Crayfish bred but not berried.

[4abettalife]

I have a male and female blue Australian "lobster" (carefully sexed!) and I observed them breeding about 2-3 weeks ago. When they were finished I placed a divider in my 20G long to separate the two as I expected her to berry-up shortly and didn't want her exposed to further risk from the male. So far no signs of any eggs. The temp in the tank is about 75 and they are fed twice a day, a mixed diet of blanched vegetables, frozen brine shrimp, frozen spurilina brine shrimp, new life spectrum pellets and occasional frozen blood worms. I've read the females can store sperm packs for months. Is there anything I can do to encourage her to berry up? She hasn't molted since the breeding so I don't know if that give her a better chance. Any input would be fantastic! ?


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Fishfur]

Wish I knew more about crays. Unfortunately, my experience is with shrimp. Females don't mate until after they have moulted.. then they send out mating pheromones.

Are you absolutely certain you saw a mating take place ? I only ask because in shrimp, it's so fast you pretty much have to be looking at them already to catch it and even then, if you've not seen it before you might not recognize what happened. If crays are anything like shrimp at all, perhaps you saw an interaction, but not actual mating ? If so, that would explain the lack of eggs.

 

[4abettalife]

Yes, I'd say I'm 99% confident. I had watched some YouTube videos so I would know what I was looking for. I was actually right there for the whole thing because I was cleaning the tank and accidentally frightened the female and she scooted right back to where the male was without knowing it. They scuffled briefly and he grabbed her and my initial response was thinking I should break them up because he may try to kill her. But I gave them a second and he slowly turned her over until she was in the right position and just held onto her claws and just subtly repositioned her occasionally. It definitely looked like all of the YouTube videos I had watched on breeding. He had her there for 20 minutes or so and then gently let her go. So, I'm pretty sure they did breed.... But then I expected her to berry up a week later and that didn't happen. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of info out there on what to expect and what factors influence things, so I'm a little in the dark about what to expect. Any thoughts?


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice