Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

On Tuesday, 9/26, I found one of my female Cherax sp. zebra with hatched larvae attached. Whoo hooo!

pturley
Congradulations

Sorry, I can be no help with this Crayfish.

I have not keep or bred this species.

Please keep us updated, and post some pictures, if possible
John

I'm new to crayfish myself, the only concern I am aware of (aside from water quality) is the young being cannibalistic. A friend had a brood of "blue lobsters" (I'm not even sure of the genus/species) about a year ago. The babies were placed in a tank full of java moss, and most were eaten by their siblings.

You should add plenty of oak leaves and leaves of other trees. Cherax like to eat that very much. And it also provides a lot of hiding places for the young ones. When all of them have left the mother, remove her from the tank.
Adding brick stones will also add a lot of hiding places for the young ones.

edit

Just a question. Do your crayfish look more like this?:



or more like this?:




These are two different crayfish despite the similarity. The first one is sold as Cherax sp. "tiger" and *supposedly* stays smaller than the second one, which is sold as Cherax sp. "zebra." However, dealers mix up both species/subspecies(?) all the time so either one is sold as zebra or tiger.

It would be nice to see some pictures of your crays.

edit

Actually that first picture is mislabeled & Chris doesn't even use it on his website any longer. Both those pictures are of Cherax sp (2). This species hasn't been scientifically studied & named yet. Is thought that they are two morphs of the same species.

This is what is classified as a Cherax papuanus:

How's it going Paul. Good to see you working with something else besides catfish. I am also working with this crayfish. Mine looks like the second picture. My experience as far as raising as many babies with this species is to give them the biggest tank possible so they will have plenty of room as they grow. And they will grow rather fast with water changes and a good supply of food. When they start to reach a size of 1-1 1/2 inch you will have to spread them out in different tanks or start to get rid of them. Depending on how many you have left at this time. The babies will eat just about anything. I feed mine flake food, collard green, crab and lobster bites from HBH, spirulina flake, algae wafers and all sorts of different pellets. I always use sponge filters with all my crayfish and shrimp. The babies will be seen picking at the crud on it. I use bare bottom tanks for breeding my crays. When I have lots of babies from species like this I keep lots of oak leaves in the tank. Also a few spawning mops(yarn mops) and small cut up pieces of pvc pipe. I will also use coral skeletons. These have lots of hiding spots. These guys are cannibalistic so as long as you provide lots of hiding spots and surface for the crays to get away you should end up with alot of babies. I change about 25% of the water each day and will suck up any uneaten food. This is for the babies only. On the parent tank I change 50% water each week. You have any other questions let me know. Are you working with any other crays or shrimp? By the way are you going to the catfish convention this year. I have my room booked allready.

Jason Ortiz
Fish World Erie

OK, I uploaded a couple of shots.

zwergkrebszuechter wrote:You should add plenty of oak leaves and leaves of other trees. Cherax like to eat that very much. And it also provides a lot of hiding places for the young ones. When all of them have left the mother, remove her from the tank.
Adding brick stones will also add a lot of hiding places for the young ones.

actually cherax babies need an extremely high amount of protien in their diet. From someone who farms Cherax I will suggest a high protien sinking fish feed to start with crushed up. Make sure that you water is not too soft., .
Check standard amonia,Nitrates,Nitrites,Ph,Hardness, etc......

If you have enough filtration and circulation you don't need daily water changes or weekly for that matter. In an intensive aquaculture recirculating system we only have to add water as it evaporates. I have never had to do a water change, but I have to muck excess out of the bottom of the tanks about 1 time a month.

And like suggest by someone else; lots of hides. We use cut pieces of pvc pipe cut up.

Cherax is a VERY large group & to suggest that they all have the same requirements would be ill advised.

These crays have completely different requirements than C. Quads. I would listent to what zwergkrebszuechter told you as he is one of the best breeders of ornamental Cherax in Germany. You can't do much better than the German breeders when it comes to these crays.

edit

Good LucK

CanadianCray wrote:Cherax is a VERY large group & to suggest that they all have the same requirements would be ill advised.

These crays have completely different requirements than C. Quads. I would listent to what zwergkrebszuechter told you as he is one of the best breeders of ornamental Cherax in Germany. You can't do much better than the German breeders when it comes to these crays.

My point(that I probably didn't state clear enough) is that crayfish babies need higher amounts of protien than adults due to their rapid growth.
to say that only applies to Cherax would be unfair and incorrect. Most babies(animal or human) need higher levels of protien than adults to sustain their rapid growth.