Can someone I.D. this crayfish?

[Carmex]

I got him from a petco that kept him in a dark refugium for quite some time. He's most likely malnourished and faded, but he likes eating. They said he came with a feeder goldfish shipment. He's about 5 inches long.

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[Autumnsky]

From the thin tail, my first thought would be a male.

It could be a Marmorkrebs - self cloning crayfish. Is should get more color when it has some cover and plants. You should be able to compare better when it colors up.

 

[CatfishRex]

You can tell it's male from the last photo the first pair of forward swimmerettes
Being forward facing

 

[Carmex]

He's getting a 20g as soon as I move things around. His favorite food seems to be minnows.

I tried giving him some hikari crustacean sticks. He likes them, but seems to have a hard time finding them once they fall to the substrate. Personally, I think the gravel makes it hard to see them.

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[Autumnsky]

You can use a little glass dish like a Petri Dish and use a tongs to place the food in the dish so it is easy for him to pick for it. Remove the dish/food after about 12-18 hours if he didn't eat it.

Make sure to create some nice hide outs, caves and tunnels for him to crawl around on. Make sure they are nice an secure, you can even silicone them (do some checking about which variety to use if you don't use the aquarium type. Nothing with mildew inhibitor/fungicide I know that part.)

Any fast growing plant like Elodia/Anacharis is good to tuck in and around the tank but he will likely knock them out and its okay if they float, you can "replant" when you get the chance. It will give him something to do.

 

[Carmex]

I'm frequently overrun with guppy grass. Would that plant be okay?

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[Autumnsky]

I'm frequently overrun with guppy grass. Would that plant be okay?

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Yes. It might get chopped up a little and you might have to watch if it is gonna clog the filter intake. A coarse sponge over it would help and you would just clean that off once in awhile.

 

[CatfishRex]

They do enjoy snacking on plants

 

[Carmex]

How often should he get minnows? Does he even need them? I can't really stand to watch the minnows suffer, so I kill them quickly before I feed to my crayfish.

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[CatfishRex]

I can't say for sure but maybe once a week? I have live minnows with all of mine and some rarely catch any. But, they do enjoy them so if you have them and don't mind I'd say that once a week is a good treat

 

[livefishguy124]

i feed my crays flakes and pellets, minnows could be a treat, he looks like a marbled cray, once he gets more color it will be easier to tell, and 1 1/2-2 inch pvc pipe are great, the crays love them, 5-6 inch lengths are perfect. he will love the grass. crays will eat about anything.

 

[Carmex]

I gave him some guppy grass and he ignored it. I tried lettuce and he put his claws up at it. So I used tongs to give it to him. I think he ate it.

He likes the hikari crustacean sticks. He can't see them very well when they fall to the gravel. I'm going to switch him to pool filter sand but I have to get him a bigger tank. It 20g long okay? Or is a high better?

He seems to like climbing and I was thinking I could make him a rocky paradise thing.

That pvc sounds good too. I could make a pyramid thing.

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[CatfishRex]

From the thin tail, my first thought would be a male.

It could be a Marmorkrebs - self cloning crayfish. Is should get more color when it has some cover and plants. You should be able to compare better when it colors up.

It can't be marmorkrebs which is marbled crayfish, because it's a male, but Procambarus fallax the slough crayfish is pretty much identical, aside from p.fallax needing a male to reproduce. Marmorkrebs is Procambarus fallax forma virginalis

 

[Carmex]

I'll take some more pictures tomorrow. His color seems like it changed a little.

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[Autumnsky]

It can't be marmorkrebs which is marbled crayfish, because it's a male, but Procambarus fallax the slough crayfish is pretty much identical, aside from p.fallax needing a male to reproduce. Marmorkrebs is Procambarus fallax forma virginalis

Ah, good catch on my mistake - all females, didn't think through that far - was just thinking about pattern and color!

 

[CatfishRex]

Ah, good catch on my mistake - all females, didn't think through that far - was just thinking about pattern and color!

Lol, it's basically the same species anyhow

 

[Autumnsky]

Lol, it's basically the same species anyhow

Yes. But with a mighty big difference!

 

[Carmex]

More pictures, as promised.

I took most of these under the light of my sunfish tank to try to show his colors better. He doesn't have any tankmates.

 

[livefishguy124]

he looks like a marbled to me

 

[Autumnsky]

Yes. Nice looking.