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Hi there. I have around 4 different species of dwarf crays. I have noticed a lot of pregnant females in the tanks, but the quantity of babies surviving seem small. There are lot of hiding places for the crays.

I decided to separate females when pregnant in a breeder trap used for fish. I could see the babies develop and born. After tha babies are born I remove the femal from the breeder trap and leav the babies inside. I have noticed that a lot of the babies do not survive the first molt. The survival rate is like 50%.

Anyone has any ideas what might be happening?

Tank parameters: ph = 7.6-7.8; temp = 73-75F; no ammonia; texas water

Thanks

I had no luck with dwarfs until I started using aged tanks with gravel bottoms. Ones with lots of copepods do the best for me. I have no clue about survival rates though.

Lots of baby crays will kill each other at molt time, especially if there is population pressure.

badflash wrote:I had no luck with dwarfs until I started using aged tanks with gravel bottoms. Ones with lots of copepods do the best for me. I have no clue about survival rates though.

Lots of baby crays will kill each other at molt time, especially if there is population pressure.

All tanks are aged...it might be that they kill each other. I will have to try to move them to their own tank after all of them have been released by the mother and see if this improved the survival rates. I am feeding them regularly, so I do not think is lack of food.

I would not confine them to a net. Pea gravel allows them to disperse and have places to hide. If mom is just give a PVC tube to chill in she'll be happy until the babies drop.

It seems that some animals, like most crayfish only need opportunity to kill, not hunger. If over crowded they are programmed to remove the competition or die trying.