Problems with orange dwarf crays

milalic · Post by **milalic** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 7:42 pm

Hi there. I keep various of these crays and have been baffled by something that has occured lately to two of the small males.

I have two females that are adult size crays. The are larger than some of the males. I had some very small males that in general were around half the size of the female. Like two weeks ago I saw one of them having sex with this big female. That same day I found the cray dead later that night.

Well, today it has happened again. Another small male had sex with the female and now it is in a corner almost dead. I am pretty sure he is going to die. I grab the poor guy with a net and look at it. It does not seem to have any lacerations or missing limbs. Any ideas what might have happened? Maybe this male was not mature enough?

Tank parameters:
PH: 7.2
GH: 6dh
KH: 3dh
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate : 5ppm
Temp: 75F.

Thanks,
Pedro

Post by **Mustafa** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 8:26 am

I've never really heard about this problem before. I don't think it has a direct connection with the mating. After all, the female does not grab the male, it's other way around. Your crays were probably weakened somehow before already. Also, your Ph looks very low for this species. They come from pretty hard, alkaline waters with PH over 8 most of time.

milalic · Post by **milalic** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 10:24 am

I'll keep a watch on them. Crays have been for a month and a hald in the tank. I have read of people that have successfully had them in ph of 6.5.
The person I bought them from told me the crays were in water of ph 7.4

Thanks,
Pedro