My crayfish days

[H. laoticus]

Hey guys,
I had an electric blue lobster/crayfish a while back and it was one of my favorite pets. Bubbles, as he was called, grew extremely fast, molting once a month (higher temps around 82F speed it up) and was always busy in the tank digging or eating my plants. One of the best parts is that they have great regenerative properties. He lost and arm after an epic fight (long story) and quickly grew a small one on the next molt.

Here are pics, the first being my electric blue

During his younger days, a bright blue

Here is a fresh molt from Bubbles

Here is the comparison between the size and color of the new and old Bubbles, freaking awesome!

Bubbles walkin around the tank

Bubbles chilling under drift wood, his favorite spot

Here is another crayfish of mine, Tank was his name and he has massive and powerful claws. Drew blood from me too xD

Btw, my electric blue crayfish was a gorgeous site to see when he walked around the tank.
He had perfect antennas that were 6 inches long! When he walked, they would sway around like whips and just looked cool
The last time I checked out a local pet store, they were selling massive rusty crayfish (I think that's the common name for Tank's kind). I mean, they dwarfed Tank...One had claws the size of Tank's entire body
I also saw an electric blue crayfish for sell that was very, very large as well. I'm talking lobster size. It was a beautiful bright blue color, not the darker, greenish color Bubbles turned into. I should've bought it :wall:
So yeah, just sharing with you guys

 

[Roski]

Whoa, those are some beautiful colors!

I love the purple tinge. Thanks for sharing

 

[SixShot666]

Nice pictures of Bubble!!! :clap::clap::clap:
I seen these for sale at my LPS but didn't have the spare tank to keep them in. So from what I saw with your crayfish....It lose it's electric blue coloration as it mature??? :?
That's mean that those nice bright blue one I saw at the LPS are still young right??

 

[H. laoticus]

Nice pictures of Bubble!!! :clap::clap::clap:
I seen these for sale at my LPS but didn't have the spare tank to keep them in. So from what I saw with your crayfish....It lose it's electric blue coloration as it mature??? :?
That's mean that those nice bright blue one I saw at the LPS are still young right??

Thanks
Yup, with the species I've dealt with, anyways
It's too bad the bright blue goes away so soon, but you get a surprise of new colors
If they're tiny, around 3 inches they are fairly young. They can get pretty large, too.

You should try it, they're so awesome
It's like a scorpion. The cool part is
they will molt about every month and make hides by moving around gravel and digging. They're pretty good ambush predators as well.

 

[Galapoheros]

Cool, I've always had an interest in crayfish. I plan on hunting next time I visit my parents, there is a lot of floodplain I have access too along a river there. I was tempted to buy a blue one in an lps here but, just didn't do it. My giant water bug is the only thing left in my 10 gal, it ate everything else but it'd leave a crayfish alone. Those giant water bugs will eat way more than I thought they would, if you give it to them.

 

[dragonblade71]

Amazing colour. And I like the threatening pose in the last photo!

 

[spider]

That last one looks like it could be a Orconectes perfectus...?

 

[H. laoticus]

I think I got the ID of my blue on incorrectly.
The color may stay on some blue ones, but mine didn't so I wondered why.
Well, today I was checking up on where to buy different species of crayfish and found this site:
http://www.watercritter.com/products/LARGE-Redclaw-Crayfish-(Cherax-quadricarinatus).html

Mine looks just like the Redclaw Crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus) except mine is a female due to the lack of orange on the claws.

And here's a very nice vid I found of a blue one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXgf7fXXQWA

I'm definitely jumping back into crayfish one of these days.

 

[H. laoticus]

Actually It might just have been the diet he was on. Apparently you can maintain a bright blue if you feed them specific food items.

 

[H. laoticus]

Read a bit more, which might just cancel out my last post. Blue crays can lose their blue, but regain it after molting again. However, there are others that simply lose the blue. Some of the crayfish may have had one blue parent and one brown parent, so sometimes it's simply up to luck if you get a blue one all the way through. Other times you will get a brown/greenish one after a few molts.