We immediately say that this neighborhood often brings only problems. There are, of course, cases when crayfish coexist well with fish. But even more situations where one or the other side suffers as a result of such a tandem. For example:
- Soma - arthropods' competitors for food and shelter. Collisions on this ground are inevitable.
- Small fish like neons, guppies, etc. can be crayfish elementary eaten.
- Large fish with long tails and fins (gold, angelfish, etc.) can lose their wealth.
- In the vicinity of large, but aggressive fish like cichlids, crayfish are doomed to hunger and stress, and ultimately to death.
How to create conditions in the aquarium?
From the place of purchase to the place of residence of arthropods transported in a black opaque package. Adaptation is fast. It should be noted that the temperature difference in the package and in the artificial reservoir should not be more than three degrees. The following conditions are considered optimal for cancers:
Aquarium. The minimum volume of the tank must be at least 15 liters per 6 cm specimen. However, given that close housing provokes crayfish to aggression, it is better to take a vessel as spacious as possible. From above, it is imperative to install a cover with small holes, as in case of overpopulation, the crayfish that are dirty or oxygen-poor in water will try to get out of the aquarium. If possible, the best option is to equip the aquaterrarium.
Water must be clean, rich in oxygen, with a temperature in the range of 17-21 degrees and a hardness of 8-12. To increase the stiffness of the soil, you can put marble or limestone. It is better to install an internal filter in order to prevent attempts to escape through wires. Cancers love to hide the remnants of food, which then rot and spoil the water. In this connection, regular replacement of 50% of water is necessary.
Priming better to choose large. Crayfish dig holes, and not a single plant will take root in the shallow soil.
Vegetation it is better to pick up with strong roots, large leaves and strong stems. Before planting, they should be held in quarantine.
Registration. Various stones, snags, hoses, halves of ceramic flower pots, grottoes, etc. can be used as decorations. From them, crayfish build shelters for themselves and climb them to the surface of the water.
What to feed the crayfish?
It is better to do this in the evening hours, as the daytime crayfish hide. If arthropods coexist with fish, in the latter the activity decreases by evening, and they will not drag the food from claw carriers from under the nose.
Despite the fact that aquarium arthropods are omnivorous, there are some nutritional recommendations for them.
As a delicacy, you can sometimes treat yourself to fish or squid. Interestingly, crayfish prefer food in a slightly rotten state. Protein bait is given no more than once a week, since it is noticed that it increases the level of aggression.
Special feeds for crayfish and shrimp are also available, which can also be used (for example, such brands as Dennerle, Tetra, MOSURA, Genchem Biomax series). They strengthen the immune system, maintain the brightness of pet coloring. There are granules, plates, sticks.
As for the frequency of meals, there is no unity of views. In some sources, it is recommended that females be fed once every three days, males - once every two days. Others advise for both sexes food once a day. Therefore, here you can see for yourself the behavior of your pets and by trial and error will select your ideal schedule.
Reproduction of crayfish
The mating period in adults begins after the completion of the molt. In females at this time there is a selection of pheromones, which attract the opposite sex, and the males go in search. It is very interesting to observe how the formed couple dances, sometimes for several hours, touching each other with their antennae. After that, the female is recommended to plant in a separate container, where after 20 days she will lay eggs.
Relocation is necessary, since heightened anxiety and anxiety make her protect her offspring and show aggression to everything around her. The eggs are attached by a sticky mass under the belly, and the female moves with them. Offspring fearfully and for a long time prefer to hold on to the torso of the mother. Eating crustaceans themselves begin only after the first molt. Shelters for young stock is a prerequisite to survive, hiding from offenders (including adult crayfish). After the second molt, the offspring gains sufficient autonomy, and the female is again resettled.
Female marble crab with offspring.
Epistylis (lat. Epistylis)
This disease is very common in aquarium arthropods. The reason is the poor conditions in the aquarium. The simplest microorganisms settle on chitinous integuments, as a result of which the cancer looks covered with brown or grayish-white foam. If this plaque spreads to the gills, then the animal will not be able to breathe and will die. For recovery, it is necessary to put in order the water and the number of inhabitants in the aquarium. At the time of illness, the animal is quarantined.
Microscopic flatworm Temnocephalan worms that reach them through snails, Branchiobdella leeches and green algae living on the gills can plague the crayfish. You can get rid of them with the help of regular salt baths and reduction of the number of neighbors carriers.
Crab Disease
It can only be recognized during the molting period. If the shell of the cancer does not harden for more than a day, then this is it. Causes: insufficient water hardness, poor nutrition and, as a result, lack of calcium. Treatment methods are obvious: create the right conditions for life and balance nutrition. As a preventive measure, you can use iodine drops for a marine aquarium, which are sold in pet stores. They drop half the dose.
It is an acute infectious disease. It is caused by the mushroom Aphanomices astaci. The disease is contagious and can ruin all the inhabitants of the aquarium. Walking legs, armor and nervous system are affected. If a cancer has become infected, white, brown or red spots appear on its tail, and black spots on its shell. At the onset of the disease, disorientation occurs when walking, the lifestyle changes during the daytime. In the end - sluggish behavior, convulsions and death of the animal. There is no treatment as such. There are only recommendations to hold the newly acquired quarantined pet in water at 30 degrees with the addition of magnesium chloride or malachite green.
Rust-spotted disease
Also has an infectious nature. Pathogens - fungi of the family Mucedinaceae. Spots appear on the body of the cancer (orange, brown, black), then the shell in these places softens and the tissue dies out, forming ulcers. The end result will be the death of the animal. There is no cure. As in the previous case, the quarantine of a new cancer with the addition of leaves of oak, beech, and almond was recommended.
China disease
It affects the limbs, abdomen and oral apparatus. Cancer paralyzes and he dies. There is no cure. Patients are isolated.
Spores can get into an aquarium with inadequate and poorly treated soil and plants. Mushrooms affect integuments, gills, blood vessels and heart. Brown spots can be seen on the belly and gills. Reduced immunity, injuries, unfavorable conditions - all this places crayfish at risk.
Thus, crayfish can trap a lot of hazards. But mostly these are consequences of poor care. A responsible owner, they will long please their unusual appearance and interesting behavior.
Content in an aquarium
One cancer can be kept in a small aquarium. If you regularly replace the water, then enough 30-40 liters. Crayfish hide their food, and you can often find remains in a shelter such as a cave or a pot. And taking into account the fact that there is a lot of food remains, then in an aquarium with crayfish the balance can be very quickly disturbed and frequent water changes with a ground siphon are simply necessary. When you clean the aquarium, be sure to check all its caches, such as pots and other hidden places.
If more than one cancer lives in the aquarium, then the minimum volume for keeping 80 liters. Crayfish are cannibals by nature, that is, they eat each other, and if during the molt one of them gets to the other, then it will not be worth it. Because of this, it is extremely important that the aquarium was spacious and there were many different shelters in which a molded cancer could hide.
As for filtering, it is better to use an internal filter. Since the hoses that go to the outside, this is a great way to get the cancer out of the aquarium and one morning you will see how it crawls around your apartment. Remember, this is a master of escape! The aquarium should be tightly covered, since a runaway cancer can live for a short time without water.
Shooting in nature, Australia Euastacus spinifer cancer:
Many arthropods, including crayfish shed. What it is? Since the chitinous cover of crayfish is tough, in order to grow, they need to be regularly discarded and covered with new ones. If you notice that the cancer is hiding more than usual, it means he was going to molt. Or, you suddenly saw that instead of a cancer you only have its shell in an aquarium ... Do not be intimidated and do not remove it! Crayfish eat shell after molting, as it contains a lot of calcium and helps to restore a new one. Full recovery after molting for cancer will take 3-4 days, provided that he can eat the old shell. Young crayfish molt often, but as they grow older, the frequency decreases.
Red Florida Cancer Shedding:
Feeding crayfish
In nature, crayfish mainly feed on plant food. What to feed cancer? In the aquarium, they eat sinking granules, tablets, flakes, and special foods for crayfish and shrimp. It is also worth buying food for crayfish with a high content of calcium. Such feeds help them recover their chitinous cover faster after shedding. Additionally, they need to be fed with vegetables - spinach, zucchini, cucumbers. If you have an aquarium with plants, you can give surplus plants.
In addition to vegetables, they eat protein and feed, but they should not be given more than once a week. This may be a piece of fish fillet or shrimp, frozen live food. Aquarists believe that feeding crayfish with protein feed significantly increases their aggressiveness.
Feed the crayfish in the aquarium should be once a day, but when it comes to vegetables, a piece of cucumber, for example, you can leave it for the whole time until the crayfish eat it.
Is it possible to contain crayfish in an aquarium?
It is possible, but for a long time he does not live and definitely cannot be kept with fish and plants. Our crayfish is large and agile enough, it catches and eats fish, weeds weeds. It does not live long, because this kind of water is cold, the warm water we have only in summer, and even then, at the bottom it is rather cold. And in the aquarium is warmer than he needs. If you want to contain it, try it. But, only in a separate aquarium.
Florida (California) cancer (Procambarus clarkii)
Red Florida cancer is one of the most popular crayfish kept in an aquarium. They are popular for their color, bright red and unpretentiousness. In their homeland are very common and are considered an invasive species. As a rule, they live on the order of two to three years, or slightly longer and adapt perfectly to different conditions. Reach a body length of 12-15 cm. Like many crayfish, Florida masters of escape and the aquarium should be tightly covered.
Marble crayfish / Procambarus sp.
The peculiarity is that all individuals are females and can breed without a partner. Marble crayfish grow up to 15 cm in length, and you can read about the peculiarities of the content of marble crayfish here.
Yabbi destroyer beautiful blue color, which makes it quite popular. In nature, it lives about 4-5 years, but it can live much longer in an aquarium, at the same time it can reach 20 cm in length. The destructor lives in Australia, and the yabbi are called aborigines. The scientific name destructor is translated as a destroyer, although this is incorrect, as the apples are less aggressive than other types of crayfish. They live in nature in muddy water with a weak current and abundant water thickets.
Keep it at a temperature of 20 to 26C. It tolerates wide fluctuations in temperature, but at temperatures below 20 ° C, it stops growing and may die at temperatures above 26 ° C.
To compensate for the loss of juveniles, the female sweeps Catch from 500 to 1000 roach.
Blue Florida Cancer (Procambarus alleni)
In nature, this kind of ordinary, brown. Slightly darker on the cephalothorax and lighter on the tail. Blue cancer has conquered the whole world, but such coloring is artificially obtained. As it becomes clear from the name, blue cancer lives in Florida, and grows around 8-10 cm. Procambarus alleni populates Florida's stagnant waters and digs short holes during the seasonal lowering of the water level. The number of juveniles that a female brings depends on her size and ranges from 100 to 150 roach, but large females are able to bring up to 300 roach. The first few weeks they grow very quickly and the young shed every couple of days.
Blue florida cancer
Louisiana Dwarf Cancer (Cambarellus shufeldtii)
This is a small red-brown or gray cancer with dark horizontal stripes along the body. Pincers are small, elongated and smooth. Life expectancy is about 15-18 months, with males living longer, but becoming mature later than females. This is a small cancer that grows up to 3-4 cm in length. Because of its size, it is one of the most peaceful crayfish that can be kept with different fish.
Dwells Louisiana cancer in the United States, in southern Texas, Alabama, Louisiana. Females live for up to a year, during which they lay their eggs twice, carrying them for about three weeks. Calf a little, from 30 to 40 pieces.
Louisiana dwarf cancer
Australian Reddish (Red-fingered) Cancer (Cherax quadricarinatus)
Mature crayfish can easily be recognized by spiky outgrowths on claws from males, as well as bright red stripes on claws. The color ranges from bluish-green to almost black, with yellow spots on the shell. Dwells in the red-mongrel cancer in Australia, in the rivers of northern Queensland, where it is kept under the snags and stones, hiding from predators. It feeds mainly on detritus and small aquatic organisms, which it collects on the bottom of rivers and lakes. It grows up to 20 cm in length.
The female is very productive and lays from 500 to 1500 eggs, which are about 45 days.
Blue Cuban Cancer (Procambarus cubensis)
It lives only in Cuba. In addition to the attractive color, it is also interesting because it grows only 10 cm long and the pair can be kept in a small aquarium. In addition, it is quite unpretentious and well tolerates different conditions of content parameters.
True, despite the small size of the aquarium blue Cuban cancer, he is quite aggressive and eats aquarium plants.
Some general information
Crayfish are inhabitants of freshwater and saltwater bodies, which are increasingly seen in home aquariums. They have a thick shell, white rounded teeth, 19 pairs of limbs and shiny eyes on thin stalks. The function of the organ of touch is performed by the mustache; for the movement, protection and catching of prey, cancer uses jagged claws. The tail is divided into several chitinous segments.
Lead nocturnal, eat plant and animal food. The average length of an adult individual is 13 cm, although there are both giants growing more than 20 cm and dwarfs, not more than 4 cm. There are about 100 species of crayfish, but not everyone can live in captivity. So before you start a new pet in the aquarium, learn about it as much as possible.
Is it possible to contain crayfish with fish?
