I.D. Possible Dwarf Mexican Crayfish

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
It's not a mexican dwarf IMO. Their claws are way smaller and they are very small. It's it's 3 inches it's most likely a clarkii crayfish.

orange clarkii
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Dwarf orange crayfish
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I have a female dwarf orange cray and she is only 1.5 inches. She's not much bigger than my cherry shrimp just a different shape. Dwarf orange crays tend to be a lighter orange than the one you have pictured.
 
The "mexican dwarf" crayfish that I had looked more like the clarkii pic. I'm no expert so sorry if I'm misleading you OP. Mine was maybe misidentified as pet stores tend to do.
 
It's easy to make the mistake. I originally got a clarkii due to a mislabeling at my LFS. When they are small they look a lot alike.
 
That's definitely not a CPO, they max at 1.5". While they can have vivid coloration, they are usually more muted in color. An the claws in that instance where more of a give away than the size. Those pictures still had the distinctive P. clarkii look to them, lol.

Great crayfish, though! Very active, gets to be a decent size, have great coloration. Not community friendly but they don't require a large or difficult set-up in the least. They're one of my favorites. And they breed like wildfire if you ever wanted to try it. ^_^
 
black_sun;5101868; said:
That's definitely not a CPO, they max at 1.5". While they can have vivid coloration, they are usually more muted in color. An the claws in that instance where more of a give away than the size. Those pictures still had the distinctive P. clarkii look to them, lol.

Great crayfish, though! Very active, gets to be a decent size, have great coloration. Not community friendly but they don't require a large or difficult set-up in the least. They're one of my favorites. And they breed like wildfire if you ever wanted to try it. ^_^
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Thanks. Do you know what size they max out at. Its currently in a 65 with two jack dempseys and a channel cat. Also, can you tell by the pics if its a male or female?
 
RiverMonsterFisher;5101881; said:
Thanks. Do you know what size they max out at. Its currently in a 65 with two jack dempseys and a channel cat. Also, can you tell by the pics if its a male or female?
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4" (from rostrum to tail/excluding claws) is common, but you can see them larger than that. I've had several get to about 6", and they get fairly bulky as they get older.

Generally, they thrive in warmer waters but there are invasive, stable, populations farther North than me so your water isn't really an issue. Though, personally I'd raise it up into the 70s but it's not necessary. The jacks and the cat are likely to eat it at some point (probably when it molts) or vice versa when it gets larger. This species is pretty aggressive and actively hunts and your jacks and cat both like to eat crayfish. But with enough hiding spaces/rockwork/etc that may work out alright.

If you want to sex it, the most definitive way it to take it out and look at/for the gonopods... you can use this for reference: http://www.crayfishworld.com/sexy.htm
You'll be using the 2nd and 3rd photo sets for the kind you have.
 
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