Anyone keep larger cray pairs together ?

[Louie]

I had a pair of white Procambarus Alleni which even bred and no problems . Kept with several pvc tubes, etc in a 30 inch long tub think 18 wide  today the male killed the female .

 

They were together about a year and half .

 

I will just keep the male by himself but curious if anyone has a pair of any crays other than the dwarfs and self cloning long term ?

 

 

 

 

[jumpsmasher]

most of the cherax species from indonesia are quite peaceful - i had around 25-30 adult Cherax pulcher (4-6") in a 4ft x 18" footprint which much issue.  key is to give them lots of hiding places.  

[Louie]

I  have  never seen Cherax other than online and some look amazing .

 

If anything I would have thought they were very aggressive as just assumed Australian crays were . Go figure .

 

I was looking at your shrimp. Nice selection and saw you carry Indian shrimp .

 

I have never seen those for sale either in the USA .

[jumpsmasher]

I  have  never seen Cherax other than online and some look amazing .

 

If anything I would have thought they were very aggressive as just assumed Australian crays were . Go figure .

 

I was looking at your shrimp. Nice selection and saw you carry Indian shrimp .

 

I have never seen those for sale either in the USA .

 

Yes cherax destructor are terrible for killing each other - super aggressive even amongst juvies.   

 

Red claws are somewhat in the middle, they will fight very often and they will lose a claw or two but i have yet to see one get killed.  I have around a dozen or so them in a 30" x 14" tank ranging in size from 2" to 4".

 

All of the Indonesian ones I had so far are very peaceful.   If you have them in large group like I had, the first little while they will spend some time to figure out their territories and a bit of a pecking order.  there might be a few fights here and there during this time but nothing serious.  Once they all settle in to their own caves and tunnels, you rarely see any fights; they walk right over each other all the time.. lol

 

Indian shrimps are readily available in the aquatic trade but they are not very popular but you don't see too many of them be brought in.  They are more rarer amongst shrimp farms and dealers though as those guys don't always deal with the aquatic wholesalers.

[Louie]

Yes cherax destructor are terrible for killing each other - super aggressive even amongst juvies.   

 

Red claws are somewhat in the middle, they will fight very often and they will lose a claw or two but i have yet to see one get killed.  I have around a dozen or so them in a 30" x 14" tank ranging in size from 2" to 4".

 

All of the Indonesian ones I had so far are very peaceful.   If you have them in large group like I had, the first little while they will spend some time to figure out their territories and a bit of a pecking order.  there might be a few fights here and there during this time but nothing serious.  Once they all settle in to their own caves and tunnels, you rarely see any fights; they walk right over each other all the time.. lol

 

Indian shrimps are readily available in the aquatic trade but they are not very popular but you don't see too many of them be brought in.  They are more rarer amongst shrimp farms and dealers though as those guys don't always deal with the aquatic wholesalers.

This was very informative .  Thank you

 

The  Indonesian Cherax with color is the Coral cray , I believe that is the most colorful readily available type ?

[jumpsmasher]

This was very informative .  Thank you

 

The  Indonesian Cherax with color is the Coral cray , I believe that is the most colorful readily available type ?

 

there is probably around 20-30 different types of indonesian / papua cherax crayfish out there - Cherax pulcher is also known as Hoa Creek and i seen them traded as Pink Coral as well.  But there are many nice ones out there and new ones being discovered / named all the time.  Chris Lukhaup is in Papua right now on another expedition to document and classify more crayfish.  

 

I am really liking the colours of the Cherax communis that i just got in.   Chris Lukhaup posted some photos of similar looking ones but with slightly different colours so they have some newly names cousins soon.

 

Also a big fan of Orange hand / tip and tiger / zebra crayfish

 

[Louie]

there is probably around 20-30 different types of indonesian / papua cherax crayfish out there - Cherax pulcher is also known as Hoa Creek and i seen them traded as Pink Coral as well.  But there are many nice ones out there and new ones being discovered / named all the time.  Chris Lukhaup is in Papua right now on another expedition to document and classify more crayfish.  

 

I am really liking the colours of the Cherax communis that i just got in.   Chris Lukhaup posted some photos of similar looking ones but with slightly different colours so they have some newly names cousins soon.

 

Also a big fan of Orange hand / tip and tiger / zebra crayfish

 

I had no idea who Chris Lukhaup was till after you mentioned him because as I was looking up crays you mentioned I saw his name on several pics .

 

I could be mistaken but think when CPO's first came out he also gave a lecture on them in a fish club which I saw in passing on youtube .

[Soothing Shrimp]

Chris is a huge name in the shrimp and cray research field.

[Louie]

Chris is a huge name in the shrimp and cray research field.

What I find hard to fathom is going to  Indonesia and than leaving , lol.

 

I have not been there but have a friend who retired few years ago and he and his wife moved there .  The pictures look beautiful .

[Soothing Shrimp]

The main thing I would get concerned about in any off-the-path place is crime.