Opinions on this score are divided. Some aquarists say that crayfish and fish are incompatible creatures, while others experience proves the opposite. In fact, the truth is somewhere in the middle.
Crayfish with fish can contain, but only subject to certain rules.
It is important not only to choose the "right" cancer and the "right" fish that can coexist together, but also to create the ideal conditions for this.
Crayfish and conditions
Not every cancer can live in an aquarium, and even share it with someone. Consider species that are more or less friendly to fish.
Blue Cuban Cancer (Procambarus cubensis) suitable for keeping with fish most. In Russia from Cuba was introduced in 1980. Despite its name, the color of Cuban crayfish varies from sky blue to yellowish brown. The greatest intensity of color is manifested by the second year of life. Size - 10 cm.
Prefers sandy soil and water saturated with oxygen. Pay special attention to filtration and aeration of water. Recommended temperature - 25 degrees, hardness - 8-10 dGH, acidity - not more than 7.6 pH. You can feed the worms, bloodworms, pieces of meat, as well as plants - dwarf anubias, hornims, javanese moss. One of the mandatory conditions of detention - a weekly water change.
Red Florida Swamp Crab (Procambarus clarkii) - Another favorite of aquarists. Cancer length - 13 cm. The color of an adult cancer is largely determined by the diet. The color of chitin can vary from red-brown to blue-violet. Так, если кормить питомца мидиями, то превалировать будут синие оттенки, тогда как пища, насыщенная каротиноидами способствует появлению на теле и клешнях ярко-красных пятен. Кстати, красные флоридские болотные раки (несмотря на название) никогда не бывают красными целиком.
Приемлемая для них температура воды — 24-28 градусов, жесткость — средняя.
Важно организовать большое количество укрытий в виде коряг, камней или пластиковых растений.
To prevent the crayfish from crawling out of the aquarium, cover it with a vent with vents. These crayfish are omnivorous, but they will be especially happy with lean meat, worms, and a pipe worker. Do not give up carrots, peas, lettuce and dry fish food.
Blue Florida Cancer (Procambarus alleni). The unusual color is the result of breeding; in nature, the representatives of this group have a nondescript brown “robe”. Color young animals can be adjusted. Thus, maximum saturation can be achieved when grown in hard water (15-20 dGH).
Blue Florida cancer grows to 10 cm. The preferred water temperature is 20-25 degrees. Coarse gravel is recommended as a primer. Ceramics grottoes, artificial plants and snags will serve as good shelters. Do not settle in the aquarium a few males. The best "friends" of blue crayfish are calm large fish.
As for food, for the most part these crayfish are vegetarians. Although small fish may well become their prey. They love fish food, frozen vegetables, cereals.
Zebra Cancer (Cherax papuanus). This beautiful representative of arthropods reaches a length of 12-14 cm. The color varies from cream to brown. The temperature of the water should not be below 20 degrees - zebra crabs do not like it. Stiffness does not matter. But the presence of ammonia and nitrite in water can even be dangerous.
Crayfish feel great in splendid isolation, and as part of a small group of relatives. With fish get along well. Vegetable food will be welcome - oak leaves, soft plants with long stems and vegetables. Of the minuses worth noting the love of zebra cancer to digging plants and secretive way of life. See it during the day - a rarity, cancer shows vitality at night.
Australian Reddish Cancer (Cherax quadricarinatus). Great for novice aquarists, because unpretentious in the care. It has a variety of colors. The dominant color is blue with yellow patches. The areas between the segments delight the eye with red, orange and blue hues. Primary color depends on water hardness. The higher this figure, the richer the blue. Soft water contributes to the appearance of brown and black spots.
They tolerate temperature fluctuations well, but lowering below the mark of 18 degrees is undesirable. A prerequisite for the content - a lot of shelters (ceramic tubes, pots, snags) and a thick layer of soil. It feeds on the Red Canyon cancer of the leaves of beech and oak, vegetables, food for fish. Sometimes you should pamper him with worms and snails.
Despite the impressive size (adults reach a length of 20 cm), these crabs are peace-loving and calm.
Listed crayfish in the aquarium with fish get along fine. Differ in non-conflict nature, and bright original color makes them a real decoration of your mini pool.
It is necessary to know!
If you decide to share the crayfish with fish, then you should consider a few fundamental points.
- The aquarium should be roomy (from 90-100 liters).
- Well, when fish and crayfish about the same size.
- Shelters should be a lot. This may be coconut shells, clay pots, pipes, stones.
- Live plants in large numbers should not be planted - crayfish will definitely spoil them.
