Crayfish of North America- Dwarf Species?

[GartenSpinnen]

Yesterday while I was out I found a bunch of these tiny crayfish under some rocks in a local stream. They were pretty colorful and interesting looking, so I decided to take several of them home with me and put them in a fish bowl. They seem to be doing very well, dining on betta food which they all seem to very much like. They are even communally feeding, which I have never seen crayfish do before.

At first I thought they may be babies, but now I am wondering if they could be some kind of dwarf species? They act nothing like the larger local species I have seen, which like to cannibalize. Instead, all of these little things are hiding together, eating together, and they are really damn cool to watch.

I was reaching into the tank earlier, and one of them latched onto my fingernail. The largest one is about 3/4", so it was pretty cute to see something so tiny trying to attack my fingernail.

These things are pretty neat to watch. It is funny watching them pick up tiny pieces of gravel and build little rock fortresses. Not sure if I have 'dwarf' crayfish, but either way they are pretty cool little critters. Is there such a thing as dwarf crayfish species?

I will take some pictures a bit later on of them to see if anyone knows what I might have. They all look a bit different from one another as well, having really subtle coloration and pattern differences from individual to individual. I was thinking that maybe this is due to molt cycle, as well as them being transparent it may have some part of what they eat which makes them appear different.

 

[b.appel13]

the way you describe them they could be marmokrebs. Someone may have released them. They are all female and actually clone themselves. They can live in community type setting with very little cannibalizing. Ive been trying to get my hands on a few but havent been able to.

 

[myrmecophile]

I have noticed that if well fed juvies of many species do well together. However as they mature there is a greater likelihood of cannibalism. Watch them closely esp. after molts as that is when you are most likely to lose them I certainly hope that no sorry loser has released marmokrebs someplace they don't belong. If so they should be strung up. .

 

[H. laoticus]

Yes, i believe there is such a thing as a dwarf species of crayfish.
I have read that they do better communally than the larger ones and you can actually put live plants into your setup with less worries. They can also live more peacefully with fish than large crays.

Do you have pics?

 

[Galapoheros]

Yeah there are dwarfs, they're also called "Pygmies". I remember reading about them in this crawdad book I have. It says here that Texas has four species and get to around an inch long or less. Google "Cambarellus". North east tx has C. puer and C. shufeldtii. But I've found a bunch of small ones that don't really look like Cambarellus that are around an inch. I know they were adults because I've seen a bunch with eggs under the tail.

 

[Travis K]

Nate, where are the pics?