Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

Congrats on the berry! Those are beautiful pics!

Nice looking Crays

I have not been to succesful with mine.

Can you give us a peek at the All White ones

Newjohn wrote:Nice looking Crays

I have not been to succesful with mine.

Can you give us a peek at the All White ones

Keeping them alive, or getting them to breed?

I'll try to get some shots of the white ones tomorrow.

Getting them to Breed

But I have one that has a mutated Clay, It looks like it has 4 claws on one side.

I think he is scaring away the ladies.

4 claws on one side.

That sound awsome! Please post a picture if you could

When I remove all the cover when I look for juvies to remove, I then turn off the lights and crayfish romance nearly always happens. The females love to hide, and when they can't, the males have their way with them.

(Smacks self on forehead) And I set up the 30 for the patzcuarensis with TONS of cover, thinking they would do better with enough hiding places for everyone... I've been thinking about stripping the tank for a thorough cleaning/juvie search. It seems quite likely the gravel needs to be thoroughly siphoned by now. I'll leave the tank relatively bare overnight afterwards.

badflash, so are you saying the crays will mate more readily if there are less hinding places? If so, I have some clearing to do.

ToddnBecka, hope the tank stripping goes well. Let us know how many juvies you find

Neonshrimp wrote:badflash, so are you saying the crays will mate more readily if there are less hinding places? If so, I have some clearing to do.

I normally have loads of hiding places as this allows the females to carry the eggs without being bothered by the roaming males. When they release their babies and are ready to mate again, they will continue to hide and the males seem hesitant to go into their lairs. If I remove their dens temporarily the males find them quickly & mate. I then put the dens back in.

This works out well with my water change process and baby harvesting as everything has to come out to catch the babies. Once the babies are out, I turn off the lights and work on another tank for a while before I put the tank back together.

I found this out by accident.

Thanks for sharing what you found! May I ask what you use as dens for the females, I am trying to breed a few juveniles/adults.

Looks like the white ones were just a phase. I cleaned out the tank they are in and didn't find any that were white at this time. Some of these crays change color like we change clothes.

As to homes, I get tiny clay pots from the craft store for around 30 cents each. I use a rock trimming snipper to take a bite out of the lip and invert the pot on the bottom of the tank. The nipped out hole gives them a way to get in & out and feel safe. They look nice too.

Thanks for the tip badflash One last thing, where can I get a rock trimming snipper?

Neonshrimp wrote:Thanks for the tip badflash One last thing, where can I get a rock trimming snipper?

I'm not sure. I got mine years ago through a lapidary supply, Graves Company in Florida I think. They look like a pair of pliers but they have cutters instead of jaws. They also don't close all the way. They are desiigned to crack hard material.

I would like to see a pic of the tank with the pots in it. I bet it looks awesome. I've never thought of checking the craft stores for something like that.

If looking nice isn't that important, you can get a length of PVC pipe and cut it into 2 inch pieces. Press these tubes into the sand at an angle so that one end is left open and the other is closed by the substrate.