- Having a good filter and aeration is one of the basic conditions of detention.
Crayfish tend to crawl out of the water. Cover the pond with glass, providing a small gap for the passage of air. The soil should be soft, the water - rich in oxygen. The average temperature is 22-25 degrees, the water hardness is 8-12 dGH, the pH is 4.8-7.6. Crayfish need more oxygen than shrimp or fish. Provide them access to the surface with appropriate decorations and branched plants that allow them to climb.
They usually feed once a day, preferably in the evening, when the activity of the fish decreases. Before molting, the number of feedings is increased up to 3-5 times. At the same time, it is important to ensure that “dinner” of slow-moving crayfish is not eaten by nimble fish. You can put food directly into the shelter. In terms of food, crayfish are not too fastidious and they eat fish food well, salad, cabbage, worms, bloodworms, mollusks. Dry oak, alder and beech leaves clean the digestive system of the crayfish, helping to eliminate parasites.
Choose to live together small, fast fish without voile fins and filiform tails or strong large fish, but not predators. Remember that catfish, guppies, neons and other fish that are used at night to stay at the bottom, can become prey for cancer.
It is better to substitute fish to young individuals - they are easier to get used to new conditions. Crayfish are transported, as a rule, one by one, in a tank that does not allow light to pass through. Note that the temperature difference in the aquarium and in the tank for transportation should not exceed three degrees.
As you can see, the crayfish in the fish tank can exist peacefully. The main thing is to know how to create really favorable conditions for this.
The rules of the content in the decorative aquarium
The content of crustaceans is possible in small tanks with fresh, prepared water. If you carry out regular water changes, it is enough to have an aquarium of 40 liters per individual. Crustaceans can hide their food, so install grottoes or caves in the nursery. Filtration of the water and siphon of the bottom is necessary so that the remnants of the feed will not start to rot. Periodically check all shelters. Use the internal filter for the aquarium, on the outer crayfish can easily get out.
The maintenance of two or more crustaceans will require a larger tank with a capacity of 80-100 liters. The fact is that 1-2 times a year, aquarium crayfish molt, and if one congener catches the eye of another, they will eat the last one. Spacious aquarium with caches will protect everyone from cannibalism.
What is molt? Like all arthropods, crayfish molt. Their body is covered with a hard chitinous cover that is growing, and for the growth of the new, the old must be dropped. If the aquarium crustacean hides more often, it means that it is preparing for the process. After molting, he will eat his old shell, because there is still a lot of calcium in it to grow new. Fully cover will resume in a few days. Juveniles are subject to frequent molting, unlike mature ones.
In the natural habitat (and crayfish are found on almost all continents), they eat mostly plankton and plant food. Content in captivity involves feeding with special feeds for crustaceans, sinking granules and tablets. You can give vegetables - spinach, cucumbers, zucchini, lettuce, the remnants of aquarium plants. Also add to the diet protein foods, only 1 time per week: fish fillet and shrimp, live food in frozen form. Feeding - once a day in small portions. All crayfish are easily bred in captivity, but the rules for each species are different.
The body size of the crustaceans also depends on the particular species. The largest freshwater cancer in the world is the Tasmanian giant cancer (50 cm in length, weight - 5 kg). Other species are small, reaching 12-20 cm in length.
Compatibility of aquarium crayfish with fish
For all the time I watched aquarium crayfish, I was convinced that they did not pose any threat to fish and plants. Aquarium crayfish may not eat much of the plants, without any damage, pick up dead fish and attack sick people, but for healthy fish aquarium crayfish are completely safe. Once a golden fish got sick in my aquarium, its behavior was sluggish and it was more and more at the bottom of the aquarium with its abdomen resting on the ground. Crayfish well notice sick fish, which soon awaits death.
Although the aquarium cancer was much smaller than a goldfish, it still struggled to its hole with all its might. Having dragged the goldfish for a sufficiently long distance, the fish pulled out and swam away, and the crawfish again crawled up to it, clutching at the tail fin and dragging it towards the burrow. Watching a similar method of food extraction in the life of crayfish is very interesting.
To keep two or three aquarium crayfish, for example, in a hundred-liter aquarium will not harm the landscape, fish and plants at all, but on the contrary, your aquarium will be alive and much more interesting. So if you decide to watch something really interesting in your aquarium, get aquarium crayfish. Well, now let's more detail about the content of aquarium crayfish.
