Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

I was only getting 1 or 2 , that I could tell.
I was used to feeding Dwarf Shrimp, I must have not been feeding them enough, and the young slowly disappeared.

I have move this trio, into a 40 gal breeder, with alot of hiding places.
and as soon as the leaves start dropping, there will be alot more leaf litter.

John

She looks like a lumberjack on a log. Very Cool.

She is very camera shy.
I have only taken 3 pictures of her.

I am just waiting for YuccaPatrol,
To post a few more pictures of his new Crayfish and updated information.
When He has time.

This is like reading a good novel.
You can not wait, to get to the next page.

John

Nice pic NewJohn, great looking cray as well

I agree, can't wait to see more pics

-John

YuccaPatrol
How are your Berried Females doing ?

Please Keep us updated.

John

I now have 5 berried females isolated in livebearer breeder units.

One of them appears to have newly hatched eggs, but I have never seen larval development personally.

Here is a photo of the female that appears to be carrying newly hatched larvae.

If someone has photos of developing dwarf cray larvae, I would love to see them.

I was able to take a better photo that distinctly shows the body shape and eyes of the larvae.

Very neat stuff!

If I can get my current berried females to successfully produce offspring, then we will definitely have a new cray that can proliferate in this hobby.

Great picture Thanks and Congratulations

One enlarged photo of the larva

Great pics. Lot of red in that last one. Good luck. Let us know when you see the babies walking around.

YuccaPatrol wrote:
If I can get my current berried females to successfully produce offspring, then we will definitely have a new cray that can proliferate in this hobby.

They do successfully produce them, it's just that they don't survive for long for one reason or another. Usually it's either water parameters or predation provided they are getting enough food. Are lots of hiding spaces for possible baby crays to get away from the adults?

The first two berried females that I isolated in a nursery tank dropped their eggs before reaching this stage of development.

These are the first hatched juveniles I have observed making it this far.

I do have one baby cray, but that came from a female which was carrying it when it was collected, so I'm not counting one from a wild mating.

I do have a lot of leaf litter in the tank, so they should have plenty of hiding spaces once they are ready.

I read a chapter in a text book which mentioned that captive bred females often lose their eggs due to male aggression or other disturbance, so I'm keeping all berried females in isolation individually until they are nearly ready to drop the juveniles. Hopefully this will increase the number of surviving offspring.

so, does the diminutus rank as the smallest US native cray or the cajun?

also, i think you should term the diminutus the bama dwarf cray hehe

C. diminutus is the smallest species in the U.S. Max size is 2.5 cm (1 inch).

Largest ones I have are the same size as my large cherry shrimp.

Congrats