I don't think she was being mean I think she is concerned for the animals. I don't think getting ripped apart by the claws of another cray would feel very good. I understand your impulse buying, really. I think it is good that you came here to get information on the situation but sometimes it hurts a little when people tell us what we have done wrong. Her advice was good and more hides seem appropriate. I would try to find other sources to get information about crayfish before buying more. It sounds like your supplier must not have realized that you were new to crayfish and didn't give you as good of information as you should have gotten. Good luck.
Exactly. I'm really not trying to be mean. But I have been in the pet business for 15 years working with rescues, groomers, etc and have seen so much pain and suffering to animals from just plain impulse buys, lack of research, and ignorance. I do think it is a very good thing that you are asking for advice and I do wish for the best for you and your animals. It is just really hard for for me to see animals be in pain or unhappy due to human intervention.
Here's some info about my cray setup: I have a 20gallon long tank with 3 CPO's in it. I have 5 hollow bamboo sections and 2 rock caves for them to hide as well as 2 heavily planted areas and a literal jungle of plants floating. I thought I had bought a 2 females and a male, but it ended up being 2 males and a female. The female spends all her time either hiding in one of the bamboo tube sections or hiding up in the plants in my "floating jungle" of watersprite and duckweed. The two males WILL fight if they meet up. In my 20 gallon tank that is usually a few times a week. Generally, both come out of it unharmed, though the one that ran away tends to hide for a day or so.
This is why I was so upset about your setup. Even with my setup I still get occasional aggression. You were planning on putting 2 CPO's and 4 much larger marmokrebs in a tank half the size of mine with only 2 hiding places. Crays are solitary animals generally. When they meet up with another of their kind there are 4 results: Mate (if male and female), Fight (any gender), predate (larger to smaller) or avoid each other and move away (any gender) In a small tank, that leaves little space for avoidance and will likely result in fighting. Marmokrebs (self cloning) are not dwarf crays like CPO's. They can get to be 4" (and one in the wild has been found that is over twice that) and will gladly eat a 1.5" CPO with no hesitation. A 10 gallon tank is 20" x 10" and for substrate critters like crays, the footprint is way more important than the amount of water. With 4 4" fully grown marmokrebs in that, it leaves about 1" of space between them. With 2, it leaves only about 6" between them. Not very much space for them to establish a territory. Since marmokrebs are all female though, you will have less fighting among them. Also, juveniles fight less than adults, which is why your breeder could probably keep more crays in a smaller tank. When crays molt, their new exoskeleton is very soft and they really need to hide from other crays or predators. Lots of crays kill and eat each other during molts if they can. From what I've read, it is a very common cause of baby crayfish loss in a breeding tank. This is why lots of hiding places are so important. They need somewhere safe to wait out their vulnerable time while their exoskeleton hardens.
Here is more advice that I can give you to help your remaining crays have the best life you can give them if you cannot get separate tanks for them. They make platforms for aquariums that you can suction cup or silicon to the side of your tank. Having an extra platform or two with a few caves, cholla wood, or hollow bamboo segments on each will give you much more area for them to roam. They may even each take up separate levels of the aquarium which can help with territorial aggression. Also, crays need a calcium source to help keep their exoskeletons in good shape for protection. Generally, you can buy food for them with calcium in it, or add a small piece of cuttlebone to the tank for them to pick at. Dont remove their molts, as they eat these to regain some of the lost minerals. I feed my crays a variety of foods with both protein and vegetable matter in it. I blanch a zucchini slice for them once a week and they get Captain Bob's sinking 40 pellets and spirulina algae wafers, which they love. They also enjoy hunting snails and I find them trying to eat small ramshorn or mystery snails. It gives them something to do and is entertaining to watch. I think the snails you have in that tank are probably too big for them to eat. Ramshorns breed quickly and they come in some pretty colors so losing a few to a crayfish wont ruin the aethetics of keeping them. They'll also eat any food not consumed by the crayfish, which will help keep the tank cleaner. Live plants are appreciated by crays for climbing and hiding in. Its much easier on them than plastic plants and they will also help keep the water clean.
If you do decide you want more crays, please get separate tanks for them. If you have any questions, dont hesitate to ask. I AM sorry that I came across as rude, it was my frustration and sadness at loss of animal life that boiled over.
