crayfish colours+ care issues

A

Aylmer

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Jun 15, 2007
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hey got a couple of Q's about these beauties.
I had just a pair in the beginning. However, must have done something right cause they bread. The female caring for the eggs is a sight to see.
However after the eggs hatched and when the female moulted, the male attacked and killed her. it was a sad day. (how do I prevent this from reoccuring, if possible).
After a couple of weeks, the male somehow climbed out of the tank and was rambling all over the condo, when I returned in the night he was dead in the bathroom. Another sad day.
Now I was left with around 35-40 babies. Took care of them but the numbers kept decreasing. the others are cannibalistic are they??(how to prevent this)
Also, the parents were red. the remaining youngsters (15) in various sizes and no of moults, range from bright blue, to mud red, brown and couple white. But none the same red of the parents. (Whats Happening?)
 
They are cannibalistic indeed. Lots of floor space in the tank with sections of pvc pipe small enough for them to have to single file through it to hide in during moultings.

Pairs should be split up into individual tanks or have a divider once females berry (show eggs).

Diet has a lot to do with coloration. I had a normal brownish one turn cobalt blue and get more blue every moult. He was eating mostly flake food.

A piece of egg crate light diffuser can make an escape proof top for them and still let light pass into the tank.
 
yes plenty of flour space and more than enough hiding places for them all.
how big are they?
how big is your tank?
the colouration may vary, but they get brighter colours as they get older.

yes definatly cannibles espetialy when molting.
 
Much depends on the species of crayfish. Larger species tend to be more aggressive and are much more likely to attack other adults and young.

With such species the best bet for breeding is to keep your breeders in their own tanks. Then, when you want a pair to breed take the female crayfish and put her in with a male. If you put a male in a female's tank she will see the male as an invader. The male will see the female as an opportunity to breed. Do not keep the pair together for very long. When you have a berried female and the eggs are near hatching (change color/can see young in the egg) put her in a nursery tank where the young will be able to grow without adult competition. Twenty four to thirty six hour after you first see new young, remove the adult female and return her to her tank.

If you do have a tank with a large base (say 100 gallon or so, total volume is not relevant with bottom dwellers) and you think you can keep multiple crayfish safely, build territorial walls with rock and wood (that they can't move) that are a bit taller than the crayfish. This will not prevent them from knowing the other is there, but they are not as antagonized by the other. Feeding should also be done in unison, with food placed in each territory, near each crayfish.

It takes a lot of effort and more room, but it's a very effective way to breed aggressive invertebrates. The same practices can be used for shrimp such as the more aggressive Macrobrachium species.
 
alot of what I was thinking.

but to add to the PVC idea. something that can help you know is. search for straw wall. "the bullit" did it. take a bunch of drinking straws and cut them in a bunch of peices and glue em together. make a nice lil hiding spot.
 
i gree with what pixl8r says, but my to breeding pair of red clawed crayfish live in the same tank together and even share the same cave and sleep on top of each other rather than in there own hidding places. OH i better mention there is no fighting what so ever, they are very peace full.
 
thanks guys . this was a learning experience. I have lost two more. but have not been following any of the above advice. I will do all that is mentioned and hope that the rest survive.
would it be possible for there to be another breeding pair among the babies and maybe I could get the whole cycle over again.
 
here is the straw wall i made for my babies.

quite possible you can get a another breed pair out of them.

IMG_0575.JPG IMG_0576.JPG IMG_0577.JPG
 
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