Exploding Population of Dwarf Crayfish

[dwencel24]

Hi everyone,

I want to consult about my issue regarding the exploding population of my dwarf crayfish. Its been about at least a month now when I bought a crayfish with eggs. Before that I have 2 orange and 1 brown/black crayfishes. The one that I bought is a dark brown dwarf crayfish. Now my 75 gallon aquarium has ranges from light to dark brown dwarf crayfish everywhere, ranging from a micron to adult size. Some of them are missing either one of their claws or both. This is even true for one of my orange crayfish. It seems that they are fighting overtime and everywhere. They don't harm other fishes. In fact, they are afraid and most likely just raise their claw when they get close to any fish and start hiding. This is not true though when these guys see each other.

In addition, I have 4 Corydoras pygmaeus, had 4 Corydoras habrosus, and 4 cherry shrimps. Now, I still have all my Corydoras pygmaeus but only have 2 of each my Corydoras habrosus and cherry shrimps. I can only speculate that they have started to hunt other creature at night. This is really sad because my 2 Corydoras habrosus cannot be considered as group anymore (as preferred by Corydoras), and I have been thinking of purchasing more cherry shrimps.

Any suggestions, comment and/or opinion. Thanks in advance and Happy Holidays !!!

 

[Autumnsky]

In my experience the Crays will eat each other at any chance they get, when molting they are fragile. Try and find homes, sell to lfs, or separate for feeders vs. "pet" Dwarf crays or get them a different tank.

Long while back when I had babies CPO they eventually ate each other and that took care of the problem naturally. At the time I didn't realize this would be an issue but was warned about it after the fact!