Blue Crawfish

[vancouver]

So here's the deal.. my buddy and I bought 2 blue crawfish.. I believe they are the alleni or whatever..

We've had them for about a month.. We have a smaller female, and a big male.

The female had eggs within the first week... They hatched, she had about 6 or 7 babies on her underside when she finally emerged from hiding.

We caught the male with a baby in it's mouth being eaten, and we sucked up a baby while using the python.

The big male has molted like 3x since we've had it... the female twice.

Is this normal? Should they be molting and growing this fast?

They were about 2.5'' when we got them... The female is now about 3.5''.. the male about 4''.

Will the 2 of them possibly mate? or could the female fertilize herself or whatever and produce more babies?

They like to eat platys.. we put 8 platys in the day we got them... finally 2 of them have disappeared.. so they're big enough to start catching them we're thinking. THANK GOD. Platys wont stop breeding.. free food I guess eh!

Thanks

 

[vancouver]

nobody can gimme a hand?

 

[raptorrex]

So here's the deal.. my buddy and I bought 2 blue crawfish.. I believe they are the alleni or whatever..

We've had them for about a month.. We have a smaller female, and a big male.

The female had eggs within the first week... They hatched, she had about 6 or 7 babies on her underside when she finally emerged from hiding.

We caught the male with a baby in it's mouth being eaten, and we sucked up a baby while using the python.

The big male has molted like 3x since we've had it... the female twice.

Is this normal? Should they be molting and growing this fast?

They were about 2.5'' when we got them... The female is now about 3.5''.. the male about 4''.

Will the 2 of them possibly mate? or could the female fertilize herself or whatever and produce more babies?

They like to eat platys.. we put 8 platys in the day we got them... finally 2 of them have disappeared.. so they're big enough to start catching them we're thinking. THANK GOD. Platys wont stop breeding.. free food I guess eh!

Thanks

in the first year or so of life, cray will moult quite a few times. they tend to moult every 3 weeks at first then as the grow the time between moulds increases, till it reaches every 12 months or so. it is not unusual for a cray, that has just been put in a tank to moult. the change in water stats can cause this.
I take it you are keeping them in a Tropical tank. if so this is another reason they would moult rapidly. these guys are cool to cold water critters, though they can stand tropical temps, over the longer period it is just plain bad for the Cray. lastly though they will eat you fish, they are in fact an omnivore not a predictor. their diet should be mainly made up of veg matter, with protein/meat treats. to be strictly accurate, the protein should make up 20-30% of a cray diet. interestingly, a cray has, broadly, the same nutritional requirements as a Common Pleco. odd but true.

 

[vancouver]

OHH... that's good to know...

They are just in a tank with some annoying platys that wont stop breeding.. Basically just to be eaten!... Will definitely turn the temp down.. I didn't realize they were cool-cold water fish..

Thanks for the info.. Appreciate it!

 

[raptorrex]

OHH... that's good to know...

They are just in a tank with some annoying platys that wont stop breeding.. Basically just to be eaten!... Will definitely turn the temp down.. I didn't realize they were cool-cold water fish..

Thanks for the info.. Appreciate it!

they are fine looking Cray, without doubt. some more info if you need it:

temp range, for comfortable living 60f-70f. they can and do live both above this and below this, though this seems to be the area they like best.

ph 6.5-8.5, this is quite a wide range, so they can do well in many places.

moulting, they will moult as a said in my post. as they get older the moult becomes more of an ordeal. many remedies have been tried. the only one that seems to help is a few drops of iodine in the tank as the cray prepares for moult. calcium, of any type is of no help, though many people seem to think it is. it is helpful if you leave the old moult in the tank, eventually the cray will eat it.

as for feeding, they will eat anything they can get, but they are detrivores, which means they eat, mostly, rotted/ing matter, both veg and meat. there is a certain amount if research that indicates, these cray like their meat fresh! so live worms, snails and any bugs you can get may well go down a treat.

finally, post us some pics, as i have said this is a good looking Cray

 

[vancouver]

We've been feeding them catfish wafers, spirulina wafers, earthworm flakes, bloodworms, and of course the platys!!

We have left the moults in there and they have been eaten...

We're kinda hoping for another bunch of eggs.. We'll be more prepared this time to try to save em

Thanks again

 

[raptorrex]

ahh, sorry i didn't address the "fertilisation" question. no the female cant breed one her own. if the eggs are fertilised they will be a dark colour. the babies will need removed as soon as the release from mum. all young cray are cannibalistic, but these guy take it one step further. you will probably need to split them into smaller groups, and of course keep them well fed!

 

[vancouver]

We have a male and a female... they don't interact much with each other though.. the male is a bit bigger.. meh we'll see what happens!

 

[raptorrex]

We have a male and a female... they don't interact much with each other though.. the male is a bit bigger.. meh we'll see what happens!

it is often said that a larger male, is the way to go for breeding! they will probably find a quiet corner, thought if there are any caves big enough they could go there too. often the first sigh is the sperm packed attached to the female torso.

 

[vancouver]

She's got eggs again.. about 20 of them or more..