I gave two away after my two molted. They have blocked themselves into caves and the one I pestered on suspicion of food hoarding is berried up. They might be duds this time around, I saw lots of gray and white so I'm not sure what to expect.
Is this a good cray tank?
- Thread starter knifegill
- Start date
Dark I rarely even turn my light on in my cray tank since they have eaten all the live plants I put in it for food. I saw one had a wafer today and turned on the light and it freaked out, dropped the wafer and ran under a rock. So I just leave it off. They get some light from the window near them but thats it for light. Enless im checking to see if they have berried yet, which they havent.
Okay, that's it. I'm totally flummoxed. They never eat a thing yet seem to be doing fine. I'll put an exact number of food pellets in their food dish and it's all still there every morning. Is it normal for crayfish to never, ever eat a thing? Do they starve themselves when carrying eggs and when molting? How can a crayfish survive if it spends its whole life molting and raising young and never eats any food? What the heck is going on here and why shouldn't I start ripping my hair out?
From what I've read, they don't (or rarely) eat when berried or molting. They're cold blooded so they can probably regulate calorie use. And when berried/molting they are usually hiding and not moving much. Who knows. I'd just cut the feed in half til you see that they are munching again. Want to keep some food in there for when they do get hungry. Are you feeding in the morning or at night before lights out? Remember they're primarily nocturnal, not as likely to be out eating during the day, though mine don't seem to care if the lights are on or off. They're always out running around.
For the record, Mine have killed 3 guppies to date as well.
"They don't eat fish" Riiiight..
For the record, Mine have killed 3 guppies to date as well.
"They don't eat fish" Riiiight..Im starting to think I have a bunch of duds. Ive had them for 2 months easy and they still havent berried. But atleast mine eat like crazy, they will start ripping about the left overs on the clam shell before I even have it all the way in the tank
They in hard enough water? I don't know why they would go so long without berrying up, but then again, I'm a total noob at this, myself.
Yeah, I put food in just before lights out, or even later. Both crays have holed themselves up and are loaded with eggs now.From what I've read, they don't (or rarely) eat when berried or molting. They're cold blooded so they can probably regulate calorie use. And when berried/molting they are usually hiding and not moving much. Who knows. I'd just cut the feed in half til you see that they are munching again. Want to keep some food in there for when they do get hungry. Are you feeding in the morning or at night before lights out? Remember they're primarily nocturnal, not as likely to be out eating during the day, though mine don't seem to care if the lights are on or off. They're always out running around.
For the record, Mine have killed 3 guppies to date as well.
So do I pester them everyday and check to see when their eggs have hatched or should I just wait until they tear down their barriers? I don't know how to go about avoiding stressing them while monitoring egg development. How does everybody else know when to shake the babies off into the rearing tank?
I've got the baby tank set up. Ten gallon, strong filtration via pond pump wrapped inside a mesh box like usual. It's loaded with Malaysian Trumpet Snails and one ghost shrimp. Is that a problem?
How did the wolf get them?! Knocked down a divider?
If you know when they berried, count 20 days from that and you should be around the hatch date. When they hatch the mom should be out walking around again. I wouldn't pester them too much. For the first week or two, the babies will cling to mom.
An interesting trick I read for separating young was to grab mom, and slide a cup under her. Raise the cup to the surface while holding her, and then lift her out of the water slowly above the cup. As she exits the water, she will kick all of the young off into the cup. Then ya take the cup out and put mom back in her tank. All the young caught in a cup in one simple move.
Probably a survival instinct for if they get picked off by birds or something. Last ditch effort to kick the fry away so they have a chance to survive.
Snails shouldn't be a problem. the young crays will probably be too small to hurt them, but if there are baby snails as well they might get picked off. Mine have cleared all of the MTS out of their tank I think. Haven't seen the sand move in a while.
Not sure how they do with shrimp.
An interesting trick I read for separating young was to grab mom, and slide a cup under her. Raise the cup to the surface while holding her, and then lift her out of the water slowly above the cup. As she exits the water, she will kick all of the young off into the cup. Then ya take the cup out and put mom back in her tank. All the young caught in a cup in one simple move.
Probably a survival instinct for if they get picked off by birds or something. Last ditch effort to kick the fry away so they have a chance to survive.
Snails shouldn't be a problem. the young crays will probably be too small to hurt them, but if there are baby snails as well they might get picked off. Mine have cleared all of the MTS out of their tank I think. Haven't seen the sand move in a while.
Not sure how they do with shrimp.
I have no idea how hard my water is, they have grown like crazy. When I got them they were really small. They molt like crazy
Dark Jester:
Hmmm. That's what I was hoping to hear! 20 days, huh? That's longer than I was expecting but it does ease my mind. They will eat before that, right?
So I don't need to intervene, I can just wait and watch and I'll see them out with young clinging onto them one day. Or night. And they can have the MTS. I can always get more for my sand beds from my LFS. They're overloaded with the buggers. One of their tanks seems to have a 1/1 ratio of gravel to snail matter on the bottom.
xrayjeeper83:
Sounds like you're doing a good job health-wise. Are they old enough to start reproducing?
Hmmm. That's what I was hoping to hear! 20 days, huh? That's longer than I was expecting but it does ease my mind. They will eat before that, right?
So I don't need to intervene, I can just wait and watch and I'll see them out with young clinging onto them one day. Or night. And they can have the MTS. I can always get more for my sand beds from my LFS. They're overloaded with the buggers. One of their tanks seems to have a 1/1 ratio of gravel to snail matter on the bottom.
xrayjeeper83:
Sounds like you're doing a good job health-wise. Are they old enough to start reproducing?
