Cobalt Lobster

[RoscoMcFish]

Recently put a few crayfish into my tank and at first i thought one of them was pan breed, however on closer inspection what i had seen was infact my crayfish discarding his old carapice!, he has now reamerged in a totaly different colour and re-grown one of his antena!! whats the crack with that?

Do i need to do anything to accomadate this change?

Cheers.

 

[three-fingers]

All invertebrates shed their skins . You just need to give him lots of hiding places so he can feel safe and not be at risk from tankmates. When they shed their skins they are very very vulnerable, as their new shell takes a while to harden.

 

[raptorrex]

Recently put a few crayfish into my tank and at first i thought one of them was pan breed, however on closer inspection what i had seen was infact my crayfish discarding his old carapice!, he has now reamerged in a totaly different colour and re-grown one of his antena!! whats the crack with that?

Do i need to do anything to accomadate this change?

Cheers.

lol, cray shed every so often, little ones do it about every three weeks, as they grow the time between moults increases. they mature about seven months of age, and as they get to about twelve months or so moulting is about every twelve months. legs claws and antenna will grow back , at varying speed, as the moults go on. lots of hides are a must, even for cray kept on their own. they are escape artists, so make sure the lid is well sealed. please remember that most cray, are not suited to a tropical tank! the Australian Redclaw being the only true Tropical cray. aside from that they are engaging, amusing and have a habit of gelling under your skin. all in all a wonderful addition to your tank. However they are also quite capable of destroying all your fish!! that said all the best, i keep a redclaw in my community.

 

[raptorrex]

oops forgot to mention the colour thing.
i've looked around and there seem to be many ideas on this, it seems that gravel or sand used can effect the colour of your cray, food too seems to be involved. and the age of the cray will also effect this, What i can say for sure is, my cray the Redclaw, when kept in ponds or, it would seem in the wild, are green with red makings and a few blue highlights. if they are kept in aquaria the develop a royal blue colouring, which seems to intensify with time.

only other thing is, cray need well oxygenated water, indeed they can live in water so dirty you cant see them, providing it is well aired!