"Blue Lobsters"

[conipto]

Well, it is an arthropod, but I figured this belongs here..

I saw at a pet store the other day a "blue lobster" for sale. I really does actually resemble a small lobster, and it's definately blue. I know the rarity of blue lobsters in the wild, has someone figured out how to breed the pigmentation trait, or is this just a funky looking shrimp or something? for 14 bucks, if this thing is going to grow into a real blue lobster, It's mine.

Anyone know anything about this?

Bill

 

[Phillip]

forgot where I saw it but...

There is indeed a species that is blue. I'm guessing that's what you saw. Can't remember if they are technically crayfish or lobsters but they are certainly cool looking. There are some other cool colored ones as well that are available in the pet trade. To find them all you have to do is look for crayfish and check a few sites until you hit someone with some variety.

Phil

 

[Lycanthrope]

they are indeed crayfish. we sell them where i work, for $24.99 each. i will say though, if you put it in your aquarium it will eat every appropriatly sized fish in your tank.

 

[Botar]

Bill,

I raised them for a couple of years and supplied local pet stores. They are easy to breed, but canibalism is a problem.

Botar

 

[Wade]

I've seen these in pet stores and always assumed they were crafish, and most proabably are. However, last year I went to "That Fish Place" (in Lancaster, PA) and they had a "Blue Lobster" that really was that. If I remember correctly (from what was written on the tank), it was a species of FRESHWATER lobster from Australia (or the region). It was guite large, maybe 15" or more, and had the massive "lobster-like" claws. They wanted like $250 for it.

One thing that differeciates crayfish from lobsters is reproduction. Lobsters have a planktonic larval stage that looks nothing like an adult lobster, while crayfish hatch out as mini crayfish.

Annother nifty and pinchy crustacian I'd like to get my hands on is the giant freshwater prawn. These things are huge, the body and tail can be around 12" long and the males have these massive, elongated claws that can be as long as the body, so the total length can be like two feet! They range from southern Florida and all through the east coast of central and south America.

Wade

 

[Phillip]

that reminds me...

I forgot to mention another way you can tell if it's a crayfish versus a lobster is claw shape. Lobsters have the rounded chunky claws where crayfish have slender pinty ones likes Botars pic shows. I've seen that Blue Lobster Wayne is talking about on TV and it rocks. Also a few days back Animal Planet had some show with Lobster morphs on it including White ( albino ) and the frekiest of all a half albino half normal that was white on one side and brown on the other split right down the middle. Truly bizzare looking actually had a line going down the center top and bottom where the colors split. At 1st I thought it was fake till they showed it moving around. Now what made it truly bizzare was that it was also half female half male. I'm not even going to try and figure out how that works. lol Needless to say they've been playing with Lobster genes quite a bit here lately.

Phil

 

[conipto]

Hey Botar,

I figured they were in fact some type of crawfish, but they're still pretty cool. Any chance you could whip me together a basic caresheet for them? I assume they are freshwater, and if they are, I'm probably going to pick one up. The pet shop had it in a small pool of water in an empty KK, I figured that's probably not the right way to do it..

Bill

 

[Wade]

I would also like to know his technique for breeding them. I've kept crayfish but never had them reproduce.

One really cool think about these animals is how responsive they are (compared to most invertebrates). Crayfish practically beg for food when they see you walk by the tank.

I friend of mine who runs the arthropod zoo at the NC museum of natural history told me that he can no longer eat shellfish after working with lobsters. He says they are highly intellegent and can recognize individual keepers!

Wade

 

[Botar]

I set them up in a 10-gallon tank at first. Small groups work best... 2 females to 1 male. Feed them plenty to reduce the chance of them feeding on each other but beware... introduction of "meat" will result in massive fighting. They can smell it when it hits the water. They do fine on an occasional piece of fish or shrimp pellets, but their primary food source in the wild is vegetation. Frozen corn seems to work best. Provide them with plenty of hides.

Reproduction seems to be seasonal. So if you want to "force" reproduction, drop the water temp for a while then raise it. That should result in a breeding response.

I kept them in water around 70 degrees. They are from Florida, so I thought the warmer temps would be appropriate. They seemed to flourish at these temps. The temp change was just a matter of a few degrees difference for a few weeks.

I kept a "bubbler" and tank filter going in the tank. Whether or not it is necessary, I don't know. Since you don't often see crawfish in stagnant water, I felt they would do better with better water quality. They do not react well to chemicals, so make sure the water has been dechlorinated. There seems to be some debate over using water that has been "softened". Seems they need the calcium in harder water for proper formation of their exoskeleton.

It is difficult to find much info on the particular species, the species name escapes me, but if you do some research on crawfish farming, you'll find info that applies well to this species.

As time progressed and my operation increased, I moved them to a 100 gallon stock tank in my spider room with a small pond fountain. This aerated the water and provided humidity to my spider room. When the spider collection increased, the blue crawfish were phased out and a large humidifier took their place.

The biggest difficulty I had with them was canibalism (baby on baby) and accidently cleaning out the tank with a gravel vacuum without realizing young had hatched... happened twice.

Let me know if you have any other specific questions.

Botar

 

[alidpayne]

these can also be bought on ebay. (and yes I know they arent supposed to... but they do) I ran across them when I was looking for supplies for a Koi pond not too long ago.

Ali

 

[That Guy]

Homer simpson...

ummm.....Bule lobster...

 

[jper26]

I had one once he shed his claws and had trouble eating died a few weeks later. Hey wade i live 10 minutes from that fish place in lancaster im actually going there tommorrow lol.

 

[phoenixxavierre]

Wow! Haven't seen these in a long while! I grew up catching them in midwestern creeks! They weren't as common as the typically colored crawdads (what we used to call them), but we did come across them a few times a year at least!

I kept them in tanks with my tropical fish.


Very cool indeed!

Cheers,

Paul