What to feed aquarium crayfish
Aquarium omnivorous crayfish and the menu for them can be varied. It may include feed of animal and vegetable origin. In contrast to their cold-water counterparts, exotic aquarium crayfish prefer animal food more and should not be bothered much about animal feed. Aquarium crayfish mostly feed on the same as fish.
For example, when I fed small fish with grated beef heart crayfish, the pieces of meat that fell to the bottom also ate well. You can use it in the feed as well: lean meat, slices of fresh fish, live or ice cream moths, as well as special food for bottom fish and this will be more than enough for a good nutrition of aquarium crayfish.
The only requirement is not to stuff crayfish into the aquarium everything, and if you are still somewhere, and someone will advise you to use aquarium crayfish as food: mollusks, insects, worms and tadpoles do not pay attention to let such advisers go and catch flies and cockroaches digging worms and go to the pond for tadpoles.
From the vegetable feed, the question arises, do they really need to be added to crayfish in the aquarium in which the plants grow? When I kept aquarium crayfish I never gave them vegetable food, and not because it was not possible. The fact is that there was simply no need for this in the aquarium in which the crayfish lived and so there were many plants.
I never noticed that crayfish gnawed on the leaves of aquarium plants, but sometimes they ate crayfish roots, but they didn’t dig them out specifically, but only in the area of their burrows and very little and without damage to the plants. In addition, why did someone decide that, if given to crayfish as vegetable feed: nettle, water lily, rdest, algae, carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, spinach, parsley then the crayfish will refuse young tender shoots of aquarium plants? But to experiment and try to give aquarium crayfish little by little various vegetable food you still need something suddenly and they like it.
Many arthropods, including crayfish shed. What it is? Since the chitinous cover of crayfish is tough, in order to grow, they need to be regularly discarded and covered with new ones. If you notice that the cancer is hiding more than usual, it means he was going to molt. Or, you suddenly saw that instead of a cancer you only have its shell in an aquarium ... Do not be intimidated and do not remove it! Crayfish eat shell after molting, as it contains a lot of calcium and helps to restore a new one. Full recovery after molting for cancer will take 3-4 days, provided that he can eat the old shell. Young crayfish molt often, but as they grow older, the frequency decreases.
IS IT POSSIBLE TO KEEP A RIVER CANCER IN THE AQUARIUM?
It is possible, but for a long time he does not live and definitely cannot be kept with fish and plants. Our crayfish is large and agile enough, it catches and eats fish, weeds weeds. It does not live long, because this kind of water is cold, the warm water we have only in summer, and even then, at the bottom it is rather cold. And in the aquarium is warmer than he needs. If you want to contain it, try it. But, only in a separate aquarium.
Reproduction of aquarium crayfish
If aquarium crayfish for you are quite interesting inhabitants of the aquarium, then if you wish, they can be diluted. It happens to breed aquarium crayfish sometimes for the simple reason that out of a small number of individuals, they all are same-sex. To avoid this, it is necessary to be able to distinguish between aquarium crayfish by sex or to increase the number of individuals in order for sure to be males and females among them.
The size of the crayfish, fertility, maturity, as well as the conditions of keeping and reproduction for different types of aquarium crayfish are not the same. So, for example, dwarf swamp cancer (Cambarellus puer) about which I am actually talking about in this article reach sexual maturity at the age of three months. Male growth rarely reaches a length of 2-2.5 cm, and the female does not grow more than 4 cm. Conditions: water temperature 15-27 ° C, hardness dH 5-10 °, acidity pH 6.5-7.8. The average lifespan of these types of crayfish is only two years.
The mating season usually comes after molting. There must be at least two or three females per male. For breeding it is recommended to use a special soil, rich in almond or oak leaves, alder cones and pebbles. In this ground, the female will burrow and hide while bearing and feeding the offspring. After mating, the female lays an average of 40-50 eggs and hides, almost without leaving the shelter for 14 or more days before the appearance of offspring.
Crayfish disease
There are many, but here we consider only the most common.
This disease is very common in aquarium arthropods. The reason is the poor conditions in the aquarium. The simplest microorganisms settle on chitinous integuments, as a result of which the cancer looks covered with brown or grayish-white foam. If this plaque spreads to the gills, then the animal will not be able to breathe and will die. For recovery, it is necessary to put in order the water and the number of inhabitants in the aquarium. At the time of illness, the animal is quarantined.
Microscopic flatworm Temnocephalan worms that reach them through snails, Branchiobdella leeches and green algae living on the gills can plague the cancers. You can get rid of them with regular salt baths and reducing the number of harmful neighbors.
