CPO Breeding Diary

[BiffMalawi]

Hardware

4 20x10x12 10g Tanks, 26w CF Strip Lights, Sponge Filters, 50w Heaters, Crushed Coral Substrate, Mopani Driftwood



Plants

Christmas moss

Water Chemistry

Ph 8.0
gh 100
kh 50
temp 75'

Diary

22-08-08

Received 6 CPOs from a breeder in Germany 2m 4f 1cm. Put three in each breeding tank. Did not sex them as I did not want to add to thier stress

08-09-08

Lost one Crayfish in Tank #2. It was being eaten by largest crayfish in tank. No evidence to suggest that aggression played a part.

14-09-08

Lost one crayfish in Tank #2. No obvious cause, did not appear to be aggression.

18-09-08

One female berried in Tank #1



08-10-08
Tank #1

Eggs have hatched and I have a ton of teeny tiny almost transparent babies hanging on to mom.

Another crayfish in the same tank is now berried. This means the last one is obviously the male. I am a little disappointed as his colours are the palest of the bunch.

20-10-08

OK here's where we are today.
Tank #1



Unknown number of baby crays, still too small to photograph.

Tank #2



2 female crays

Tank #3



1 female 12 Days berried

Tank #4



1 Male Cray

[Lily]

Hallo,

i just read your Diary and like to share my thought. I think with the dissapperance of your 2 Crays, it must be that your AQ is not properly closed on the top, or maybe the cover ( do they have covers?) are partially open. Crays will seek every nook & corner to find its way out. They can climb on the silicone on the sides of AQ, so as on the wires leading out.

Njoy the crays! will be watching for new pics of the babies soon ?

thanks!

[BiffMalawi]

Actually Lili the all my tanks have good secure lids and even duct taped down(I used to keep big crays) I saw the dead bodies of each of the crays in question. I just found another one the other day. Always the same tank. I can't imagine that there is any real difference in water quality or other factors as all tanks are set up and maintained exactly the same. I have also had one cray in there the whole time. I can only conclude that it is an unusually aggressive(for CPOs) cray. I have 3 in one tank for weeks and no problems but evrytime I put one in with this one it doesn't last a week.

[BiffMalawi]

Bad heater caused the temp in Tank #1 to go to 90' The heat also caused serious evap and dropped the water level below my sponge filter output. All babies dead.

Moved male from tank #4 into Tank #3 with female to try for a new batch.

I have another pair coming in from a different source this week.

I am aiming at 2 tanks with 1 male and 2-3 females and then using the others as grow outs.

[Neonshrimp]

Sorry for your losses Was this the first time you had a problem with this heater, do you think it is related to the other deaths?

Best wishes with the new mating pair/trio.

[BiffMalawi]

Thanks

No it is a different tank from the deaths. The heater was ancient so I replaced it. Unfortunately there are days that I only sleep at my place so I don't monitor things as closely as I should.

Ahhh, the joys of animal husbandry.LOL

[Lily]

ohh..sorry for the loss. I was eager to see the babies photo...

[BiffMalawi]

Pics of my new pair

[Neonshrimp]

They look great , please keep us updated on your progress.

[Trail_Mix]

Hey are you still keeping the CPOs? Where did you get that tank stand and can you post a picture of it please? So are the CPOs aggressive towards each other or their offspring?