Mexican drawf crayfish orange - Cambarellus patzcuarensis
 

Lately I went to CRSHaven and saw this tiny cute creature. It was amazing. Not growing more than 4cm, this fellow is a peaceful crayfish that doesn't do gardening for you if you place it in a planted tank.

And it can be housed with tiny fish, with 100% guaranty safety for your healthy fish. Below are some photos I found on the web to share.

http://www.crusta10.de/templates/ima...emale%2030.jpg

http://www.iriatherina-werneri.com/i...h_019_160k.jpg

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.u...zcaruensis.jpg

Below statements are quoted from Petshrimp.com:

This beautiful and relatively peaceful 1.5 inch crayfish comes from Lago de Patzcuaro, a volcanic crater lake in Michoacán, Mexico, in the west-central mountain region. Wild Cambarellus patzcuarensis are mostly tan, brown, and rusty colored.. The bright orange mutation in the aquarium hobby rarely persist in nature due to predators, but is hardy in captivity. Some have a pair of longitudinal dark stripes and others are mottled, lacking stripes. They can be kept in soft to moderately hard water, pH 6.0 to 8.0, temperature 60 to 82 F. In soft water, keep aragonite gravel in the filter or on the bottom to provide calcium and pH buffering.

Unlike most crayfish, C. patzcuarensis doesn't destroy plants, and digs very little. They eat live or frozen worms, insects, brine shrimp, flakes, pellets, cooked shrimp, green peas – most any kind of fish food. They live peacefully with small fish and usually do not attack even newborn guppies, although they may eat fish eggs or non-swimming larvae, and will eat dead fish. They need hiding places when molting, as the new shell is soft and even small fish (or other crayfish) can kill them during this time. Volcanic rock with lots of small holes, or short segments of waterlogged bamboo are useful as molting refuges. Don’t keep crayfish with loaches or similar fish that probe nooks and crannies – the crayfish will be killed during their molt.

Adult males can be recognized by the first pair of pleopods, which are rigid with terminal hooks at the forward end (between the last pair of walking legs). In females the first pleopods are flexible and similar to the other four pairs of pleopods. They begin breeding at four months old. Crayfish mate belly-to-belly, after a claw-waving courtship ritual. Dark green eggs are laid in clutches of about 50, attached to the mother’s pleopods under the abdomen. They hatch in about 2 weeks, and the 3/16 inch baby crayfish drop off and scatter about a week later. The mother continues to eat while brooding, and won’t eat her kids as long as she has sufficient food. The babies eat newly hatched brine shrimp, flakes, pellets, etc. Soaked leaves from deciduous trees will provide hiding and climbing places, plus bugs, bacteria, and fungi that the babies can eat between feedings. If starved or overcrowded they will attack each other and tear off legs, but these will grow back as long as the crayfish can still get around and feed. The babies can grow up in the tank with the adults, or you can separate the mother before the eggs hatch and raise the babies in their own tank.

I am not too sure how correct the informations are.

Anyway, when I ask for the price from CRSHaven, the damage is very high for a pair (3 pcs of the blues). So need to gather every bros here to see if anyone sell this creature, or know of where we can buy? Any possible channel to import this creature?

whahahahaha they are so cute !!!
but i still prefer those massive huge crayfish hehe...any idea where can i find cherax destructor?...i need a female for my male :o

I actually bought 2 pairs from crshaven. Pretty nice creatures, actively looking for food. Hoping it will start to breed soon. :)

Wah!! Three blue paper!!0.O
this is madness!

very nice and cute.

You can try Tropical Fish International at Pasir Ris farmway. I was told on Sunday they might order to test market and is definately cheaper than CRS Haven. :) Go there and ask the 2 pretty ladies there. :D

Hi bro, Care to share the exact location?

Regards

Angleo was selling it the in buy/sell last month . dont know still got or not . you may wanna check with him . :D

Yes, they are pretty but take note they dont survive long in water that more than 28C temp.

i live & show better colour in cooler water temp.

Im keeping them at 24C to 20C with chiller.

they have an life cycle of 24 month.

So those Bro who got them please take care of them.

Agree with you, temperature is critical for them. Seems that their lifespan can be affected at higher temperature for anything close to 28C. Anything about 28C is bad.

I am keeping mine at 25C.

Hi Bro, may i know where is CRS HAven? thanx in advance...:)

Can check out their website for details. www.crshaven.com

Cheers!

To All bro take note,
Yes CPO is very nice & pretty to keep but remember try to get from different source of CPO if you wish to breed & rear them for long.

If you get from the same source, lightly you are getting brother & sister.
when you breed them, you actually inbreed them. this will weaker further their gene.

