New Orange Dwarf Crayfish (CPO)

Posted by Will on 24th Mar 2014

A month ago DSC_4036I got about 20 Orange Dwarf Crayfish (Cambarellus Patzcuarensis var. orange ) from a fellow hobbyist here in Denver. I ended up putting them in my 40 breeder with my Blue Rili Shrimp. The tank uses RO water remineralized with Salty Shrimp Shrimp Mineral GH/KH+ and should have a GH of 8 and a KH of 4 with a temp in the mid 70′s. The substrate is ecocomplete.

They were about the size of young Blue Rili’s when I got them and their color wasn’t great so I really had to look closely to pick them out from the Blue Rili’s. They have grown quickly in the last month and now are larger than my Blue Rili’s and are a beautiful orange.

CPO’s max out around 1.5 inches but they are feisty little guys and will often face off with each other and flash their claws. Sometimes they will fight more and one will lose a claw which will regrow over time. When I walk by the tank they also flash their claws at me tooDSC_4029

It is said they don’t eat plants but mine seem to have torn up my giant hairgrass in my tank. I only had 6-8 plugs of it but now I have 1 or 2 and those have been cut down to about an inch vs the 6 inches they were before. I haven’t seen them catching any shrimp but they will sometimes charge at them but the shrimp have been faster so far. I added some Cholla wood to their tank to provide them hiding places. Without enough hiding places they can cannibalize each other. They are particularly vulnerable just after molting.

These guys have a lot of personality and are more entertaining to watch than shrimp. Hopefully I will start seeing berried females soon!DSC_4030

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