Thanks for the information guys! I'm going to try and increase the hardness of the water and hopefully that will help, but if not I will try bottled water. I don't think it's an actual water problem because my water is so soft it really doesn't have much of anything in it, I think the crays just require harder water than I've been giving them.
I will also try feeding them more veggies. Craig, what kind of soy do you feed them? Tofu, beans???
Thanks again and I hope I will be successful at keeping these guys, they're so cute!
How many of those dwarf crayfish (C. shufeldtii) would be suitable to put in my 20L tank (pic posted in Shrimp forum) with the RCS? I just received some the other day, and thought they would be safe. I would appreciate for your input. Thanks.
You can put 5-10 in there, but they will harass your Red Cherries every time your shrimp land on the ground near them. However, since you have a lot of plants where the shrimp can hide in, that should not be a huge problem. It might become a problem, though, once the dwarf crays start multiplying.
C. shufeldtii are also not all that tolerant of each other, so you really do not want to have too many of them in one tank.
I am thinking of getting some of the Cambarellus shufeldtii for my 55 gallon shrimpo tank. It is heavily planted with mainly rooted plants to keep down on the pruning. There are a lot of pieces of drift wood covered in java moss with natural caves plus some decorations with caves in them. Do you think that there would be enough space to house the crays and cherry shrimp fairly peacfully or would there be a lot of harrassment. I want to get opinions before I add them, i don't want this to be a waste. thank you
A 55 gallon is like a stadium for these guys, so they would be fine there. The crays won't bother your shrimp unless you have about 200 crays running around everywhere in your tank.
well i would start finding more homes if that became a problem. Thanks for the info, you'll have an order soon. Awesome site by the way, you have done a great service for the hobby!!
CanadianCray wrote:The problems you seem to have with molts is prob. a product of a few different things. Crayfish like HARD water. The harder the better.
I don't agree on the hardness... I've got two pairs of cambarellus montezumae montezumae's and I did some research for the water parameters... They like medium hard to al little softer water... That meens a Dgh between 4-12.
CanadianCray wrote:The problems you seem to have with molts is prob. a product of a few different things. Crayfish like HARD water. The harder the better.
I don't agree on the hardness... I've got two pairs of cambarellus montezumae montezumae's and I did some research for the water parameters... They like medium hard to al little softer water... That meens a Dgh between 4-12.
Nope sorry. They will survive just fine in that type of water if given proper nutrients but ALL crayfish do better in harder water. The softer the water the more stress is put on a crayfish during a molt. Crayfish absorb many of the minerals that help to harden the carapace directly from the water. The harder the water the easier this is & the less the cray needs to do. If the water is softer they must get this from their food. Most foods given to crays in aquariums are not great sources of minerals.
Ah! You're right
The food is very important in the molting process... that's why I get special food for crayfish and shrimps here in the Netherlands
My water parameters are also not that soft, but medium... and all crays and shrimps are doing quite well (except of the fungus I described in an other topic)
But the food is an important thing to notice!
I'm going to try and increase the hardness of the water and hopefully that will help, but if not I will try bottled water. I don't think it's an actual water problem because my water is so soft it really doesn't have much of anything in it, I think the crays just require harder water than I've been giving them. 
