Crayfish Help

gosh, I just don't know. I am skeptical. Something looks off in his rostrum and those claws do look a bit large. Do you know what gender it is? My males rarely get over 1" and the females rarely over 1.25".
 
I am looking at the areola (fuzzy circled area) and rostrum areas (green circled area). From what I can see in your photos this crayfish has a rather narrow (closed) opening of the areola and the CPO's should have a wider opening. The rostrum and chelae just don't look right to me although I cannot point to anything definitive in respect to them--except for the areola and cervical groove (middle circled area) which are inconsistent with a CPO.


  • A closed areola is consistent with a Procambarus clarkii.
  • the mowing of vegetation is inconsistent with a CPO and is consistent with a clarkii


Is this cray a CPO? I don't think so but I am not able to say with 100% certainty. Time will tell as it grows or not. I think you did the correct thing in isolating this cray until you get a better idea of what it is going to grow into.
 

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Well the mystery is solved. I went back to the lfs today and they had one little orange cray left and it was labeled a clarkii. They said it was mislabeled and took full responsibility. The little guy will go back tonight for a refund.
I'm actually kind of sad because I had really wanted a CPO and was so excited to have this little guy. But I just don't have an appropriate set up for him.
 
I'm sorry that your little guy wasn't a CPO. They are tons of fun to watch for sure. I am glad that your LFS owned up to their mistake though and are making it right for you.
 
Yeah, me too, that sucks :( Don't give up on one though, there are plenty of sellers out there with CPOs! :)
 
you should be able to do that if you have alot of moss/hiding spaces. they can be a bit agressive to each other after molting. Some people will disagree, but I think its totally doable.
 
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