Question About My Crayfish

[Amina]

Okay, as some of you know I have a Crayfish named Smeagle--which some of you might have seen the video I posted awhile ago of him.

Anyways... I've been trying to figure out what kind of Crayfish he is.

When I first bought him, he was a lighter brown, and labeled as (Crayfish).

He has molted about 4 times now. The 4th time he turned a very light blue. I expected him to change back to brown, but he is still light blue, and its been about a month.

As I was looking up information about Crayfish on the web; none of it seemed accurate. Or is my Crayfish just strange?

One site said that light blue Crayfish are extremley rare.

Another said that Crayfish did great with other fish. (After almost losing my Angelfish to him...I definatley disagree.)
I couldnt find a single picture of a Crayfish that looked like mine. I found an "Electric blue Crayfish" which is an almost neon blue. But those crayfish were MUCH darker than him. There were pics of those crayfish as babies too. And even as a baby they were neon blue. (but when mine was younger it was brown)

This same site also said that they didnt like meat? ...however Smeagle LOVES meat! (paticulary Prime rib, and Roast beef) I stick a small piece on the end of a straightened hanger. He grabs hold of the meat with one claw, and with the other he grabs onto the hanger and pulls it off O.O ....it's very interesting to watch...kind of creepy really....

This same site also says that Crayfish are shy, and hide most of the time.
Smeagle however, is very social. When you walk by the tank he rushes out of his tunnel to the front of the tank with his claws open as if he's trying to attack me or something lol. When you approach the tank and open the lid to feed him. HE GOES NUTS! ..he absoutley cant wait to be fed, hes hungry all the time!

And he is quite the escape artist. When I had him in the 10 gallon tank, he somehow managed to climb out of the tank and spend the night fighting with my cat. I found him in the morning behind my other fishtank, all dried up and covered in dust. (He was very happy to be put back in the tank) After that I movied him to a 15 gallon because it is longer vertical than horisontal. Plus he now has more room. He still tries to escape though. He climbs up the tube connecting to the air pump and sticks his claws up out of the water. He also climbs up the filter tube and does the same thing. I have bangs of gravel covering the open holes so that he wont escape again.

The tank is right next to my larger tank containing my 2 Angels and 2 Gourami's. I have a towel placed in between the two because Smeagle was like freaking out trying to get to the anglefish and eat them. He's a very strange little fellow. I'll post some pics of him in a bit. I just have to resive them first.

The day I bought him

After his first shed

3rd shed...heres the umm molting or whatever its called

Him playing around in the tank after i removed the shed skin

A couple days before he shed again.

And this is what he looks like as of now.

big claws

WITH flash (more detail+contrast)

Without flash

Before and after

I managed to save the shedding from the 2nd time and this recent time. Heres the comparison of the two.

 

[sarah86]

sorry cant help but just wanted to say that he is gorgeous, what a beautiful colour!

 

[ShoC]

Fantastic Photos
Love how you have comparison etc...

as above I can't help you,

when I see pictures of crayfish It makes me want one so badly
If only the g/f would let me get one and keep my manhood at the same time.


p.s Keep the pictures up especially the skin shed love it

 

[Davo86]

Hey amina

I pretty sure that your crayfish is a variation of the 'Procambarus alleni' commonly called Electric Blue Crayfish,

When the crayfish molts leave the shell in the tank for a while, most crayfish will eat part of this as it is high in calcium and helps the crayfish recover from the molt

crayfish

 

[Amina]

Yeah I left the shedding in there for about a day...he didnt seem to want it. so i saved it



I dunno if he's an electric crayfish or whatever though.... why was he brown? all the other pics i've seen of them are a very dark neon blue. but he's very light.

oh btw. how long do these things live? hopefully awhile right? ....i luv this evil little monster

 

[Amina]

hmmm I noticed in all of the pics of the Electric Blue Crayfish I was seeing, the photographer had the flash on. Which seems to brighten the colors on anything under the water. Maybe he is one after all....but that dosnt explain why he was brown up until then

 

[Davo86]

Is it possible that he was wild caught, I've just been reading somewhere that in the wild they live in muddy areas so as a camouflage they are brown in appearance, it also said that when put into clearer water, overtime and over a series of molts they can become much lighter and brighter, Not sure if this is a reason but i know that the cherax crayfish that we have in our store come into the shop brown, but within about 2 molts they become a brilliant blue colour. Also could be down to age, but not sure?

 

[raptorrex]

Is it possible that he was wild caught, I've just been reading somewhere that in the wild they live in muddy areas so as a camouflage they are brown in appearance, it also said that when put into clearer water, overtime and over a series of molts they can become much lighter and brighter, Not sure if this is a reason but i know that the cherax crayfish that we have in our store come into the shop brown, but within about 2 molts they become a brilliant blue colour. Also could be down to age, but not sure?

P alleni are not just blue, they come in a variates. blue is just a genetic defect, much like red hair in humans.
and the cherax Quad, has a common name of Blue lobster!! though the carapce will have both bright red flashes. though when young they are, if healthy, green not brown. a brown Quad is not a good sign. they do react to the colour of their environment, and the blue can be increased by adding "safe" uv lighting. direct UV seems to make, Quads at least, more blue, when viewed in normal light.

 

[Unseen]

mine is just like yours in the page when it is very dark brown and the next molt he is blue. i hope mine is like yours too

the shop labelled mine as a blue lobster it was fairly brown with a tiny hint of blue. the colours are becoming much more darker and stronger now though.