My New Dwarf Crays

[mikedmatthews]

hi guys

so i got in a bunch of schufeldtii crays early last month. 4M/3F. one of the females was maybe twice the size of the others, so i just figured that was all the sooner she would be ready to spawn. well, she's molted twice now and is maybe 2.5 inches long and is pretty stocky. the males are all still very small (.75 inch - 1 inch). i really didn't expect she would be such a chunk. the impression i got from the guy i got them from was that he bred them, but it seems odd that she's so big. is it unusual for the females to get that big? she's slightly larger than the 4 month old p. alleni fry (if that's even the right word) i have. i can still see the small males in there, but i only see 3 or so at a time. big auction coming up, so i was going to upgrade them from their Q tank into a 20 long for long term. really concerned he sent me a contaminant, but the color pattern seems to be right. haven't heard back from the seller yet.

thanks
mike

[Newjohn]

Hi Mike

I would have to say that the 2.5 inch long Crayfish is not a schufeldtii.

Can you post a picture of this Cray.

John

[mikedmatthews]

think i'm gonna dig it out in the morning. i'm at work now. but yeah, i'll post a pic. i was digging around looking for similar pictures, just based on memory i'm thinking he had a faxonella in there maybe and missed it. i haven't done any kind of diagnostic on comparing body parts or anything though. here's to hoping she didn't eat too many of the others!

[badflash]

Having kept them for several years now, I can say I've never seen a schufeldtii bigger than 1.5". I'm sure she is some other species.

[mikedmatthews]

here are some pics of my mystery contaminant. i didn't disturb the little guys too much, but i could see 4-5 of them and minus this one, there were 6 of the others. it would appear she isn't too aggressive.

[badflash]

That is not a cajun dwarf. I've only seen two patterns, and that is mottled and stripped.

Here is a stripped mating with a mottled:


Here is a mottled female:


I think you got mixed species here. Sorry if the pic is cut off, I can't figure out why.

Direct photbucket links are:

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c70/b ... raysex.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c70/b ... browns.jpg

[mikedmatthews]

seller finally got back to me. he's sending me some more. i'm hoping he can id it, sent him the same pics.

[Neonshrimp]

Sorry if the pic is cut off, I can't figure out why.

The pics are not cut off on my screen but they are full sized and do cross into the borders. Are you trying to use the shrink to fit options?