They are difficult to breed & very sensitive to temp & sudden change in water parameter. CPO berries female will drop her eggs if she sense sudden change. Baby crays are very sensitive also, they will die if sense change in water parameter.

these are what i have experience breeding & keeping them.

CPO are rated in cray keeping in Hard form.

At last I managed to dig out my own old thread on CPO.

Anyone know what gravel is best suit for CPO? pH level?

I am planning to get my tank ready for them before buying.

Thanks in advance.

opps.. sorry it should be crayfish instead of shrimp

wow that kind of price and needs chiller..

actually to mi, the onli appeal they have over normal crays is that dwarfs dun destroy my plants..

Well, and they dun grow big so that can be keep in smaller tanks. ;)

I have 2 pairs of them in my CRS tank. tank a bit empty don look niice, lol. already had them for about a month and so far they are doing well in the tank, they are not fussy eaters but will prefer frozen bloodworms, dead fish and snail to food pellets for crs.

i have yet to witness any of them catching any shrimps yet. I hope to see them breed soon too. cute little critters and are responsive during feeding time.

do note that they can be aggresive towards each other and need space and hiding place.

I think I yesterday saw Y618 selling it pretty cheaply but the colour faded. Should have waited for the price to go down! :eek:

U can try the food below bro. Works fine with those normal crayfish I used to kept.

http://www.hikari.info/tropical/img/12_01.jpg
http://www.hikari.info/tropical/t_12.html

Also, those frozen green pea sold at any supermarket are also good for them. Defrozee it below giving them to your crayfish. If the green pea float, just squezze a little to force the trapped air in the green pea out and it will sink to the below. It's cute to watch crayfish work on green pea, very cute looking.

show my CPO:
http://www.arofanatics.com/forums/pi...pictureid=2341

Cute!!! I guess I will be getting into this fellow for my small tank at home. :)

Yesterday I went to Colourful, Y618 and C328 to check out whether do they have CPO.

Colourful left with 1 adult, and a few smaller ones.
Both Y618 and C328 have 2 pieces, but I dunno how to identify their sex.

If you want to know the prices, you may PM me for enquiry.

Also yesterday after going home, I managed to start off my Small tank that I moved back home from office. I spent most of the time trying to arrange the driftwood and accessories, also to tie the moss on the driftwood.

Started at 9.30pm and finally on my bed at 4.30am. Below are some pictures to share. =)

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n...8102008645.jpg

I got an eatra Ikea lamp to help with the lighting. 20w from ikea's lamp and 12w from Gex lamp. Also got a fan to lower the temp. Reading this morning was 27 degree.

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n...8102008649.jpg

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n...8102008650.jpg

Next week I will throw in some cardinal tetra. I will update again by then.

Bro, C328 whose are baby orange clarkii, not sure on the Y618 & Colourful.:)

Not those on the floor. Anutie put the CPO on top of a Aro / IT tank, just beside the area where they pack fish/etc. You got to ask her to show you.

Bro, what is the max size of Procambarus clarkii Orange ??

Is this profile close to what is C328's Procambarus clarkii?
http://www.shrimpnow.com/viewarticle.php?articleid=51

I was at colorful, they are selling real CPO, Cambarellus patzcuarensis Orange.

Bro, confirm not as i breed CPO.:D

Bro,
How do you differentiate between an adult CPO and say a baby Procambarus clarkii Orange ?

Cambarellus patzcuarensis = max size 4 to 5cm, known as dwarf, peaceful to planted tank
Procambarus Clarkii = max size 10 to 15cm

A list of crayfish can be found here:
http://www.shrimpnow.com/viewcategory.php?moduleid=30

Cambarellus patzcuarensis can be found in orange form. Procambarus Clarkii can be found in red form.

Hi bro Silane,
So my question is whether someone new to crayfish can easily mistake a juvenile 4 cm Procambarus Clarkii as an adult CPO ? Is there any feature differentiation that can be spotted easily ?

Procambarus clarkii come in many colour forms include orange link from below:

http://crusta10.de/templates/index.p...id=154&katid=2

Not too sure myself, if by color, CPO has pattern on the back, while the clarkii color is monotonous. There should be otehr better way to differentiate these 2.

Bro Eric_kwa, do you have both species, can u take a side by side picture?

wow den dats a vv costly mistake..

Yesterday added some new plants into my tank. Below are some photos to share. =)

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n...8102008657.jpg

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n...8102008655.jpg

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n...8102008654.jpg

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n...8102008656.jpg

Bro nice simple set up

the castle is clay or plastic?

one word, beautiful setup. bro

Clay leh. Is it going to be an issue?

Pls enlighten me.

Clay? It sound good. :)

beautiful set up bro! your crays sure have a lot of places to hide!

Cheers!