anyone here keep CPO's?

Discuss planted aquarium inhabitants
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PadreJP
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anyone here keep CPO's?

Post by PadreJP »

Curious whether anyone else in GWAPA currently (or in the past) has kept the Mexican Dwarf Orange crayfish, Cambarellus patzcuarensis var. "orange" (CPO)?

I just bought a sexed pair off Aquabid and they arrived today. Put them in a 10g with my Blue Pearl shrimp and an assortment of snails. So far they seem to love the tank (which is good) and have been busy exploring all over it most of the day. They are about 3/4" long and it is so funny to watch them run around the tank with their (super tiny little) claws held out menacingly! :) They definitely will chase or lunge at the dwarf shrimp in the tank, but the shrimp don't seem to have any difficulty getting away. They've also tried their best to yank some of the snails out of their shells but so far all such attempts have ended in failure. Perhaps they may get better at that as they fully mature.

Since they just arrived today I haven't had time to get very many good pics but I will include the one that is the best of what I've taken so far, just for the sake of anyone who maybe hasn't seen one of these little guys before.

With any luck, they'll be happy enough in their new home to mate, in which case I may have some baby CPO's available down the road. :) In the meantime, if anyone has had these before and has any advice about them, I'm all ears.
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Mexican dwarf orange crayfish.  Full size as adults: ~ 1.25".
Mexican dwarf orange crayfish. Full size as adults: ~ 1.25".
CPO1.jpg (242.18 KiB) Viewed 2263 times
Fr. John Paul Walker, O.P.
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krisw
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Post by krisw »

Very cool crays! Definitely keep us updated on how they do for you. :-)
ingg
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Post by ingg »

I am jealous! And excited for you, these have to be the coolest cray dwarfs I've seen!

I haven't been able to find a ton on keeping them. I know that they are cannibalistic towards young, much like Shufeldtii. I've seen a thread or two about giving them meaty foods in addition to the more typical plant based.
Dave
ingg
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Post by ingg »

Curious what you've found on these so far?
Dave
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fredyk
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Post by fredyk »

see previous post. I had bad luck with them. Was hoping to get a good return on my investment by breeding and selling, but they died.

Good luck with them!

http://www.gwapa.org/forum/viewtopic.ph ... highlight=
Mark Harnet
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PadreJP
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Post by PadreJP »

Just a long overdue update:

The CPO's seem happy and have mated. My first batch of little ones have just hatched from the eggs and are still clinging to the underside of mommy. I'm in the process of putting together a little photo diary of the whole breeding process along with my observations about it (tank conditions, behavior of the crays at various stages, etc.) and once I have that all assembled I'll post it as a new thread in this forum.
Fr. John Paul Walker, O.P.
ingg
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Post by ingg »

Sweet, congrats!!
Dave
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krisw
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Post by krisw »

Awesome, I'm looking forward to your photo diary!
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