Impossible... so confused

[bloodlucky]

Okay so I have a 10 gal housing 2 adult marbled crayfish and a couple of their offspring who are still not even an inch in length yet. But today I got home and I saw a carcass of one of the adults (not a shed, a carcass, I can clearly see the difference.) Here's a bad shot but some of the remainders of the carcass being dragged away by the baby





As you can see the claws nor the part of the shell are clear and thin, they are solid, colored and fresh. There are also other large body parts lying around from the same dead crayfish.

However, what threw me off is that now there's a middle aged crayfish, I have no idea where it came from. It's about the size of when I got them, he's not even near adult so it can't be any of the 2 adults I've had, yet it can't be a fry since they were all born at the same time and aren't even a month old.

The other adult is still fine, she's actually the parent of all the offspring. I am so so so confused as to where this middle aged one came from, especially on the same date that the adult crayfish died

 

[bloodlucky]

Any ideas?

 

[Fishfur]

Only thing I can think of is that what you think is a dead cray is in fact a shed shell and the 'new' one is the one that moulted.

But if it's too small to be the missing cray, than it has to have been there all along, hiding. They can be very successful hiders. Stranger things have happened.

 

[Sillyfishies]

This whole thing seems fishy... I think we have a killer on our hands... DUN DUN DUN.

But seriously, it's either a molt or it's a very good hider.

 

[bloodlucky]

Probably, although I don't see how. I take everything out if the tank every time I change the water, and it's always been two adults and a few fry. And it's not possible to shrink twice your size after a molt either XD

 

[AliGee]

They can have some pretty tremendous growth spurts after a good molt... Especially with the nutrients from a carcass. I wouldn't rule it out that it's one of the fry. I have read stories very similar to this, so it's definitely not unheard of. Whether it was a hider or a grower we may never really know, haha! That is creepy though!

 

[Antler]

They can have some pretty tremendous growth spurts after a good molt... Especially with the nutrients from a carcass. I wouldn't rule it out that it's one of the fry. I have read stories very similar to this, so it's definitely not unheard of. Whether it was a hider or a grower we may never really know, haha! That is creepy though!

This could be it. I had 3 young 3/4" long blue crayfish in my 10 gallon 6-7 weeks ago, all from the same "hatch" of young. One got eaten during a molt about a month ago. Of the other two, one is now about 3" long + the claws, while the oth0 (eaten last night during molt) just over an inch. Both ate well, I'd feed them enough that they'd always have leftover food lying around. One just grew way faster than the other for some reason.

 

[AliGee]

Not that great of a comparison and the pics don't do justice but this is my CPO yesterday and today. Had I not found his molt first I would have been shocked. Insane size difference.

 

[Fishfur]

It's amazing how much they can expand before the new shell hardens, isn't it ? Nice cray though.