Breeding Crustations And Molluscs

[aether.ed]

Hello all

Need a bit of advise, I need a continuous supply of crunchy shelled creatures. like clams, crayfish, crabs and snails etc. I used to breed cherry shrimp and it was a case of put em in a tank and watch them multiply. I need bigger critters than cherry shrimp and need them to be as easy to care for as the shrimps were and as easy to breed. All suggestions welcome!

Thanks in advance

Ed

 

[Chad]

Well, crayfish come to mind. They don't have a spawning season so can be kept going all year long. I used to keep them when I was a kid, they were one of the first aquatic things I kept as I could just go grab them out of the local lake or river. I did find that the location I got them from made a difference in spawning. For example the ones from the river seemed to spawn when I lowered the flow and the lake crawdads would pretty much spawn all the time with out me doing much other than a large water change. They don't need a huge tank either. Depending on how many you will have a 20 gallon long or a 40 gallon breeder would suffice nicely.

Crabs tend to be difficult to breed so I'm not sure that's the route to go if you want a feeder.

 

[aether.ed]

I was wanting to do crayfish but the only ones available to me are the big blue jobbies at £25 a pop. Wouldnt be so bad but if i wanted them to breed id need to dedicate a sizeable tank for them. I will probably end up with them tho if i go down that route because as far as im aware they are the only ones legal in the U.K. Those microkrebs or what ever they are called (the self cloning ones) would be ideal but just cant source them due to them being illegal here.

The invasive species are about tho you just gotta catch em urself and i really dont know where to start! Any cray fishing tips would be very helpful!

Aparantly some of the rarer crabs like the panther crabs and things like that are quite easy to breed (not requiring salt water etc) its just a matter or finding them in the first place, again i dont know where to start.

There are crabs living in lake Tanganyika which must be fully freshwater, id love to know what they are and how to acquire a few.

What about apple snails?

Didn't want to mention the F word (feeder) as i diddnt want to upset you invert lovers but for anyone intrested its for Mbu Puffer munchies so would have to be of a reasonable size for him to take notice!

 

[Chad]

Funny, I didn't think about the snails. I have found mystery snails breed readily but the young were difficult to keep alive. Though I must admit I wasn't trying to breed them nor was I trying to raise them. If I can get them to breed on accident I'm sure with actual effort it would be simple.

What are you feeding them too? A puffer?

 

[aether.ed]

Funny, I didn't think about the snails. I have found mystery snails breed readily but the young were difficult to keep alive. Though I must admit I wasn't trying to breed them nor was I trying to raise them. If I can get them to breed on accident I'm sure with actual effort it would be simple.

What are you feeding them too? A puffer?

Yeah its for an Mbu puffer so crunchier the better! Thats good news bout the mystery snails, very tempted just cant figure out how to tell if they are male or female. I do like the fact that their tank would require very little maintenance as they thrive in oxygen depleted swamps and bogs. I guess that the key to keeping the young alive would be ensuring there is plenty of biofilm and mico organisms in the tank for them (challenge being the adults would have wiped the tank clean. Dont know if it is the case but it would make some sense.). Also would like to know the breeding rate of them, are they as prolific as their smaller relatives?

The cherries i used to breed for axolotl munchies were perfect, breeding quicker than the axos could munch em. Ideally id like something like that, being able to take out a daily feeds worth without even denting the population, cherry shrimp are like guppies in that respect, its just relentless! Some sort of livebearing or larval stage skipping shelled critter is what i need!

 

[Chad]

Cherry shrimp aren't really the right food though. You need a clam or some harder shelled crustacean.

 

[aether.ed]

Yeah exactly. Just need something that breeds as readily and as quickly as them. As you mentioned crays would be perfect. Lets say a big mbu (mines far from a giant at the mo, doesnt hurt to be prepared!) would maybe munch a medium sized crayfish every other day but lets say 10crays a month for now, how big a tank would i need to fit a colony big enough to provide 10 reasonable sized crays a month? It would be nice to know if on this sort of scale it is even possible in a tank or is it more a pond situation? Whats the breeding cycle like, for example one cherry shrimp pops out 30ish babies every 20-30days and within 2 months those babies were breeding themselves with each female having another 30ish babies and the population went from 20 to 1000s in 6 months, very quick turnover! What are the crays like in that respect?

 

[Chad]

My spawning was incidental so I don't have all the details. There are some good resources though on Google.