[ShrimpP]

I've had Procambarus clarkii (Neon Red Lobsters/Crayfish, max around 4") for years and they've reproduced a ton. Even had 6 adults in a 20 gallon tall a long time ago and they made a bunch on babies (don't recall the sexes, but there were at least 3 males).

 

The do males do challenge each other and yes, sometimes dismembering each others antenna, leg or one or both claws, but they extremely rarely ever kill each other. Only time they've killed each other is if they were attacked just after molting while they were still vulnerable, and maybe a rare event of one male that accidentally fell off a decoration and landed on it's back and another male attacked the underside of the upside down cray. But they are just being crays, they aren't that aggressive, they usually know to back out of a fight, and it's not like they are terrified of each other. Sure the smaller guys will more likely be more submissive, but will still venture near the larger ones if they want to get around them.

 

Believe it or not, they fought less often and reproduced more when "packed" into the small 20 gallon versus the ones I had in a 55 gallon. Less space to claim territories I guess and I assume they pretty much had no choice, but to live more peacefully with each other in the cramped 20. The 20 didn't even have many caves. Never had a male kill a female though. The young were fine with the adult crays, until they got around the 2" or so mark, then the adults would start raising their claws at them.

 

Kept them with fish (guppies, swordtails, corydoras, tetras) as well and they very rarely caught and killed a fish. Was even rare for them to even harm a fish (cut fins). They would occasionally raise their claws up, hoping for a fish to swim within their grasp, but they are slow. They can raise their claws at you too. I've never been pinched by one.

 

I am no expert though. Simply kept a group of these a long time ago and this was my experience with them. I didn't do anything special to get them to breed or anything.

Pretty sure these are almost exactly the same as Procambarus alleni, and so I am suspecting the male killing the female was just a rare occurrence and might be very unlikely to happen again if you got more (assuming the tank is set up appropriately).

 

Oh, and one note, these guys can crawl out of the tank, but will dry up and die if not found soon enough, so keep a tight lid on!

[Louie]

The main thing I would get concerned about in any off-the-path place is crime.

That is true .

[Louie]

I've had Procambarus clarkii (Neon Red Lobsters/Crayfish, max around 4") for years and they've reproduced a ton. Even had 6 adults in a 20 gallon tall a long time ago and they made a bunch on babies (don't recall the sexes, but there were at least 3 males).

 

The do males do challenge each other and yes, sometimes dismembering each others antenna, leg or one or both claws, but they extremely rarely ever kill each other. Only time they've killed each other is if they were attacked just after molting while they were still vulnerable, and maybe a rare event of one male that accidentally fell off a decoration and landed on it's back and another male attacked the underside of the upside down cray. But they are just being crays, they aren't that aggressive, they usually know to back out of a fight, and it's not like they are terrified of each other. Sure the smaller guys will more likely be more submissive, but will still venture near the larger ones if they want to get around them.

 

Believe it or not, they fought less often and reproduced more when "packed" into the small 20 gallon versus the ones I had in a 55 gallon. Less space to claim territories I guess and I assume they pretty much had no choice, but to live more peacefully with each other in the cramped 20. The 20 didn't even have many caves. Never had a male kill a female though. The young were fine with the adult crays, until they got around the 2" or so mark, then the adults would start raising their claws at them.

 

Kept them with fish (guppies, swordtails, corydoras, tetras) as well and they very rarely caught and killed a fish. Was even rare for them to even harm a fish (cut fins). They would occasionally raise their claws up, hoping for a fish to swim within their grasp, but they are slow. They can raise their claws at you too. I've never been pinched by one.

 

I am no expert though. Simply kept a group of these a long time ago and this was my experience with them. I didn't do anything special to get them to breed or anything.

Pretty sure these are almost exactly the same as Procambarus alleni, and so I am suspecting the male killing the female was just a rare occurrence and might be very unlikely to happen again if you got more (assuming the tank is set up appropriately).

 

Oh, and one note, these guys can crawl out of the tank, but will dry up and die if not found soon enough, so keep a tight lid on!

 

 

This was interesting reading I would have never thought you could keep more than a pair of Procambarus clarkii in anything smaller than more or less 30 inches/20 gallon long and any more than 2 would be war  .

 

From what I hear the Alleni's killing each other is common .

 

I am going to keep the male by himself but I do want to breed him with an orange female so will try that come Spring but after they mate I'll separate them. 

 

He wont mate now as it has been high 50s at night and only low 70s during day but come warmer temps the crays outside breed like crazy .

 

I would have never thought that after mating , producing young and getting alone with her over a year ,he would kill the female .

 

I must say the Procambarus Clarkii ghost might be the prettiest of North American crays  .   I saw one on ebay some time ago , pricey .

 

http://wordpress.crustahunter.com/wp-content/gallery/procambarus-clarkii-ghost/p-clarkii-ghost-1.jpg

 

What temps did you keep your Procambarus clarkii?