Common name: CPO
English name: Orange Dwarf Crayfish
Scientific name: Cambarellus Patzcuarensis (var. orange )
Origin: Mexico, Lago de Pátzcuaro
Size male/female: 4 cm / 3 cm or 1.6 inch / 1.2 inch
Water temperature: 10 - 26 °C
Water Parameters: pH 6.7 - 8.5
Behaviour: a bit agressive, especially males to males
Difficulty: easy
Description:
CPO´s with good genes are bright orange colored. The patterns can be striped or spotted.
My experience on this species:
Sometimes difficult to breed because the young crays are sensitive.
Breeding can happen as early as 1 inches in size. Male will pin female on her back to transfer sperm which the female can hold onto for long periods of time until she feels its safe to extract her eggs.
Eggs take approx 30 days to hatch.
Plants are not touched but they are trying to catch shrimps. In a well decorated tank with enough space that´s not a big problem.
Remarks:
Take care of enough hiding places like caves and add leaves.
Many adults can live in a 10 gallon tank. The number of hiding places should always outnumber the crayfish to minimize fighting. Babies require many hiding places or they will cannibalize each
other during molts.
Adults are best kept in separate tanks or in pairs of at least 10 gallons. Better using gravel or sands as the aquariums substrate and kept on its own or in an aquarium with many hiding
places.
Most all crayfish will cannibalize conspecifics if given the opportunity.If not given sufficient space or hiding places, young will cannibalize each other, mostly during molts.
Feeding:
Crayfish are scavengers, omnivore and detrivore, they will eat whatever they find. There are many commercially avail foods for invertebrates or plain old shrimp pellets & flake food is fine.
Crayfish will often eat their own molts to regain otherwise lost nutrients.
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