Blue crayfish babies

[stinkypete]

I bought two plain brown crayfish from my local pet store 4 months ago, with the intent of feeding them to my turtle. I never fed them to the turtle, and they have since had babies.

The weird thing is, all of the babies are bright blue, with yellowish patches on the sides of their carapace.

Is this a mutation, or will they turn brown when they mature? They range in size from 1 inch to 2 inches, and there are about a dozen of them.

I moved them to a 20 gallon tank with lots of rocks and caves.

 

[mibbyblues]

Do you have any pictures that you can post of the parents and the babies.
The babies sound intresting.

 

[ewurm]

That is awesome! Lets see some pics!

 

[stinkypete]

Here are the pics. The juveniles aren't as bright as they were a month ago, and the one I call "mom" looks more like them than she did a month ago. The one I call "pop" is obviously the alpha crawdad. The single appendage on mom is the only one she has left - no other legs or anything. I'm thinking of putting her in a separate tank. The babies average 2" as of now.


Mom -----> Pop -----> Juvenile

 

[dannyboy]

blue colouration in crayfish could be genetics, but it can also be caused by a lack of beta carotein in their diet (or so i have heard)