Blue (not really) Crayfish

[debbieg]

Hi,

A friend of mine purchased a blue crayfish from Petco about a month ago. One week later, it moulted. There were no problems with the moulting, of course it was weak for a couple of days. It's eating really well, and I know the water quality is good.

The problem is that it is no longer blue. It's been 3 weeks since it moulted, and it's now just a dark mess of browns and grays. The pet store offered two possibilities.

1. It isn't eating the right diet.
I know she feeds it flakes, vegetables, and guppies. I'm not sure if she gives it anything else.

2. There's nothing wrong, and it will get it's color back after the next moult.
From what I've read, their color is supposed to intensify after each moult - not disappear and reappear.

We also thought of stress, but quickly ruled that out. It has good water, plenty of food including live plants, and its own cave.

The pet store couldn't give her the scientific name of the crayfish that she bought, but she says it was bright blue and that it now looks like bait.

Any idea why or how the color would disappear?

Thanks a bunch,
Debbie

 

[hc8719]

i could only say, its not really a blue crayfish...

some animals change color over time, my goldfish did

 

[hc8719]

ok found something else, heres a quote from http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=1641

"The Hammers Cobalt Blue Lobster are brilliant blue, which intensifies as the crayfish matures. Because of their selective breeding, they will not loose their coloration, except in times of stress. They may arrive in a brown coloration due to the stress of shipping, but will eventually regain their bright blue coloration. They stay relatively small in the aquarium, only attaining a total length of 5 inches."

 

[Menagerie]

The pet store couldn't give her the scientific name of the crayfish that she bought, but she says it was bright blue and that it now looks like bait.

Another explanation is the crayfish was somehow colored prior to being sold to the pet store. Hormones, dyes and special foods can make a big difference. As an example, there was a beautiful red Mbuna cichlid that showed up in a LFS once from a local breeder. The coloring was unnatural due to a diet of krill. Krill is not part of a normal Mbuna diet and over time the fish went back to their natural color of yellow/orange. Totally unrelated to fish, but flamingos get their vivid coloration from shrimp and a flamingo on a poor diet can be quickly spotted (I forget if it's all species of flamingo or not, but it's just another example).