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Dwarf Crayfish


R Budds
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I picked up 4 Mexican Dwarf Crayfish at the LFS 7 days ago and so far they are doing very well.

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Here they all are, the one coming out from the slate just molted. So far they've been peaceful with just a little sparring. 

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They have plenty of places to hide, but they seem to be out most of the time.

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This one has a missing claw and 2 damaged legs, but its doing well.

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They like to get into the bubbles. Sometimes they jump in and fly up to the surface.

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They are in a 10 gallon tank with an under gravel filter, covered with 2 and a half inches of Safe T Sorb, and a slow moving uplift tube that cycles the tank about twice a day. I hope to create anoxic conditions. Its been running for about a month and a half, with other fish and snails, and the nitrate levels have already dropped below my tap water. The duckweed could be helping with that too. I put a cheap 4 gallon in-tank filter in to keep the flow low and more easily get the top fully sealed.

I haven't figured out if I am going to put anything else in with them. I was thinking about trying some guppies or some other live bearers, so they have fresh meat to catch. 

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I love CPOs. I decided to get some because my community tank wouldn't be shrimp friendly, and these guys are small but big enough to not be snacks. They are great. Big personalities in a small pkg with a nice splash of color. I've seen mine breeding but have never seen babies, which may get picked off. I think I have a female holding eggs right now but she is being a bit secretive about it and hiding more than usual. I wasn't planning on breeding them on purpose but a few more would always be welcome. 

They are definitely keepers for me. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

One month update. So far the crayfish are doing very well.

Here are all 4 of them. From the bottom: Whitey, Little Man, Lefty, and Righty.

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Here is the one (Righty) that came with its left claw missing.

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This one (Lefty) lost it's right claw somehow, its molted since then.

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I think it was this one (Little Man) that did it. It's very aggressive and the smallest.

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Or it may have been this one (Whitey). It's aggresive too, but not as antagonistic as Little Man.

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The nitrates have dropped to around 20ppm, so the anoxic filtration seems to be working.

Here's the whole tank.

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