After hours of research and 6 weeks of cycling I purchased an Electric Blue and a white variety M/F pair of Crays. They did well, but after my white guys 2nd molt he just fell apart. Literally. The first 3 days after the molt were fine. After that I came home and noticed that his claws were missing. The next day I noticed his feelers were turning brown and I did a 50% water change. The next morning he was missing some legs with one dangling at odd angles. I know this is tragic, and I have combed the web in hope of finding answers before admitting to you guys that I murdered my pet with ignorance, but I can find no answers. The Blue Cray seems fine. Can anyone tell me what I have done wrong? I have a 40gal tank with several mystery snails, 4 CRS (used to be 10 until the nymphs snuck in with the snails) and 1 (used to be 2) crayfish. My tank stays between 71 and 75 degrees, I supplement Iodine-my pH, Nitrate, Nitrite and Ammonia are all at koser levels...any thoughts would be great. I would post a pic, but I can't seem to get them to upload. Thanks in advance for any advice!
If you put all those crayfish in the same tank, they will fight and the weaker ones will get their claws and legs ripped off... its very common in tanks without much suitable hiding places as the crayfish have no place to retreat and hide so they have to constantly fight for territory.
The period after molting is usually when the crayfish shell is still soft, so it will tend to get injured more easily. That probably explains why it has been losing battles and getting "disassembled".
Well, I could see that really, except there are only 2 Crays and several hiding spots. This could have been what happened, the blue one is more agressive, but before I had the white one humanely dispatched, I moved him to a bucket and he continued to lose bits. When they get injured, would there be brown around the wound that would spread like rot? If yes, than that is probably what happened. I will place more hiding spots and rearrange the tank before I get another. Thank you!
Oh! Upon rereading my original post I realize it sounds like I had 3 crays, but the white and the blue were the pair I mentioned.
He has been brutally murdered. UA is right, they are territorial and the stronger ones will usually attack the weaker ones, in this case, the white one has just molted. No armour no protection.
Yes, thank you. I thought I had enough protection. This will never happen again!
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks