C. patzcuarensis advice

[krowland]

I am entranced by these guys, and as I have recently gotten a financial windfall of sorts, am thinking of buying some for a 10 gallon aquarium I keep in my office. I have a few questions tho.
1. Are they active in the daytime, or do they just hide out until nightfall?
2. How many do you think would be appropriate for a 10 gallon. i would like to get a breeding pair. Is it hard to sex juveniles; I am assuming it's not.
3. Is it hard to get them to successfully breed? I am justifying my splurge with the idea that I could maybe able to sell the little buggers to the LFS.

Thanks so much! This seems like a great forum! Let's liven it up with some new posts!!

Kathy

[Mustafa]

1. They are active all day and also all night
2. At most 5 in a ten gallon...it's not *that* easy to sex juveniles...these guys are tiny so you need good eyes to see the differences in claws and sex organs.
3. They are not easy...hence the market has not been flooded with them. No invert is super hard to breed if you have a really well established tank..i.e. a tank that has been running for at least 2-3 months. If you have a new tank and just throw inverts in there, they will most likely die...even *after* you cycle.

[Mustafa]

Let me add that if you have *tons* hiding spaces you could probably keep more than 5 adults in a 10 gallon...too many more and it will get very crowded in there, though. Keep in mind that crayfish like to have their space..hence they usually attack any crayfish that comes too close. They don't chase them a long distance or anything but they make sure that other crayfish knows to keep its distance.

[casslillie]

i thought i need more gallons of water! thanks for the heads up!