also add at least 1 flower pot per caryfish as they tend to use these as homebase. Place your pipe and flower pots in groups and use stones to breakup the line of sight.
As for food, I use blanched green peas, Kens Veggie Sticks with Calcium and ken's liver flakes. Mine also get a weekly helping of snails. I have found that using frozen shrimp and other meat product tends to make them want to hunt. You want your crayfish as lazy as you can make them. If well feed the aggression is low.
Baby crayfish should be removed, cos they aren't just for breakfast anymore. For best results move the berried female to a 10gal with at least 1 pipe section and use an airstone. When the fry jump off it is time for mom to go home. Later you will need to split them up as they eat each other during molts.
First, I breed mine in a 40B with 2f-1m, I've used a 20L without issue. Crayfish need plenty of hiding spots and they don't care how natural it looks. Be very careful using rock piles as these guys are bulldosers. I use 3-4 sections of PVC cut into 4" lengths per crayfish. I also add at least 1 flower pot per caryfish as they tend to use these as homebase. Place your pipe and flower pots in groups and use stones to breakup the line of sight.
As for food, I use blanched green peas, Kens Veggie Sticks with Calcium and ken's liver flakes. Mine also get a weekly helping of snails. I have found that using frozen shrimp and other meat product tends to make them want to hunt. You want your crayfish as lazy as you can make them. If well feed the aggression is low.
Baby crayfish should be removed, cos they aren't just for breakfast anymore. For best results move the berried female to a 10gal with at least 1 pipe section and use an airstone. When the fry jump off it is time for mom to go home. Later you will need to split them up as they eat each other during molts.
So what if we put a pair or trio in a 20g long or 30g something... I need to measure that tank to see what it is but it's shaped like a long so it might actually be a 33g long.. and then remove the female to a 40g breeder until the babies are released before putting her back? Raise the offspring in the 40g with just feeder fish. We got some feeder zebra danios contaminated with white clouds for free with the crays and I am establishing a group of feeder guppies. Divide them up as needed to small tanks until they are sold. The store owner said he'd buy them from us and help us get a male if we have 2 females.