has anyone had luck breeding dwarf crayfish… specifically the orange dwarf crays???

[Magnum Man]

I’m really liking these guys, and added several to many types of aquariums, several tanks now have thriving individuals… but I’ve not seen any babies yet, in any of them… perhaps their young are just too tasty, and sporting a bright orange color, they are just little beacons, saying eat here??? none of them are in with larger aggressive fish, there is a group of them in my wild type sword tail tank… I suspect the hand full of Denison barbs, that are in my hillstream tank would eat babies, but the biggest group are in the sword tank, and the sword fry are, at least mostly surviving, I kind of expected to see baby crays out of that tank, but nothing but baby swords, in the last 6 months… if you’ve had the crays breed, what type of conditions worked for you??? I’m going to order more, and there are several different biotopes in which I could add the new ones to…

 

[gimme30]

I've never had to do anything special for them. Seems like male crays are universally randy so eventually you'll get eggs. Once they hatch they'll stay close to mom and can forage by themselves, but it is hard to keep them alive in a tank with other fish that may get curious about them and go down for a look. They're pretty fragile until they get bigger.

 

[Uberhoust]

I tried to keep them, the adults did ok but they never bred successfully. Unfortunately, the tank was geared to Neocardinians not crayfish so that might have been a factor. I do like them a lot, fun to watch.

 

[BullTerrierChild]

I've never kept dwarf crayfish but have caught plenty of wild ones (Rusty, White River). Around a year ago I scooped up a mother white river crayfish carrying eggs. I brought her into a little tank for her to give birth, then removed her into a larger one where she survived for a good while. Many of the babies ate each other and the ones who dominated grew quickly and (If I remember correctly) molted! They all passed away with the last assumingely getting eaten in the larger crayfish tank, but I'd love to have that experience again. I find crayfish very fascinating and have owned many in the course of 7 or so years (not in great living conditions starting out, but they were hardy). I always found the White River Crayfish the most rewarding.

I'd love to own dwarf crayfish one day, but I have no experiences other than what was mentioned regarding breeding. Good luck!!

 

[Boundava]

Love to try them as I am sure my eels would love to try and catch their own food, lol. The a. crassipinnis, T. tandanus and parrot cichlid would probably also love them too. I have a 5.5 gallon that I had set up for minnows that could work, lol.