Jan.5th will be one month since mating

[BusyBoy]

Hello I'm a newbe with crayfish. Just about a month ago my crayfish mated. I believe they are Astraillian red crayfish. I didnt buy them at a petshop so I'm not sure they were purchased at a garden center they were for my koi pond. Now that winter has come I brought them indoors and placed them in a indoor tank. Since the mateing I removed the female I confirmed that a patch was placed on her by the male cray. I placed the female in a seperate tank after the mateing. 3 days ago she molted my question is being that she molted is there still a chance that she may produce eggs? I kind of expected that she would have berried by now. Any insight and advice would be appreciated. Update did alittle research and found a photo that looks like my crayfish seems to be Orconectes virilis

[Mustafa]

There is really no easy way to find out when a crayfish finally becomes ovigerous. With shrimp it happens right after molting (if it happens), but with crayfish it can happen at any time really. You'll just have to wait and see. Plus, if it's really an Orconectes species, then you probably won't see any eggs in an indoor tank unless you can manage to keep the tank quite cool (maybe low 60s). Either way, they usually breed during the summer after spending the winter at really cold temperatures high 30s and 40s. If you overwinter them at 70+ degree temps, then you won't ever see any eggs, no matter how many times they mate.

[BusyBoy]

Thanks for the response Mustafa. That information was really helpful. Guess I'll try and contact the garden center and see if they could give me a positive ID of the species. After that I'll wait a few more weeks and I'll reintroduce her to the main tank with the male. If they mate again I do have the ability to slowly lower the isolated tanks temp. for a few weeks and then bring the temp. slowly back up.I know it's hard to fool Mother Nature but maybe I could trick her.

[BusyBoy]

I contacted the garden center I got may crays from. They told me they were Red Swamp crays(Procambarus Clarkii ) . Guess thats a game changer on breeding habits .

[Mustafa]

Yes, that definitely changes everything. P. clarkii can breed all year round, so you may actually see some eggs suddenly.

[Colin McLay]

Crayfish have external sperm storage and therefore external fertilization of the eggs. I would suggest that if your female has moulted then it would have to mate again in order to fertilize her eggs. This is because the sperm adheres to the female sternum (between her legs) and is cast off when the old exoskeleton is discarded.