Electric Blue Crayfish
Freshwater Electric Blue Crayfish
Scientific Name: Procamarus Alleni
Other Names: Blue Crayfish, Blue Lobster, Everglades Crayfish
Origin: Florida
Size: Adults 10 - 18 cm
Water Parameters: Temp 55-75F, Ideal PH 7.0,
Kronos The Crayfish
Keeping a Crayfish
If you have at least a 20 gallon aquarium, you may want to try one of these monsters for A pet. This one is named Kronos. My son named him after the greek god in mythology. He is an interesting creature for a fact. These guys are escape artist so be warned. Don't give them any thing to climb up on or they will be out in no time. Do give them some places to hide though. Caves and plants are recommended. They do prefer to stay on the bottom and live plants will not last long at all just so you know.
Breeding Crayfish
Breeding these crays is not difficult as long as you have male and female. The males have longer more pointed claws and an extra set of legs near his vent that look like hockey sticks. These are used to hold the female during mating. The female will care for her eggs and after hatching, the young will ride around on her for a couple of weeks.
To encourage breeding there are a few things you can do , such as give them places to hide like caves and lots of plants. Try adding a few cheaper live plants for them to munch on and play in. Increase the amount of water you change when doing your regular maintenance by an extra 10% for a few weeks. Last thing is to feed a little extra protein to your crayfish. If they are happy and healthy they will breed.
What To Feed a Crayfish
Feeding is not a problem because they are omnivores and scavengers. They will eat anything you give them or anything they can catch. We feed ours a variety of flakes, algae wafers, and sometimes shrimp pellets.They are not good at catching fish but will if given an opportunity.
Molting takes place on average twice a year. Leave the old exoskeleton in the tank and the crays will eat it. They will hide in a cave or pipe until the new exoskeleton hardens. They usually get very active after the molting process is over and seem to be hungry all the time. Don't over feed them no matter how much your tempted to toss in another meal to that cute little blue face!
Consider an occasional calcium tablet. Once every few weeks I will drop about half of a 500mg oystershell calcium tablet in the tank per adult cray. This makes sure they get the calcium and magnesium they need. They don't require any salt at all but can tolerate some salt if you use it in your tanks.
Make sure your in it for the long haul if you decide to get one of your own. They can live up to 20 years.
If you have any questions just ask. They are cool pets to have. Everybody that visits my home seems to really get a kick out of the big blue monster in my aquarium!
