marbled cray/ berries in general to those with experience

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
F

Fishbert

Gambusia
MFK Member
Jun 10, 2011
197
1
16
New York
hey guys, a little background information first.. ive kept ands bread marbled crayfish before and from my first batch, one of the babies has recently berried, when the mom initially berried the tank was more cluttered and i just hadn't seen her for about a month. there were fish with in the tank with her so i didn't notice if she was eating or not, if she was it was very little, but this time i pulled the berried one out and stuck her in a minimal 10g, it has a rock and 4 flower pots but its just her and a betta fish. i fed a shrimp pellet and it hasn't moved since yesterday.
..on to the question

do crayfish normally stop eating when berried? i would assume they need the strength.. also if so, do they stop altogether? should i just drastically reduce feedings or hold off until i start to see the babies? is this even normal behavior? in all the threads regarding crayfish berrying this is never spoken about..

thank you!
 
well she's doing fine as far as i can tell and ive had success before.. im just wondering if its normal for them to stop eating during the berry stage
 
Well, I don't watch mine 24/7 - but she always holes up in a cave and I never see her leave while she is berried. Now if she ventures out at night and picks at the plants, I don't know -- but I don't drop pellets in for her when she is berried because she doesn't eat them
 
alright thats what i figured mine does the same thing but i never actually noticed if they stopped altogether or just cut down a lot.. ill stop feeding then until she shows back up.. thank you!
 
I have 6 marbles berried right now, and about 200+ babies growing out.

Mine eat when they are berried, but that is because I actually take the food, and place it where they are holed up. The only other tank mates they have are cherry shrimp.

I would not recommend moving them while they are berried. This can cause them to drop their clutch.
 
yea i made the mistake of picking up the mom in her first berry so i learned that one the hard way but how do you keep the grow-outs? i have about 14 2+" girls in a 20l and i feel like they're very cramped, thats why i moved the one with berries (very carefully 3 days ago (still doing great with the clutch)) to a 10g since i figured she dosent need the room and could use the peace of mind
 
I have my 6 in a 40 gallon grow out tank. They have PVC and driftwood for hiding.

They all berry at the same time, and all have their babies within a few days of each other. So, when they have the babies- I take them out and move them to the other 40 breeder. Then I set up some 20s for the babies, and then the bigger babies get moved to the 40 that they started in.

I have a few stores looking to buy some crays from me, so I have to grown as many out as possible.
 
not a bad way to do it.. i had originally intended for my oscar to eat the babies but he got too big for the tank i had him in before the first batch was ready so i had to sell him before my plan could work itself out i now have a much bigger tank and am contemplating getting another, i love oscars aha there just so responsive to people
 
Mine were intended to be food for my Fahaka, but they are too cute.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom